Latest news with #Sorcha
Irish Times
07-06-2025
- General
- Irish Times
‘I'm not even a bit stressed,' Honor goes, ‘I haven't done a focking tap for these exams'
Sorcha thinks we should maybe check on Honor and there's an air of definite excitement in her voice when she says it? Yeah, no, it's the night before the stort of the Leaving Cert and my wife is absolutely determined that this should be one of those mother-daughter moments. She goes, 'The Leaving Cert puts – oh my God – so much pressure on young people. But it's not the be-all and end-all. I read an orticle online about all the famous people who failed the Leaving Cert.' I'm there, ' I failed the Leaving Cert – in fairness to me.' She's like, 'I'm talking about people who went on to actually achieve things?' READ MORE And I'm there, 'Yeah, no, thanks for that, Sorcha.' 'I just remember that – oh my God – my Mom had this amazing, amazing talk with me the night before I storted mine ? She just said, you know, the importance of exams is, like, totally overblown and that the Leaving Cert shouldn't define you for the rest of your life.' 'That's easy for you to say. Didn't you get, like, maximum points?' 'Well, not quite maximum points? I got, like, a B in Honours English, remember?' How could I forget? Her old man spent years appealing it. I think the case was still trundling through the courts when she was pregnant with Honor. 'Come on,' she goes, 'let's go and talk to her,' and I follow her up the stairs to Honor's room. Sorcha knocks and she's like, 'Honor, dorling?' then she pushes the door and looks around it like she's sticking her head in a lion's mouth. Honor isn't studying. That's the first thing I notice. She's sorting through her wardrobe and taking photographs of herself in various outfits with one hand on her hip and her cheeks sucked in. Sorcha goes, 'We're sorry to bother you, Honor. We were just wondering how the study was going?' I don't know where she's getting this we from? Honor's like, 'It's going great – as you can probably see.' 'Well,' Sorcha goes, 'we just wanted to say that, even though it may seem like it now, the Leaving Certificate is not the be-all and end-all.' I'm there, 'I'm living proof of that, Honor.' But Sorcha's like, 'Why don't you leave the talking to me, Ross? What we're trying to say, Honor – and I'm echoing my own mother's words here – is that it doesn't define you as, like, a person ?' Honor's there, 'Why do I buy so many clothes in taupe? It looks so focking meh on me.' Sorcha goes, 'The important thing – as my mom famously said – is that you turn out a happy, well-adjusted girl with a fully functioning moral compass.' Honor's like, 'Does this top make my face look washed out? You can tell me.' [ Honor goes, 'I'm editing the school yearbook photographs of anyone who pissed me off' Opens in new window ] 'What I'm saying,' Sorcha goes, 'is that our results-focused secondary education system sometimes forgets that schools have a role to play in preparing young people for life and not just exams.' 'I hate all my focking clothes.' 'I was just thinking back to my own Leaving Cert – wasn't I, Ross? At the time, I thought it was the most important thing in the world. But if you were to ask me what did I get in, say, Maths or History now, I'd have to actually rack my brains.' 'Didn't you get As in everything?' Honor goes. I'm like, 'Except English – and her old man spent eight years in the courts trying get her B upgraded.' Honor gives her one of her crocodile smiles and goes, 'So much for results not being important. Anyway, for your information, I'm not even a bit stressed?' I'm like, 'Oh, that's good – isn't it, Sorcha?' And Sorcha's there, 'Er, yeah – I suppose it is.' 'As a matter of fact,' Honor goes, 'I haven't done a focking tap for these exams.' And I'm like, 'I'm going to say fair focks to you, Honor. I think I speak for both of us when I say you've put our minds at ease. Come on, Sorcha, let's leave her to it.' But Sorcha's mind isn't at ease? Outside on the landing, she goes, 'What do you think she meant when she said she hasn't done a tap?' I'm there, 'Excuse me?' 'Like, did she mean it in the same way that I used to say it? Look, I'm not saying I was a secret studier – which is what all the girls used to say about me – but I was, like, naturally bright and I had an amazing, amazing memory.' 'Again, fair focks.' [ Honor is staring at Brett like he's an ATM and she's sitting in a JCB, trying to work the levers Opens in new window ] 'Or was she saying that she hasn't done a tap in the same way that – no offence, Ross – you didn't do a tap, as in, like, literally?' 'What does it matter? The important thing is that she's a happy girl with a fully functioning whatever-you-said.' 'Yes, Ross – but within reason.' 'Within reason?' 'I mean, it's also important that she gets into a good college. And into a degree course that's, like, high points.' 'But I thought you said–' 'Never mind what I said. What the fock is she doing in there?' 'I think she was questioning some of her 2024 wardrobe choices.' She goes, 'Did she even have a book open?' and before I can answer no, she bursts into Honor's room again, with no knock this time, and she's like, 'Why aren't you studying?' Honor goes, 'Excuse me?' Sorcha's there, 'You have an exam tomorrow! Where are your books? Where are your cog notes?' [ 'That picture The Last Supper is weird. They're all sitting on the same side of the table' Opens in new window ] Honor's like, 'I thought you said the Leaving Cert doesn't matter.' Sorcha goes, 'I didn't mean it literally doesn't matter. Oh my God, what happens in the next fortnight is going to shape the rest of your life, Honor! What are you going to do if you don't get into college? Stort an OnlyFans account? Live on the streets? Become a ketamine addict?' Honor looks her in the eye and goes, 'I have to leave the exam an hour early tomorrow. I have, like, a nails appointment?' Sorcha ends up totally flipping out and I have to put my orm around her shoulder and escort her out of there like my old dear being helped out of the prosecco tent at Bloom. She's like, 'You might be fine with having a daughter who fails her Leaving Cert, Ross, but I am not.'
Belfast Telegraph
03-06-2025
- General
- Belfast Telegraph
New facility to detect millions of new solar system objects, say NI-led astronomers
The brand new facility at NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile will revolutionise the world's knowledge of the solar system's 'small bodies': asteroids, comets and other minor planets. At the heart of the Rubin Observatory is the fastest moving telescope equipped with the world's largest digital camera. A single image from the telescope covers a patch of sky roughly 45 times the area of the full moon. This 'wide-fast-deep' system will spend the next ten years observing the night sky to produce the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Astronomers say the system will provide unprecedented time-lapse footage of the cosmos and a powerful dataset with which to map the solar system. New open-source software has also been created to predict what discoveries are likely to be made, with a series of papers describing the software soon to be published by The Astronomical Journal. The group of astronomers has been led by Dr Meg Schwamb of Queen's University Belfast's School of Mathematics and Physics. Dr Schwamb said the world's knowledge of what objects fill the Earth's solar system 'is about to expand exponentially and rapidly'. QUB PhD student Joe Murtagh is one of the lead authors of the prediction studies and among those whose papers have been submitted to the Astronomical Journal. He said: 'It's very exciting – we expect that millions of new solar system objects will be detected and most of these will be picked up in the first few years of sky survey.' "With the LSST catalogue of solar system objects, our work shows that it will be like going from black-and-white television to brilliant colour.' Beyond just finding these new small bodies, Rubin Observatory will observe them multiple times in different optical filters, revealing their surface colours. Past solar system surveys, typically observed only in a single filter. To forecast which small bodies will be discovered, the team built Sorcha, the first end-to-end simulator that ingests Rubin's planned observing schedule. It applies assumptions on how Rubin Observatory observes and detects astronomical sources in its images with the best model of what the solar system and its small body reservoirs look like today. The team's simulations show that Rubin will map 127,000 near-Earth objects such as asteroids and comets whose orbits cross or approach the planet. It will also study over five million main-belt asteroids and 109,000 Jupiter Trojans, bodies which share Jupiter's orbit at stable 'Lagrange' points. Some 37,000 trans-Neptunian objects, which are residents of the distant Kuiper Belt, will also be mapped, along with around 1,500 to 2,000 Centaurs. The Sorcha code is open-source and freely available with the simulated catalogues, animations, and pre-prints of the papers publicly available at News Catch Up - Tuesday 3 June By making these resources available, the Sorcha team has enabled researchers worldwide to refine their tools and be ready for the flood of LSST data that Rubin will generate, advancing the understanding of the small bodies that illuminate the solar system like never before. Rubin Observatory is scheduled to unveil its first spectacular imagery at its 'First Look' event on June 23, offering the world an early glimpse of the survey's power. Full science operations are slated to begin later this year.
Irish Times
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
‘He obviously decided that he'd wasted his life, focusing on career, marriage and family goals'
Sorcha tells me that I need to do something and obviously, I'm like, 'Er – as in?' Yeah, no, Angela – the wife of my brother slash half-brother – has been on the phone from the States and Sorcha is running out of excuses. I'm fixing breakfast for the boys when the dude eventually arrives downstairs in the company of a woman named Rowena, who wears leather trousers, has a smoker's cough and works – so she says – in, like, hospitality? She goes, 'I wouldn't say no to a coffee.' READ MORE And Sorcha's like, 'Well, if the walk of shame takes you through Dalkey village, I can recommend the Country Bake.' I love my wife, but – yeah, no – she can be colder than a witch's tit. Rowena, by the way, is the third random woman that Brett has brought home this week. 'So come on, tell us,' Sorcha goes – this is right in front of her, by the way – 'where did you meet this one?' It's Rowena who answers. She's like, 'Tinder,' and then the woman looks at me and sort of, like, narrows her eyes, like I do when I'm trying to add two numbers together, and goes, 'Do I know you from somewhere?' I'm there, 'If you're a rugby fan, then possibly?' She's like, 'No, nothing to do with rugby, no,' in her husky voice. 'Your face is just–' I put a cup of coffee in front of her, portly to shut her up, but also because it's nice to be nice. Sorcha goes, 'Brett, Angela has been ringing – as in, like, your wife?' I think she's expecting a reaction form Rowena to the news that he's married. But she doesn't respond in any way. Just sips her coffee. It's not her first rodeo. I'm there, 'No, I'm most definitely not on the apps,' except at the same time I can feel my face flush? — Ross Sorcha goes, 'She said she's been trying your cell.' He's there, 'I lost my cell.' Sorcha's like, 'How can you be on Tinder if you've lost your cell?' Very little gets past her. Twenty years of being married to me will do that to you. Rowena goes, 'That's how I know your face! Are you on the apps?' I'm there, 'No, I'm most definitely not on the apps,' except at the same time I can feel my face flush? She's like, 'We've definitely met.' Brian, Johnny and Leo are unusually quiet. They're just, like, staring at this woman, open-mouthed. Johnny is actually looking at her chest. Like father, like son, I'm hugely tempted to say. Sorcha cops it too. She goes, 'Johnny, eat your cereal,' and then, at the same time, she gestures to me with her eyes that she wants a word in, like, private? Thirty seconds later, we're outside in the gorden and Sorcha is going, 'Ross, what the actual fock?' I'm there, 'Yeah, no, I'll tell him to go. I'll tell him that we don't approve of this kind of behaviour under our roof,' at the same time hating myself for sounding like Sorcha's old man. She goes, 'Ross, what did you say to him?' I'm there, 'Excuse me?' because I knew I'd end up getting the blame for this. She's like, 'The way he's carrying on, Ross, it's very – I don't even want to say it – but very you behaviour?' I'm there, 'I knew I'd end up being blamed.' She goes, 'It's not a question of blame. I'm just asking, what did you do to encourage this?' I'm like, 'Fock-all, Sorcha. And I mean that literally. The goys – we're talking Christian, we're talking JP, we're talking Oisinn, we're talking, in fairness, Fionn – may have told him some stories about my carry-on over the years in terms of rugby and in terms of – yeah, no – the deadlier of the species. And Brett, who may have already been in, like, midlife crisis mode, decided that I was – yeah, no – some kind of, like, role model to him?' Sorcha goes, 'Oh, Jesus – God help him.' It's nice to see that Sorcha – while being a very, very good person – remains, at hort, an out-and-out south Dublin snob I'm like, 'Excuse me?' because it sounded like a bit of a dig. She's there, 'I just mean – actually, I don't know what I mean? But this can't continue. It was Amory on Saturday night, Summer on Wednesday night and, I don't know, what did she say her name was?' I'm there, 'Rowena,' a little too quickly for Sorcha's liking. 'She said she works in, like, hospitality?' She's like, 'Rowena – whatever. With her leather trousers and a focking black bra showing through a white shirt.' And it's nice to see that Sorcha – while being a very, very good person – remains, at hort, an out-and-out south Dublin snob. She goes, 'Ross, you have to talk to him.' I'm there, 'Excuse me?' She's like, 'Ross, he's only in Ireland because of you. You were the one who–' I'm there, 'Don't say it. Do not say it.' She's like, 'I'm going to say it, Ross. You corrupted him.' I go, 'I didn't corrupt him? Like I said, the goys made me out to be some kind of absolute rugby legend and he obviously decided that he'd wasted his life, focusing on career, marriage and family goals.' She's like, 'Ross, even without being directly responsible, you basically caused this? You're going to have to talk to him and tell him that this can't continue.' So – yeah, no – no choice in the matter, I end up agreeing to have a word with the dude. So we tip back into the kitchen. I could be wrong but it looks like Rowena has undone another shirt button. I'm there, 'Dude, all that shit the goys told you about my rugby career–' He goes, 'It was inspiring.' I'm like, 'Yes, I accept that. But no good can come of you trying to live like me.' He's there, 'Why not? I mean, look at you!' It's lovely for me to hear. I'm there, 'That's lovely for me to hear. But you have everything going for you back in the States, in terms of – yeah, no – a hot wife, a beautiful home, a couple of, in fairness, kids–' He cuts me off. He's like, 'Well, maybe I don't want that any more. Maybe that's not the end of the rainbow for me.' I'm there, 'Oh, you're telling me that's the end of your rainbow,' flicking my thumb in Rowena's general postcode and hating myself for it. 'Dude, that woman is not the end of anyone's rainbow.' Rowena goes, 'Oh my God, I remembered how I know you now. I was with you a few years ago – when you crashed the porty for the closing of the Berkeley Court?' And I'm like, 'Sorcha, we were almost certainly on a break at the time.'
Irish Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Honor goes, ‘People will talk about my speech for years to come. And that's just in the libel courts'
This is most definitely not how it was supposed to be? Yeah, no, Sorcha dreamt that one day she would have a daughter who would follow in her footsteps as head girl of Mount Anville, but she's actually dreading what's going to happen tonight, when Honor delivers the valedictory at the sixth-year graduation. 'Can I even read your speech?' Sorcha goes. But Honor's like, 'There's no speech. What I have to say is all in my head.' This is us in the cor, by the way, on the way to the school. READ MORE I'm there, 'What, you're going to freestyle it? In fairness, I did something similar before Seapoint played Bruff in the famous Division 2B relegation clash back in the day. People were in actual tears.' Sorcha looks at me like I'm the postman telling her there's duty owed on one of her online purchases. She's like, 'That's not focking helpful, Ross.' I'm there, 'Fine, I'll stay out of it. Will there be drink at this thing?' Yeah, no, Sorcha's driving tonight. Honor goes, 'No, no drink – that's why I preloaded.' I thought I smelled vodka when she was getting into the cor. Sorcha's less worried about her daughter having a few straighteners than she is about what people might think of her skills as a mother. Yes, we're those kind of people. She goes, 'I really wish you'd written a speech?' Honor's like, 'What, so you could redline it? So you could censor my thoughts?' Sorcha's there, 'No one is talking about censorship, Honor. I'd just like to know what you're going to say in advance, forewarned being foreormed.' Honor's like, 'All I will tell you is that there's going to be a little something in it for everyone.' Honor is quite nasty with drink on her. Takes after her grandmother I'm there, 'That's nice, Honor,' because I have faith in our daughter, even though she's never given me any cause for it. She's like, 'The fakers. The sleeveens. The hypocrites. They're all going to get a mench tonight.' 'Or,' Sorcha goes, 'you could choose to say something inspirational. You could say something that touches people's horts, that defines what it means to be a member of the Mount Anville class of 2025, that makes people feel – I want to say – uplifted ? You want people to talk about it in years to come, don't you?' Honor's there, 'Oh, people will – trust me. And that's just in the libel courts.' Sorcha goes, 'Did you read the speech I delivered in '98? I sent it to you. I just happened to find it on an old laptop the other day.' Honor's there, 'It must have gone into my junk folder. Best place for it as well.' She's quite nasty with drink on her. Takes after her grandmother. Sorcha goes, 'I can send it to you again if you want. Or I have an MP3 of it on my phone. Ross, will you send it to her? Or better still, play it over the Bluetooth?' Honor's there, 'Don't bother. I've heard you listening to it in the bathroom when you're psyching yourself up to talk at residents association meetings.' Sorcha's like, 'Well, people still talk about it – to this day.' ' Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road, ' Honor goes, doing – in fairness – a pretty spot-on impersonation of her old dear. ' Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go. ' Sorcha's like, 'I was quoting from a song that was huge at the time, Honor.' And Honor's there, 'Yeah – and it was so focking lame.' Seriously, she's a bad, bad drunk. I can tell that Sorcha's feelings are hurt because she goes quiet then. She literally says nothing between Foxrock Church and the bottom of Trees Road in Merrion. There's very little we can do except sit there smiling and hope we don't get mentioned ourselves — Ross Then she goes, 'At least my year as head girl meant something. As Sister Austrebertha said – and I'm paraphrasing here – there is an amazing, amazing contentment that comes from knowing you made a difference.' Honor's like, 'Er, I made a difference?' And that's when Sorcha ends up losing it with her. She goes, 'You closed down the school magazine, you turned the girls in your year against each other and you made a fortune off their backs from the annual skiing trip.' Honor goes, 'Well, no one can say it was boring.' Sorcha goes, 'You've undermined democracy, taken the concept of civility out of politics and used what was once considered a respected office to grift for yourself. You're actually no better than him .' Honor's like, 'Who?' Sorcha's there, 'You know I've made a vow never to say his actual name out loud.' Honor's like, 'Trump?' And Sorcha's there, 'Yes – him .' I actually thought she was talking about my old man – which says a lot. 'And now,' Sorcha goes, 'you're about to use your position to settle old scores against your fellow students.' 'And teachers,' Honor goes. 'One or two of them have it coming to them as well.' Sorcha's like, 'Well, I'm not going to let you do it.' Honor's there, 'What are you going to do about it?' I'm like, 'She's right, Sorcha. There's very little we can do except sit there smiling and hope we don't get mentioned ourselves. We're not going to get mentioned, are we, Honor?' What happened to free speech? — Honor Sorcha goes, 'Oh, there's something we can do, all right,' and in that moment she suddenly pulls on the steering wheel, mounts the kerb and slams on the brake. Honor's like, 'Oh my God, she's totally lost it. Dad, she needs to be on something – she's going through the change and it's not fun for any of us.' Sorcha says nothing in response. Instead, she kills the engine, opens her door and gets out – then she slams it closed and centrally locks the cor. Honor's like, 'What the fock are you doing?' But she knows. I mean, I know and I'm famously slow on the uptake. She tries the door handle and she's there, 'Let me out of here – now!' But Sorcha goes, 'No, Honor, I'm afraid I can't do that.' Honor's like, 'I'm going to miss my graduation!' Sorcha's there, 'Yes, Honor, that's the intention. I love Mount Anville and everything it stands for far too much to allow you to drag its name through the mud.' Honor's there, 'What happened to free speech?' And Sorcha goes, 'It's only for those who use it responsibly.' Honor turns on me then? She's like, 'Do something, you dick!' But I'm there, 'I can't – she's locked it from the outside.' She looks at Sorcha through the window and in a chilling voice goes, 'I'm going to get you back for this.'
Irish Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Honor is staring at Brett like he's an ATM and she's sitting in a JCB, trying to work the levers
Brett asks me what she was like when she was younger. I'm like, 'Who?' He goes, 'Our mother.' And it's random because I've never thought of the old dear ever being – like he said – young. READ MORE Of course, there's a lot of things I could say in answer to his question. I could tell him that she never forgave me for her waters breaking in the Turner Exhibition Room in the National Gallery. I could tell him that she brought me back to Holles Street after a month and told them they'd accidentally given her the wrong baby ('This one's stupid,' being her exact words). I could tell him that when other mothers were teaching their children to read, she was teaching me how to mix the perfect vodka mortini. But I don't – because that's the softie in me. 'Yeah, no, she was fine,' I go, 'when she wasn't doing evil. I suppose I've always thought of the woman as a sort of Lord Voldemort in Chanel No 5, if you can imagine such a thing.' The dude looks shocked. Sorcha's there, 'This is my husband's idea of a joke – you'll get used to it.' He laughs and goes, 'Hey, I'm told I have something of the Irish sense of humour myself!' This is us having dinner in Honalee, by the way. Sorcha's done her famous Marry Me Chicken and now we're having dessert. As usual, she's out to make an impression. She's there, 'Honor? Boys? No devices at the table.' Honor's like, 'Er, since when ?' And – yeah, no – the girl has a point. We discovered long ago that Apple make the best tablets for sedating kids. Sorcha goes, 'Since always – remember ?' and she's suddenly trying to communicate something to Honor with her eyes; in other words, let's just pretend we're other people – better people. Dude, you haven't even been here a day. Wait until you've been exposed to us for a week — Ross Sorcha goes, 'Ross was saying you have kids, Brett.' The dude's there, 'Well, I wouldn't describe them as kids any more. They're both in their 20s now. Molly's at Columbia and Dorian's at Princeton.' 'Oh my God,' Sorcha goes, 'there was talk of me going to Horvard at one stage – although I decided not to in the end,' and she shoots me a look across the table to remind me that this is somehow my fault, as if her old man doesn't already bring it up four or five times a year. He whips out of his phone, calls up a photograph, then hands the thing to Sorcha. 'Oh my God,' she goes, 'I can actually see Fionnuala in them!' 'Poor fockers,' I go. 'Gimme a look?' She's like, 'My husband's sense of humour again,' and she hands the thing to me. They're a ringer for her all right. Weak chins and cruel eyes. I'm there, 'What hotel is that in the background?' And the dude goes, 'That's not a hotel, Ross – that's our house.' I'm like, 'Fock off!' Sorcha goes, 'We don't swear in this house, Ross, remember?' 'Gimme a look,' Honor goes, snatching the phone from me. 'Oh! My God! What the fock do you do for a living?' I'm glad she asked. He's already told me twice but I found it boring and stopped listening mid-explanation. He goes, 'I'm an ophthalmic surgeon.' See what I mean? I've no idea what that even is – in fact, I've already forgotten what he said again. Honor's like, 'So are you, like, loaded?' Sorcha goes, 'Honor, that is such a rude question to ask.' I'm there, 'But it's out there now, Sorcha, so why don't we just let the man answer?' Brett laughs and goes, 'Angela, my wife – she sold two start-ups.' Again, I've no idea what that even means and I'm sure I'll forget it instantly. But not the gaff. It's the size of the Powerscourt Hotel. Honor is staring at the dude like he's an ATM and she's sitting in a JCB, trying to figure out how to work the levers. I'm guessing I'm looking at him the same way. He goes, 'Honor, you should come over and stay some time.' I'm there, 'Jesus, I wouldn't wish that on you, Brett,' because he is my half-brother after all. 'Genuinely.' Sorcha's like, 'It'd be great for you to experience the States, Honor, like I did when I was your age?' Honor goes, 'I'm not focking chambermaiding in Cape Cod. Anyway, I doubt if I'd be let into the States because of my conviction for criminal damage.' Jesus, talk about a conversation stopper. Luckily, Johnny breaks the tension by smashing Leo across the face with his iPad, then me and Sorcha end up having to separate them and send them to their rooms. Sorcha goes, 'I'm so sorry, Brett. They're not usually like this.' Her ability to lie with a straight face would have Sr Austrebertha spinning in her grave like Simone Biles on the parallel bors. He goes, 'Are you kidding? I love the way you all are with each other!' I'm like, 'Dude, you haven't even been here a day. Wait until you've been exposed to us for a week.' He's there, 'No, I mean it. I sometimes think that Angela and I were too hard on our kids. We never allowed them to express themselves.' Just as I struggle to think of her as a young woman, I find it impossible to think of her as no longer here I'm like, 'You can have ours if you want them.' He laughs like he thinks I'm joking. I'm there, 'I actually mean it?' 'Fock you!' Leo shouts down the stairs. Brett goes, 'I just love the way you all say whatever's on your mind.' 'Speaking of which,' Honor goes, 'I'm thinking of going on the pill,' and Sorcha ends up nearly choking on her double cherry semifreddo. When she's finally coughed it up, Brett does a big yawn and says he's pooped and Sorcha suggests that I show him to his room. On the stairs, he goes, 'So do you want to go and see Fionnuala together – maybe tomorrow?' I'm like, 'Er, yeah, no, whatever.' He goes, 'I think it'd be nice for her to see the two of us together before, well, you know.' I'm there, 'Before what? No, I don't know.' 'Ross,' he goes, 'Fionnuala is going to die.' I feel my mouth fall open. Because just as I struggle to think of her as a young woman, I find it impossible to think of her as no longer here. 'Not at all,' I go. 'That woman will live forever – to spite me, mainly.' But he's like, 'Ross, it's coming. Very soon. She's knows it too.'
