The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is the official name for ‘furlough’. This word used to be of marginal use, but now it’s very familiar to everyone who has not lived under a rock for the last half-year or so. All political and partisan aspects aside, the scheme proved to be a godsend to millions of people across the country, who…

Once upon a time in their marriage, Andrew did something really stupid. His wife Moira chewed him up for it. He apologized, they made up. However, from time to time, Moira would mention what he had done. ‘My dear,’ Andrew finally said one day, ‘why do you keep bringing that up? I thought your policy was ‘forgive and forget.’’ ‘It…

The parish priest and I went to a family’s house for dinner. After a while, the lady of the house turned to me and said: ‘Father, having had enough wine I can tell you what I think about…’ and then she referred to a certain situation from a not-so-distant past; nothing really nasty or unpleasant. The sad thing about it…

I have to admit that my last Sunday’s sermon wasn’t complete, although I actually hinted at its continuation today. For once, it wasn’t due to my deeply rooted laziness that the sermon wasn’t complete, but because the story in the gospel reading is divided into two parts, read on two consecutive Sundays. Let’s briefly recall where we left a week…

Ben Macdui and Braeriach are the second and third-highest peaks in the UK, respectively. The distance between those two summits is just over a couple of miles as the crow flies. So, it is very tempting to any ambitious hillwalker to bag both in one go. What are two miles for a hardy tourist? When outdoors, I use a handheld…