The Irish Tales

If ever I need reminding of my First Life, it is there before me as I type.
30 or so framed photographs, covered in dust, (some of it no doubt Columbian in nature) pinned to the wall in my study.It’s all there; the horses, the motorbikes, the men, the women, the children, the dogs and the drunks. If ever I want my ego boosted, all I have to do is look up.
Likewise, if ever I wish to know the truth, all I have to do is look for the un-framed photos in the files.
The pictures which ...

Shall I tell you the biggest difference between First and Second Life ?
No ?
Well, I’m going to anyway.
In First Life, you do many stupid things because you are completely ignorant of what the consequences may be.
In Second Life, you do equally stupid things because you know exactly what the consequences may be.
Y’see, people never really learn from their mistakes; they merely learn how to avoid the worst of what may occur in the aftermath. Sometimes. If they’re ...

It struck me the other day, (which day is unimportant really) that it is remarkable easy to spot Second Lifers.
No, it isn’t their walking sticks, or zimmer frames or those mechanised wheelchairs which cause such panic on the quiet streets.
It’s the way they have of simply ignoring the passage of time; wherever or whatever they’re doing.
Let me illustrate.
It is my habit, on occasions when the weather is clement, to sit outside the Orange Pekoe café at the top of White ...

Second Life. (3)


As the old cliché goes, every adman has a book in his bottom drawer. Some of them actually go on to read it. And some of them, like Fay Weldon, Dorothy Sayers, Peter Mayle or the fatwah fella, actually go on to write it and get it published. (I wonder how many of you can, without Googling, name the ads or products they were associated with ?)
I can proudly say that the only book in my bottom drawer was on the annual agency snooker tournament, (all proceeds ...

Second Life.

It is a sad but undeniable fact of Second Life, that one’s body is not, shall we say, as perfect as it might have been in First Life. It would not be too much to say that said bodies often bear little resemblance to each other. I know mine doesn’t. Certain bits are missing, other bits are made not of flesh, but of steel and plastic. (Which, I have to admit, is great fun when going through the metal detectors at airports.)
Still more bits simply do not work in the ...