Sandra Harris Writes

WE’RE HAVING A HEATWAVE… BY SANDRA HARRIS. © I know I’m going to come across as grumpy and ungrateful now but I’m really not enjoying this heatwave. Ah, don’t be such an auld buzzkill, you might say. Surely be to God you’re happy for the first daycent (Oirish pronunciation) bit of sunshine we’ve had all year, you might say. Surely you don’t begrudge people a bit of relief from the unrelenting misery that’s been 2026 so far, with constant wars, spiralling grocery and electricity prices and the general breakdown of society that seemed to start with bloody COVID and will surely end with an apocalyptic style flood/earthquake/tsunami that sets us back about a bazillion years and forces us all into a hard reset for mankind, you might say. Well, of course I don’t begrudge people a bit of relief from the unrelenting misery that’s been 2026 so far, etc., etc. I know kids have been having a ball with their paddling pools, ice-creams and spontaneous, unscheduled trips to the beach instead...

  HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION. BY SANDRA HARRIS. © This is the time of year when school kids are traditionally required to pen the essay on what they did over their summer holidays. I myself had the best summer I’ve had in ages, not for any major, spectacular reasons but for a load of little bitty reasons, which are every bit as worthwhile. And I normally loathe summer too, for a myriad of reasons, which makes my enjoyment of this one all the more miraculous, and baffling. Here are some of the reasons why I normally hate summer; if I have to suffer through them, then you guys have to suffer through reading ‘em... 1.       I have goth leanings, and prefer to wear black and hibernate for the whole of the winter and much of spring. Summer is usually a horrible shock to the system. 2.       Summer makes my hair do a ‘Monica-from FRIENDS in the One Where the Gang go to Barbados.’ 3.       It also m...