The magic room was a community effort, maintained by many residents volunteering their time to keep it well organised and running smoothly. I often saw my neighbour, Wendy Showyin, when I stopped by.
After the divorce, I had to settle somewhere. Your choice is limited, said Margot Hollander, reflecting on her housing options as a retired dance teacher with a modest income.
"Walked up the hill too soon." This was the terse rebuke from a Fianna Fáil official after the Sunday Independent revealed last month that homeowners were in line to earn up to €14,000 tax-free by renting out newly built modular units in their back gardens.
Threshold, Age Action and the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS) warn the proposal could negatively affect students and older people who may be pressured by family members seeking to benefit from their property.
By that point in our relationship, Al and I recognized that we live completely opposite lifestyles at home. I like creature comforts and wanted my dream lakeside home in Portugal. Al was interested in becoming even more self-sufficient, living off-grid if possible. Al already owned about an acre of land in Portugal. He put a yurt on the land, and now lives there without running water and with only limited solar power.
When we were married, this was an enormous problem. We never went out with other couples or had dinner parties together because he was never available after 5 or 6 p.m. I went everywhere by myself: theatre, films, museums, opera. Even our vacations did not align, so I traveled alone. It is ironic that one of the things that ruined our marriage - opposite schedules, which meant we rarely saw each other - was the exact reason we could happily cohabitate for two-plus decades.
