There is no better weekend in the west of Ireland than the August Bank Holiday. It is the most switched-off time of year we have. It is the day when the ball is thrown in on the month when things slow down.

It’s high summer in Achill and that means many things. The sun is not guaranteed (if only) but the roads are busy, the campsites and holiday homes are full and the tourist season is in full swing.

I went AWOL there for two weeks but not much happened. The genocide in Gaza continues unabated and now the Israeli people have added starvation and famine as weapons to their killing machine. Tanks and bombs are not enough.

If I started this article by saying that before we get into it, we’ll take it handy for the first few sets, any reader from the west of Ireland will instantly recognise the reference to one of our greatest institutions, The Saw Doctors.

I wasn’t aware until quite recently who Rosie O’Donnell was. And even though she starred in the film Sleepless in Seattle, her name didn’t ring a familiar bell. An American comedian, Donald Trump has had her in his sights for some time.

There are many upsides to living on Achill Island. But challenges too. Like so many things in life, there’s a trade-off. It is an utterly beautiful place, a lovely place to raise a young family.

Last Saturday week, while most world leaders might have been contemplating matters of international diplomacy or domestic policy, Donald Trump was instead composing a social media post threatening to strip someone of their American citizenship.

As with so many anecdote-based, click-bait media articles these days, it began with a headline about an innocent victim.

Now that the merger of Killala and Tuam dioceses into a new ecclesiastical unit edges ever closer and the curtains are being drawn on ‘the way we were’, I’ve been throwing my eye over the soon to be defunct dispensation that was once Killala diocese ...

Every so often, but especially in summer, I am reminded of our early farmers. I wonder did they have the same struggles with saving a few wisps of hay or getting a cow in calf. My answer is always the same; they probably did.