I nearly fell out of the bed reading the Irish Times last weekend. It said to me “Wednesday night at 9pm and the choice was between a Horizon documentary on BBC 1 about ageing and Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies . The latter is a new run of the series where a team of photogenic doctors – including the wonderfully unshockable Irish doctor Pixie McKenna…”. Sorry, Pixie McKenna who was years behind me in school? Pixie McKenna whose father was in college with my mother? Pixie McKenna whose older brother Johnny was an object of interest to every girl in the senior school? Pixie McKenna who, for God’s sake, can only be 14 now? It would appear so. There are only so many Pixie McKennas to go around.
My friend R, who is taking some time out from his day job to do a Ph.D rang me. He has been doing some consultancy work in Kosovo. “Off to Kosovo again?” I asked cheerily. “Yes,” he said, “I get back on Tuesday week. And then on the Wednesday I am going to Sudan for two and a half months.” Shocked noise. “Election monitoring” he said. “There’s an election in the Sudan?” I said feebly. “There’s always an election somewhere,” he replied “anyhow, I’m off to the pub, see you in mid-May.”
Suddenly my life seems very dull.
I was in the same year and course at university as this person: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Sheers
It’s galling.
She has been semi-famous for a while now, to the extent that someone was described to me last year as looking like her (I hadn’t seen Embarrassing Illnesses so I was at a loss). Can’t have been that far behind you if Wikipedia is right in saying she was born January 1971.
Praxis, you think that’s bad, Mr. Waffle was in college with a man who ended up kissing Julia Roberts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa_Smile. Not that he cares, obviously.
Eimear. You know how young those first years look when you’re going into third year. I suppose it, gratifyingly, evens out in late 30s early 40s.
Does the Irish Times not even pretend to watch Irish television then?
Someone from the year behind me at school is now managing editor at the New Yorker.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/aussie-amelia-lester-takes-key-post-at-new-yorker/story-e6frg6o6-1225767255770
I feel like a failure.
Don’t worry. From where I sit in Canada, you and your blog are terribly exotic and interesting.
Hi,
thanks so much for the package that arrived – my email is a bit of a mess and I’m not sure which one to use for you anymore. I did slip a note on Facebook but not sure how often you check it. Anyway, I love it and it reminds me very much of Douglas Dunn (that’s a good thing, in my view).
I’m worried by her being a doctor and called Pixie, at the same time. And if it’s a TV name, on purpose. There’s something not right there. Or am I just a name snob..?
Doesn’t sound dull to me. You’ve got all this cool stuff happening around you and you know all these cool folk. What’s the common factor? It’s you. 😉
I was famous very briefly at school because another Michael Sowden somewhere in East Yorkshire, skipped school, packed up his belongings and tried to leg it to America. So I had a month of being unexpectedly Heroic in the eyes of other schoolkids, but tragically only found out what they were on about when the fuss had died down and the other Sowden had been collared.
Fame is fickle, I’ve discovered. Especially if you’re generally clueless like me.
TM, sometimes, it does.
Too kind Heather, distance does lend enchantment.
Sarah, I can exclusively reveal that her real name is Anne but she was always called Pixie because it was a nickname given to her when she was little and, I assume, Pixielike.
Mike, I like that. Good story too.
HJB, thank you for very thorough efforts to contact me – so glad that you like it..