Cormac MacConnell: First swallow of year lifts everyone’s spirits

There is one simple sentence which I have most relished writing for as long as I have been in this strange business. I am overjoyed to be able to write it again for you all today — today I saw my first swallow of the year.

I saw her above Saint Ann’s Community College in Killaloe, Co Clare, across the garden wall from my home. It was just before noon last Monday and the blue skies of the current good spell were empty for her arrival.

She was the first of her generation to arrive and she will never know how much primal pleasure the sight of her gave to me.