Maeve's times: in her own words : selected writings from the Irish Times

Sixties. School outing ; Just plane bores ; But does anybody care? ; A Turkish bath ; Life as a waitress ; Back to school ; Thinking about underwear down under ; The nonsense of etiquette

Seventies. The world's greatest lies about women ; Baby blue ; Women are fools

Mary ; Women are fools

Lorraine ; Women are fools

Sandy ; Pageantry and splendour at Westminster for the royal wedding ; How to speak proper ; Who sent this postcard? ; Holiday romance ; I was a winter sport ; Keeping faith with my dear, dear Dublin ; The couple who behaved perfectly ; A snatch at some happiness ; Vanity of vanity, all is vanity ; A nice, traditional, normal sort of Patrick's Day ; The day we nearly wrote a sex book ; A week of self-improvement ; Violet ; Anna's abortion ; Idiotic queues ; Bathroom joggers ; Happy hypochondria ; The man in South Anne Street ; A magic meeting ; Do it honestly or not at all ; Hope and bitter memories ; Numbed Dover waits for lists of the dead

Eighties. The right to die in your own home ; When Beckett met Binchy ; Fit for a queen ; Contraceptive conversation ; The happy couple ; Encounters at the airport ; Up in the clouds with Charlie Haughey ; Election brings life to an ageing society ; Maeve's operation : the whole story ; Keeping cruise off the roads is new priority ; Develop your own style ; One eye on bargains, one eye on Alsatians ; A Tipperary Robin Hood ; Maeve on Margaret Thatcher ; No fags, no food

it's no fun being Fergie ; It was one of those custard heart days ; The man who set up office in the ladies ; A royal romance spelling danger from the start ; Making a spectacle of myself ; Madam is paying?

Nineties. Even the presidents are getting younger ; My Theodora story ; Heading for the hustings ; Please don't forget to write ; Casually elegant meets the mob ; They'll never let her go ; There is no excuse ; Fear of falling off the wagon ; Getting it right at the end ; For tired read terrible ; Traveller's tales

the call of the check-in desk ; Love's last day out ; A walk on the wild side ; Peter panic attack ; Little person! Tiny person! ; Fighting February ; She didn't do so badly ; Curmudgeons of summer ; The fall ; Let's talk gridlock ; 'They've gone and dumped Portillo...' ; Mrs Perfect ; Death in Kilburn ; Saved by the wiles of Cupid ; Just don't ask ; Bleach sniffers on my desk ; Talking to various ships passing in the night ; Sweet dreams ; Staving off the senior moments

2000s. Mr Gageby... ; Another world for the price of a cup of coffee ; 'One up for the cardigans' ; My part in the movies ; Striking a pose for my country ; Ten things you must never say to anyone with arthritis ; What's it like to have a house full of film crew? Let me tell you all about it ; Will and Kate show is testament to abiding allure of the royals

Postscript. 'I don't have any regrets about any roads I didn't take...' (in conversation with Joanne Hunt).

Sixties. School outing ; Just plane bores ; But does anybody care? ; A Turkish bath ; Life as a waitress ; Back to school ; Thinking about underwear down under ; The nonsense of etiquette

Seventies. The world's greatest lies about women ; Baby blue ; Women are fools

Mary ; Women are fools

Lorraine ; Women are fools

Sandy ; Pageantry and splendour at Westminster for the royal wedding ; How to speak proper ; Who sent this postcard? ; Holiday romance ; I was a winter sport ; Keeping faith with my dear, dear Dublin ; The couple who behaved perfectly ; A snatch at some happiness ; Vanity of vanity, all is vanity ; A nice, traditional, normal sort of Patrick's Day ; The day we nearly wrote a sex book ; A week of self-improvement ; Violet ; Anna's abortion ; Idiotic queues ; Bathroom joggers ; Happy hypochondria ; The man in South Anne Street ; A magic meeting ; Do it honestly or not at all ; Hope and bitter memories ; Numbed Dover waits for lists of the dead

Eighties. The right to die in your own home ; When Beckett met Binchy ; Fit for a queen ; Contraceptive conversation ; The happy couple ; Encounters at the airport ; Up in the clouds with Charlie Haughey ; Election brings life to an ageing society ; Maeve's operation : the whole story ; Keeping cruise off the roads is new priority ; Develop your own style ; One eye on bargains, one eye on Alsatians ; A Tipperary Robin Hood ; Maeve on Margaret Thatcher ; No fags, no food

it's no fun being Fergie ; It was one of those custard heart days ; The man who set up office in the ladies ; A royal romance spelling danger from the start ; Making a spectacle of myself ; Madam is paying?

Nineties. Even the presidents are getting younger ; My Theodora story ; Heading for the hustings ; Please don't forget to write ; Casually elegant meets the mob ; They'll never let her go ; There is no excuse ; Fear of falling off the wagon ; Getting it right at the end ; For tired read terrible ; Traveller's tales

the call of the check-in desk ; Love's last day out ; A walk on the wild side ; Peter panic attack ; Little person! Tiny person! ; Fighting February ; She didn't do so badly ; Curmudgeons of summer ; The fall ; Let's talk gridlock ; 'They've gone and dumped Portillo...' ; Mrs Perfect ; Death in Kilburn ; Saved by the wiles of Cupid ; Just don't ask ; Bleach sniffers on my desk ; Talking to various ships passing in the night ; Sweet dreams ; Staving off the senior moments

2000s. Mr Gageby... ; Another world for the price of a cup of coffee ; 'One up for the cardigans' ; My part in the movies ; Striking a pose for my country ; Ten things you must never say to anyone with arthritis ; What's it like to have a house full of film crew? Let me tell you all about it ; Will and Kate show is testament to abiding allure of the royals

Postscript. 'I don't have any regrets about any roads I didn't take...' (in conversation with Joanne Hunt).