Maia off to Vegas for Christmas as Ryan in Bewley’s
It’s 43 days to Christmas. And most of us don’t know whether we are coming or going yet. Maia Dunphy knows where she is going: to Vegas. Johnny Vegas, that is. But not immediately. Maia will be visiting Vegas, her husband, the hugely popular English comedian, in England a little after Christmas.
The author, broadcaster and bona fide multi-tasker explained to your diarist that Yuletide is “always a seasonal hot potato for us. I would say that with Tom,” she said referring to she and Johnny’s two-year-old son, “and I will be in Dublin and Johnny will be in St Helens [in England, where he hails from] as it is the first year without his beloved dad,” Maia added, referring to Johnny’s father Laurence Pennington, who died following a battle with cancer in March. “I’ll head over to them all between Christmas and New Year. I think blissful New Year mini-breaks are a thing of the past with a twoyear-old.”
What perhaps takes the agony of losing a break away to ring in 2018 is that Maia has been nominated in the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards 2017 in the Popular Non-Fiction category for her book The M Word: For Women who Happen to be Parents. I’m feeling a similar sense of joy with the re-opening of two great Dublin institutions. First it was The Stella cinema in Rathmines and then the much-awaited Bewley’s of Grafton Street. The restoration of the latter is meticulous perfection.
The Harry Clarke windows are glistening; the fireplaces are ready for Christmas and the bakery has a new public gallery. Acclaimed artist, Bewley’s Paddy Campbell, hung a wonderful sketch of the legendary Tattens Toomey who reigned for many years as queen of our favourite cafe.
No wonder Ryan Tubridy has already been spotted.