Sundays will never be the same

Sir — When I heard the news about Brendan O’Connor I was shocked. Surely this brilliant writer could not be leaving the Sunday Independent for RTE?

I was sure he was just messing, so I convinced myself that the news of his departure was ‘grossly exaggerated’ and the writer himself had just taken artistic liberty to scare his readers, me in particular. Roll on to next Sunday’s paper and all would be explained. And it was, by Barry Egan in a most eloquent and heartfelt article. Yes, Brendan was leaving. It was all true. Sundays would never be the same.

You often meet a person you are familiar with through the media while walking the streets of Dublin — and in fairness to them, they cannot be grinning, waving and chatting to every individual that recognises them.

However, one day about two years ago, I was walking along Nassau Street with the husband and I spotted Brendan striding in our direction through the throngs. It all seemed to happen in slow motion.

He was chatting away on his phone, but as he came up to us, my husband pointed at him, and said: “There he is now.”

Well, despite being occupied on his phone he gave the pair of us a big beaming Brendan smile.

Yes, he is a ‘people person’ — and I was delighted to also read in Barry’s article that Brendan will still write for the Sunday Independent. So all is not lost.

Thank you, Brendan, for the wonderful witty writing.

Bernie O’Neill,

Glenvale Park, Wicklow town