Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Burning need to save best of our bricks
CAPTION: DYDYDYDY
HOLY SMOKE Back when I was a carefree, child-free 32-year-old, I turned my back on the rat race and went off travelling. I clocked up 15 countries in 12 months and visited so many beautiful places.
But for me, Paris was best.
I fell for the city of love and have been so many times since, I’ve lost count. So I was heartbroken when I saw Notre-Dame blazing.
It was like watching the slow death of a loved one.
And it doesn’t matter where these iconic buildings are, they belong to all of us. They shine a light on our history and culture – a stroll around a grand cathedral can stir something in even the staunchest atheist. We should not take our historic buildings for granted and we have a duty to protect them.
Notre-Dame has lost her spire, oak roof and some paintings and relics, but the old girl is still standing. But she was half an hour away from total destruction – firefighters hoping for a quiet Monday must have had the worst shift of their lives.
The outpouring of emotion this week has been incredible.
Within a day, £600million was raised for repairs, with French billionaires moved enough to dip into their large pockets.
Let’s hope Sir Philip Green would be as ready with his readies if St Paul’s went up in smoke...
Yes, I was one of the
17.4 million glued to the screen for the season eight premiere of Game of Thrones. As soon as I heard the do-de-de-do music, I felt like I’d been reunited with an old friend, albeit a sweary, screamy, scary one who likes to take her top off. Oh how I missed them all, especially Cersei, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, and the most evil woman to have ever reigned in a box set. I love how GoT has so many strong female leaders calling the shots. Imagine the deal Cersei would have swung us in Brussels.