Emer McLysaght: Getting down and dirty with outdoor living

It’s all great outdoors until the ground gets too hard, the bins start overflowing and the loos are nowhere to be found

The hard ground can have a devastating effect on ageing bones

It’s safe to say I have never made noises like I made last Saturday afternoon. I was not giving birth. I had not won the Lotto. I was not in flagrante delicto. I was trying to stand up from a seated position on a hard grassy surface. I was attending an outdoor birthday party with – turn your eyes away Tony Holohan, don’t come for me Philip Nolan – a small selection of friends.

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