2015 – Done and dusted

To paraphrase the great poet laureate Noddy Holder

It’s Chriiiiiistmaaaaas! 

A day to sit back, relax and eat your own body weight in turkey, sprouts and chocolates. A day to fall out with your nearest and dearest over a game of scrabble or monopoly. A day that your mother will ply you with drink before you’ve had your breakfast. 

To be honest, it doesn’t feel like 52 weeks since Christmas Day of 2014 but those 52 weeks have been jam packed. I’ve taken 19 flights, been in 5 countries, finished my first half marathon, completed two-thirds of a 3 peak challenge, had countless hangovers, dodgy dates and even featured in Her.ie’s #ShiftyFirstDates column. All-in-all a fairly decent year. 

My highlight of the year 

‘Murica! 10 days in America over Easter. Visiting New York, Vegas and San Francisco. One night in San Francisco is the absolute highlight. Three dollar beers descended into absolute carnage and a top nights craic. As per usual, we attracted every weirdo in the place including Jessie who told us all about the war in Ireland and how people were being killed at the borders. Thankfully Mammy was safe enough on her trip to Asda! 

My low point of the year 

Well that would probably be when I went on a lunchtime date. I snuck out of work and went to meet Mark for a picnic. How romantic! As we sat on the grass of Soho Square eating sandwiches and malteasers, I wondered ‘could he be the one?’ And in answer to my thoughts a pigeon flew over and sprayed is both. Now, I’m not totally up to date with pigeons bowel movements but I think it’s a fair assumption that Peter the pigeon had a few too many pints the night before, with Guinness being his tipple of choice. So there I sat, trying to ignore the fact that both I and my date had smatterings of pigeon excrement in our hair. It’s lucky right? Mark didn’t quite share my joy at being pooed on. He clearly wasn’t “the one,” and so the search continues. 

On a broader scale it has been a mixed year. There was euphoria when Ireland made history by voting yes for marriage equality. David Cameron had an affair with Miss Piggy resulting in her separation from Kermit the frog. Zayn broke all our hearts by leaving 1D… How could you Zayn??! I met Nicolas Hoult. He bought me a drink. We’re friends now. In May, a child was born with more money than I’ll ever see in my lifetime, Princess Charlotte. Leo Di Caprio still didn’t win an Oscar. Kim Kardashian popped out another sprog and called him Saint West, making him sound more like a shopping centre than a child. We’re still not quite sure who won Miss Universe. Daniel O Donnell captured the hearts of the nation, with disturbing pelvis thrusts on Strictly. Somebody won X Factor. Cecil the Lion got shot by a dentist. 600,000 refugees fled Afghanistan and Syria hoping for better life and safety in Europe. They dominated the headlines for most of August but they’re old news now. Black Friday meant that I could get a new tv at a fraction of the original price. The world lost Cilla Black, Maureen O Hara and Irish playwright Brian Friel. ISIS killed 130 people in a devastating attack on Paris. France responds by bombing Syria and a death toll is too unimportant to report. The world has gone mad. Mark Zuckerberg had a baby girl. Her first picture got over six million likes on Facebook. And here in Cavan, the turkey is ready (albeit slightly on the crispy side because I didn’t look after it properly). 

There’s just a week left of 2015, lets make it a good one! Merry Christmas to you and yours. See you in 2016. Over and out. 

Advent Calendar of Kindness

Dec 1st

The official start of Christmas. Despite Christmas ads being plastered everywhere you turn, Christmas only becomes real when December kicks in and the first door of the advent calendar is opened and the chocolate behind it has been gobbled down. To be honest, when I woke up I didn’t realise that December had arrived on my doorstep, but there’s usually very little realised until I get to work and have my first coffee. Until then I’m on autopilot. 

This morning I stepped into line with the rest of the commuter soldiers and marched to the station. On the platform, I noticed a kid, about 12 who seemed a bit lost. He was clearly distressed as he went to leave the platform and then suddenly changed his mind and turned back. The rest of the commuters ignored him (they’re commuters, not people) too engrossed in The Metro to pay attention to anyone else. 

It turns out that he’d left his phone on the train and was in a bit of a tizzy about what he should do. I let him use my phone, he called his phone but it rang out. So I told him to ring home. He rang his Mum who put him at ease within minutes of talking to him. And with a nice thank you and a smile, he went off to school and I got on my train for work. 

Nothing major, about 5 minutes of my time. Not even long enough to miss my first train. 

When I moved to London, I was the idiot who smiled on the tube and didn’t care of people stood on the left of the escalator. Now I’d rather watch the world burn!

But I don’t want to be blind to people around me. So I’ve decided that in the run up to Christmas, I’m going to jump on the random acts of kindness bandwagon. At least one random act of kindness per day in the run up to Christmas. Because not everyone is as lucky as I am. What’s that I hear you say????   

  So over the next 4 weeks, I’ll be keeping you posted on the adventures that comes with being nice to strangers. An experience that will be pretty new to me…..