…leave with memories not regrets…
It's well known that the Irish have a "way" of doing things but few know of the hilarity of growing up in Ireland and the totally cringeworthy habits that are formed as a result. Like the time when I was in a friends house having just moved to London. We were watching a film and … Continue reading 90s time in Ireland.
I had a day off yesterday and decided to use some of the time to think about the last few months and the way in which lockdown has taken its toll on me, my life and my training. March seems so long ago now. The first few weeks were surreal and in a way underpinned … Continue reading It’s such a VUCA world now…
March 2020... I took the mini to London on a Sunday and basically put my office, including a chair, in the back seat. Everything felt surreal, the office closed, the dojo closed and it became a typical farewell to say..."see you online". Online, urgh! As someone who needs to be around real people this was … Continue reading Lockdown times
I haven't written anything in ages... actually that's not true. I've written loads, I've about 30 draft articles that were all started in good faith, just never finished. These past few months my life has drastically changed. Yes I know there are people going through all sorts of horrors that don't compare to "just" being … Continue reading Thank you
This is not going to be directly about Coronavirus... I've bloody well gone and done something stupid to my back. Yup I'm injured. This wasn't an immediate injury... it kind of started as a stiffness and then 2 days ago I started to make moaning noises when I bent over. Not good. I'm not sure … Continue reading A time to stop and think…
When all this started the first few days were basically a novelty. Because I spend most of my time with people I rarely get to work from home but when I do it's bliss. I mean I generally make it to the couch and that's me for the day, laptop on my knees, duvet and … Continue reading Finding new habits.
If one more person starts a conversation with the words "challenging" or "interesting" times I'm likely to spontaneously combust. I get it. Life is changing and so are the rules. So this won't be an article that talks about the dreaded zoonotic disease that fills every website and email subject. Instead I want to talk … Continue reading Sysiphean times
I remember growing up in Dublin with grandparents who survived the war. In fact they had stories about how they went towards the war in some cases. Sought out ways to help and in some ways thrived in the madness. A few weeks ago I was still thinking that this virus would disappear before I … Continue reading It all just got real
There was a figure that went around years ago that only 1 in every 10,000 people who started a martial art made it to black belt. It's certainly something my first instructor used to bang on about all the time. In fact, he would be at pains to point out that he had taught hundreds … Continue reading Black Belt Blues
Life in London is never boring, or straightforward. A trip that should take 20 minutes, can take over an hour if there is the smallest accident and in the same breath, one tube line can totally de-rail an evening... sorry for the rather obvious pun. You see this played out in the faces of Londoners … Continue reading London or bust.
