Week 15 - Talk to someone I haven't seen in a year.

There are many things that I'm pretty useless at and keeping properly in touch with people is one of them! That's why I included this seemingly pretty simple task amongst the 52!

I had a couple of people in mind when it came to this one and the reality is that I want to catch up with a load more people by the end of the year. My mind was made up when I ran into Mairéad Hannan who along with her sister Deirdre used to babysit my sister and I about 25 years ago!

My relationship with the Hannan household goes way further back. My mum went back to work in the Bank of Ireland after a couple of weeks of having me and I got shipped up to daycare/child minding, whatever you want to call it around the corner from Riverside (Tuam Road) to the Hannan's house which was marshalled expertly by Deirdre and Mairéad's mum, Phil. She was genuinely like a second mother during the early years of my childhood and her house was a magical place to spend my days.

Some of my most impressive scars were acquired in that place by ignoring Phil's orders to behave and slamming into doors, falling off walls, out of trees and into the giant freezer in the shed while trying to steal Mr. Freeze ice pops! Some may argue that I still havn't grown up but I think I did a lot of growing up within those four walls under Phil's constant and watchful gaze!

File photo of a young Farrell after realising I can't reach the pedals! 

I got into the habit of visiting Phil every Christmas for a chat and a catch up but as often happens (with me at least!) the habit started to suffer and visits got less frequent until a couple of years had passed. As soon as I saw Mairéad, I knew that I needed to go and rectify the situation. So... in the spirit of these 52 cards giving me a necessary kick in the arse to go do stuff... I went to visit Phil.

She's always lived in Galway so geography has never been an excuse. Only me being a complete eejit got in the way so in true Irish style the only thing to do was call over and catch up over tea and KitKats! An hour and a half or 2 later and I had to go but we'd spoke about family, work and everything in between. It might sound lame but it reminded me of the importance of not only catching up with people on Facebook or Skype or with a text but actually talking to them in person when you have the chance.

As I said, there are many more people I intend on catching up with before the year is out. I didn't want to take the easy way out with this card and just Skype a mate I hadn't seen in a while. I'm delighted I went to see someone who means an awful lot me and despite Phil Hannan's house being the site of countless trips, falls, cuts and scars... I wouldn't have wanted to spend the first 3 or 4 years of my life anywhere else!

Week 14 - Take a photo every day for a week

I think I'm gonna have to throw the numbering system out the window because I'm about 8 weeks behind at this point! I've got Saibh Egan to thank for this week's challenge, and a couple more for the coming weeks at that! Fittingly for a photographer, she picked out the 7 of Clubs, 'Take a photo every day for a week'.

It's something I should be doing anyhow really and something I'm gonna try to keep up now. What I took are pretty rubbish but hopefully they'll get better with daily practice!

A sneaky Dublin pint pre-bus journey home!

And so the catching up begins! Thanks a lot Saibh Egan!

Cup holders are useful for loadsa stuff!

Hands up if this kinda thing doesn't drive you bat shit crazy!

Friday night pizza at Dough Bros. The best around.

Barca v Juve. Two of my childhood favourites head to head!

On a sunny day this country of ours looks pretty spectacular!

Week Number... eh.. never mind! - Getting Shit Done!

As it happens my last post to this blog was pretty much 2 months to the day! It was about failure and my inability to get one of my tasks done because I was too busy. Well, in that case I've failed miserably since! Not getting it done really pissed me off but it made me realise that I was too busy because I was getting other shit done, stuff that at the time was far more important. The whole idea of the 52 cards and the mini challenges on them was to get me into the habit of getting stuff done and working towards accomplishing the bigger challenges that I've set myself.

A lot has happened in the last 8 weeks or so, much of it a result of pursuing opportunities that I may ordinarily have passed up or even avoided altogether in the past. I've met some amazing people, I've learned a lot about myself (and others!), burned the midnight oil and have had lots of highs as well as the odd low but I've enjoyed every minute.

In times gone by I'd have stood and waited for opportunities to arise but I've learned the hard way (ridiculous as that sounds) that things don't happen like that. Yes it's been an eternity since I last finished one of my 52 cards but I'm ok with it (and the constant abuse!) because I've been busy... getting shit done!