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!