Weekends Away Part One

My trip to Dublin at the weekend wasn't a typical one. On my previous visits a large part of my time was spent drinking alcohol or just walking around the city and seeing the sights. This trip was different though. For starters I drove down myself in the Fiesta, me, driving 100 miles non-stop into another country, into an unknown city... Yikes. That's what my thought process would have been just a few years ago for sure.

The drive down itself was uneventful, you can't exactly get lost, it's basically all motorway until you get to the outskirts of the city, then it's just main roads. It is still the longest drive i've ever done so far in the 8 months or so since I passed the driving test and got a car.  Quite an accomplishment I have to say, minor to some but a big deal to me. The motorway wasn't the hard part though, driving into Dublin itself was a fun experience, I didn't exactly know where to go to park so I put one of the only places I knew into my sat-nav and drove there, the place being St. Stephens Green, a shopping centre in the heart of Dublin city centre, a place i'd been to before for my job.

I'm actually glad I actually stopped there to be honest, at first I just thought i'd be there just for a few minutes, that I would get in contact with Kevin and then drive on to his work an pick him up. A few days before though he had mentioned that if the weather was good we could go for a hike just outside of Dublin, something I had never considered doing before but wasn't opposed to. I took a look in a few stores for any outdoor clothes or shoes, I was going to give up before I saw the Trespass store by chance. Trespass is a well known retail store catered to the outdoors, I can't say i'd ever been any of their stores before but I was aware of them.

I basically bought the first pair of shoes I saw in my size, not a lot of thought went into that purchase. I didn't check to see whether or not they were waterproof or water resistant, I only tried one shoe on, I didn't walk about in them to see how the fit was or if they were comfortable enough to wear. I did try the trousers I got on and checked the label to see whether they were waterproof, one out of two isn't bad. I was also lucky that there was a sale on, i'm not sure how much I saved but it was probably a good a fair amount. I'm sure i'll come to realise how expensive good outdoor clothing is.

Like I was saying before I was sidetracked, I went into the shopping centre just to wait about for word from Kevin on where I was going to pick him up, I thought he had moved location from where he had been previously, i'd been to his office before so I knew where that was but I was unsure if he was still there, he was. I probably should have found that information out before I set off for Dublin, it would have saved me the time, I wouldn't have had the chance to go shopping though and looking back on my visit nearly a week later I don't think I would have had the chance to shopping when I got into Dublin.

I'll cut this post short for now and end here, thanks for reading everyone! Echoes......... Until next time!

Exciting news!!!!

My oldest sister came to visit for the weekend and she shared some exciting news, she's expecting a baby in the Autumn!!! I'm going to be an uncle!!! Uncle Niall, to be honest i've actually been looking forward to that title! I wasn't sure for certain that i'd ever actually be an uncle though, I didn't know whether it was something to expect from my sisters but I guess i've been proven wrong!

So in September there'll be a new addition to the family!! I'm actually quite excited about it to be honest, I think i've always wanted to be an uncle, it could be a test to see how I do around babies/children seeing as i'm not around kids at all. All of my cousins are grown up and they're having kids of their own but i'm not close enough with them to be a part of their lives. I see the photos but I don't know if i'd ever have the opportunity to actually see them, maybe it's because the the majority of them live in the country and i'd only get updates from them from my parents or just seeing it on Facebook.

I guess there's going to be a lot happening this year for us, some it expected like Helen's wedding and the weddings of two of my other friends weddings but now in September there'll be a baby!! 

I really do need to book flights over to Wales now to see Fiona, I really won't have an excuse anymore, not that I had a legitimate excuse in the 6-7 years preceding. I could definitely be a better brother and I really hope I can be a good uncle to my niece or nephew, I just smiled saying those words so I guess it really is something to be excited about. 

I'm looking forward to being able to spoil the baby and fawn over it, I never really knew I had that type of personality but I guess i've just never had the change to express that side of myself before. I guess we'll see how well I do with the new responsibilities at the end of the year, i'm hoping to be attentive and actually act like I actually care rather than just being emotionally unavailable, that might be the right term for how I act, apathetic could be the extreme end of the spectrum but I guess I could be further to that side than I want to be.

The first chance to see the baby in person will be at Christmas if not sooner. I wonder whether my sister will want my parents to be there for the birth or at least there to help out for a week or so whenever the baby does arrive. 

The first post of 2018

It has been a long time since i've written anything here, over 6 months at least, this could be last post for another 6 months, who knows?

I guess the most important update I have is that i'm driving now, I passed my driving test and I have a car, a car which my parents paid for but nevertheless I still have a car. I've lost count of the number of miles i've driven since August but it's at least in the thousands, possible 2000, somewhere around that number, i'd need to find my travel logs for work and add up all of the journeys. The car mainly has just been for work but it's still handy to use when I want to get around or if I something to do that requires me to travel and which I don't want to have to use the bus for.

Having a car has changed things in my life to quite a considerable degree. I bitched before about the money I was making when it came to work. Doing all of those hours and not getting paid much for it. Even though i've gotten a raise or two i'm still not making a whole lot of money but it's the driving that's making all of my money for me. All of those 100+ mile journeys make a difference to my pay check. I could give up supervising and still make more than enough money to make it worth it just from driving.

I honestly don't know how I feel about supervising at the minute. At the start I was in some rocky territory, i'm still probably in that territory though to be honest. Things could be going better, I could actually be getting some training for instance rather than just being thrown into the deep end and hoping that i'll come out swimming. I've already said to the managers that I felt like I was getting in over my head and that I wasn't comfortable with the position I was being put into and they've listened to a degree but I still feel like too much is being asked of me and I just can't say no.

Saying no shouldn't be so hard for me to say but it is. I guess i've always been that way, I have the want or need to please people or not to disappoint anyone. You would think after 29 years I would have developed a backbone but it seems not.