unironedman

For the last few years, a few of us from the station have played a memorial game of football for our sub-officer’s brother. It’s a mix and match of various people, but the bulk of the team are handy enough ex-Leixlip United players, so they know how to kick a ball.

In preparation for this event, I played an hour of five-a-side a few days before the match, which was a bad idea in the event. I haven’t kicked a ball in a year, but I seemed to have forgotten not so much the kicking bit, but how much hardship one hour of running around like a lunatic is on the groins, knees and ankles. And the real game is on a full-size pitch…

We played anyway, and the game finished four-all. The best part of it is that six of the team are all part of the fire crew.

On the home front, we continued our trend of making Christmas trees, rather than buying them. This one is a Sycamore branch (from the local park) that blew down in the recent storm. S sprayed it silver and worked her magic on the decorations.

I have also been getting to work on my 50th birthday present to myself, which was a guitar kit. The finished item will look a lot like a Gibson 335, if you know the style. It’s fairly straightforward, as the body and neck are the only items that need to be joined (in the woodworking sense), and then the finish must be applied, and the electronics and hardware fitted. My mate Terry (who is a luthier) is giving me a dig out with the tricky part of fitting the neck, as this is the make or break of the instrument. If you want to see some of Terry’s guitars, check out these videos. Yes, that’s me playing.

This is the guitar, and neck. The next time you see them, they should be happily joined together!

The crew of Kilo Echo 1-6 had their Christmas night out last night, and a good time was had.

We went Karting first, which is a great way to bring out your competitive streak. No matter how much you say you are going to take it handy, as soon as someone bumps you into the railings and overtakes you, your blood is up! The pic above is the crew minus the station officer (who probably decided it was wise not to put himself on the track with the lunatics) at the Mongolian Barbecue in Dublin. Then it was a few jars, and by half-one, three of the older fogies slipped away and left the younger ones to keep partying.

And just to prove there is still life in the old dogs, Ciaran and I, along with his mate Des, went for a run in the morning at half eight. Just an easy 8 miles along the canal bank in a cold, damp and drizzly morning. But it was good for clearing a groggy head.

And there has been some running of course. Plenty of 10ks in the park in the last couple of weeks. I still plan on doing the marathon on New Year’s Eve, though I reserve the right to bottle it, and do the Half instead. But I hope I don’t 😉

And so that’s probably it for Christmas. Remember, it’s only one day. See you on the other side.

And finally, Holly says what any decent soul would say at this time of year.

Only two more sleeps ’til Christmas…