Time to get writing again and what better time to do it then when sitting on the airplane on the way to meet my new nephew for the first time! So very excited and with my three amigos in tow it promises to be entertaining… to put it mildly!!

I have always maintained it’s the little things and the last 10 days have brought so many moments which have made me laugh, laugh some more and laugh again.

This blog post needs to come with a small health warning.

I went to Cork and mingled with Corkonians!!

A LARGE BANANA & MUD SLIDING AT LUNCH TIME

Last week I had the pleasure of working with a group of people in Cork for 3 days. This bunch was a real hearty Irish group that put some evidence behind the Irish being the happiest population in Europe.

On day 2 myself and 4 of the gentlemen in the group decided to, as upcoming safety representatives and a safety professional, to go on a walk in the sunny south. The facility offered a beautiful walk around a green area which we opted for on this fresh spring afternoon.

It all went very well until we neared the end when we met this dip in the green hills and the dip was nothing more than a full on mud slide! We all approached it with caution and a quick dynamic risk assessment determined the grass was a better path option allowing for a prompt run into a tree of rescue!

4 out of 5 made it safely to the bottom of the dip but the one sir that minded the rest of us wasn’t so lucky and took part in a lunch time mud challenge sliding down the hill with most of the back of his clothes fully destroyed with mud.

Full of sympathy and conscious of the now pending incident investigation (we are safety people) we did exactly what you would expect. LAUGHED!!

But laughing at the suffering does not go unpunished and when trying to get up the other side two more of us, myself included, lost footing and slid in to mud too.

Coming back into the place of work we all needed a cup of sweet tea. The people in the canteen gave us quite a look between the mud coming up to our ankles and the laughter. It was many moons ago since I laughed that hard, particularly at work! One gentleman, with only dripping wet shoes, was laughing so hard he was sweating, the other one laughed so hard he got pressure over his sinuses whilst the other one laughed with tears rolling down his face!!

So there is what not to do on your lunch break and especially not when you work in safety. I can think of way safer options…… but they are of course not my style and certainly not as much fun.  😉

I can only say that a feedback form following a course has never had this stated on it!!

One more story from Cork!!

On the last day it was time for the group to sit the exam and as one person needed to leave sooner I skipped lunch to let him get it done! Being exceptionally kind, the only lady in the group, offered me a banana out of her handbag. At first it may have seemed as a threat as she pulled it out of her bag holding onto it as a gun and on top of it the banana was probably the biggest banana I ever did see.

One of the male group members mentioned that it was certainly intimidating for the male audience in the room!

As I peeled it the “gentleman” sitting next to me, what after his statement seemed like too close, said “You know never to look someone in the eye when you are eating a banana”……..

I nearly went for the fork and bowl to mash it 🙈😝

It didn’t stop there but I can’t write a full blog about my visit to Cork which also included getting called a Safety Stork, talking about how Cork school kids gets stars placed in their forehead and much more.

It was a fabulous few days mixing my day job with some seriously fun personalities, stories and memories.

SOMETIMES IT’S A SHOW

Not every day is a good day, not for any of us, but certainly not for me. However the show must go on. During one of my off days, whilst delivering a manual handling training course, it dawned on me just how capable we are of putting on a show when we really need to.

The feedback form from one of the participants said “phenomenal speaker”….. What a word and it meant a lot to me that day as I was holding back a great deal of grumpiness and a little sadness!!!

As my job is working with people I need to stay focused, energetic and positive. I have learnt over the years how to do this, whilst at the same time ensuring that I find the time to just be too. Important to not stow away any of those emotions…. They make us who we are.

BINGO DISCRIMINATION & THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT…. EVER!!

I’ll start by saying that I am all for equality, not being discriminatory and all that jazz. But when the local bingo is changing one would wonder…!!!!!

So our parish has bingo every Sunday night (FYI I have never been) but this Sunday the discussion came around to the pending changes to how we are meant to call the numbers at bingo.

1. 88 – Two Fat Ladies – NO NO NO….. well what are we supposed to call it then? Asked one of our local gentlemen. Obese females?
2. 69….. seriously there is children at bingo and also elderly
3. 11 – Two long legs. That one remains ok…. Although I think I might be a little insulted. I’ve short legs….

They should have heard our banana discussion at bingo!!

So I want to finish this blog with telling you about one of the biggest compliments I have ever received!!! Especially when considering I am turning 40 this year.

The other day a man who was buying cattle called to the front door. Not having met me before he looked at me for a while (not really shy of looking either) and asked me was I Joe’s…. hmmm… daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will live on that forever more!!

Nearly time for landing so it’s a wrap for now!! Happy Valentines everybody!