“But now the days are short, I’m in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine from fine old kegs
From the brim to the dregs, and it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year”
Ervin Drake
Welcome Ladies, Gentlemen , and you , to the first annual Super Jet Robot Dinosaurs awards for 2025.
This is a new event, mostly inspired by the fact that I am sitting in bed, with a hot water bottle, coughing a lot and comfort eating mince pies. Due to my delirium I had been working on my annual Christmas story before realising that that will only be going out next week, so , despite having always felt that reviews of the year, and annual awards was quite a lazy way of filling in when there was nothing else prepared … here are some random events, things, people, music, and , or vibes that , for me, made this a very good year.
Book of the Year – ‘A Beginners Guide To Dying’ by Simon Boas
This book sounds like a terrible idea and I only read it because my Monaghan adjacent friend Colm sent it to me and said I’d like it. He was right. I devoured it, and laughed a lot.
Wedding of The Year – Barra & Holly
Again, this sounded like a terrible idea …joking ! This was a fantastic family reunion, with a wedding thrown in. If anyone reading this is thinking of getting married, go to a mountainside in Wales, get married in a barn, and invite as many Bonds , Liddys and McKennas as you can !
Recipe of the Year – Marry Me Chicken
Someone finally found a deliciously practical use for sundried tomatoes. This sauce makes anything and everything it touches taste amazing. And it’s very simple to make and easy to adapt for vegan, vegetarian and gluten free guests. We have it at least once a week !
Cat of the Year – Tuna
It is very kind of Tuna to allow us to share her house with her. All we have to do is …well do whatever she wants, when she wants and everything is grand. There are no runner up awards, but if there were Stephen Cat would get that , just because of her name.
Engagement of the Year – Telio & Geraldine
Not only are they a deliciously gorgeous couple, but Telio chose to propose to Geraldine on the top of a snow covered mountain in Switzerland, in the middle of a half marathon…and I was there to witness it !!!
Dog of the Year – Molly
Our next door neighbours, Shauna and Chrissy let me mow their lawn on occasion, and if I do a good job, they let me throw sticks for Molly, and sometimes Molly brings them back to me. Wait, I tell a lie, Molly always brings them back in my general direction, but just doesn’t let me have them.
Weirdest new exercise – Reformer Pilates
I can’t properly recall whose hairbrained idea it was to try Reformer Pilates ( Rays !), but for many weeks this year, on a Monday evening at 8pm, Ray and I would join Declan and Brendan so that our instructor Niall could spend an exasperating hour trying to stop us falling off medieval torture devices. He did play great tunes , but I think that was mostly to drown out the unnatural creaking noises our limbs made.
Musical of the Year – The Rocky Horror Picture Show
This was Ray’s birthday treat , as he’d always wanted to see it, and he and I assumed that we were all great fans of the show, but our other guests, AnnaMarie, Dominic, and Brenda were aufait with the whole premise of it, which we discovered during the first musical numbers when Brenda looked over at me and silently mouthed “What the f*** is going on ?”.
Weirdest Injury Of The Year – Forehead Burn
We have a ride on lawnmower and something was rattling in it, which I manfully ignored for a number of weeks until it stopped working altogether. I worked out that a tension belt had become frayed and then loose. I worked this out because I found it in our garden. I assumed that I would be able to install a new one. I bought a new one. It didn’t fit. So I went and bought the correct one. Then I got our Elliott and Jake to lift up the mower so that I could curse loudly at the under carriage of the lawnmower, cut the backs of my fingers and then whack my head of the lawnmower exhaust and burn it…forgetting that it was still hot after I’d driven it out of the shed.
Best Coach of the Year – Jamie Crawford
He guided us over snow covered Alps, ran us over the Wicklow mountains, got us around Killarney and had us doing 30 day squat challenges.
Worst Coach of The Year – Jamie Crawford
He guided us over snow covered Alps, ran us over the Wicklow mountains, got us around Killarney and had us doing 30 day squat challenges.
Album of The Year – Euro Country by CMAT
Our very own Dunboyne Diana did it again with her third album in 5 years , adding new classics ‘Running/Planning’, ‘Take A Sexy Picture Of Me’, and ‘When A Good Man Cries’, to her repertoire. I now measure my age in Before CMAT , BCmat, and Après CMAT, ACmat.
Worst Bet of The Year – The Wine Wager
Back in the innocent days of June for some reason that escapes me now, my Soulmate joined Ray and I for a run out in Rossmore Park. On occasion I can annoy my Soulmate with random queries and conversations regarding history and politics. Ray, whom I love dearly, annoys everybody, all of the time. So perhaps it was the combination of having to listen to the two of us panting our way around Rossmore and talking with misplaced airs of authority about everything that led to her convincing us to have a bet with each other. Between that day and the end of July whichever one of us lost the most weight would win and the loser had to make a forfeit.
If Ray lost he had to give up Lucozade until Christmas, and if I lost , I suggested that I would give up Rioja. My Soulmate helpfully interjected that it should be all red wines, as I would simply start drinking Malbec. And I reluctantly agreed. She then, even more helpfully suggested that I forfeit all wine.
“I don’t even drink white wine !” I said in exasperation.
“You will when you can’t have red !” she replied.
I agreed, confident that that I was running more often than Ray anyway, and sure to win. I didn’t. Ray took to the bet with a Jesuitical devotion that would have brought a tear to the eye of a statue…especially one of those golden statues of a little fat Buddha.
I lost the bet. I am REALLY looking forward to Christmas, and my Soulmate has never been allowed run with us since.
Best Audio Book of The Year – ‘Domination’ by Professor Alice Roberts
I put audio books into a separate category to actual books because , despite what my brother Stephen says, they are NOT the same. This one is about how the Christian faith took over the infrastructure of the Roman Empire and all of the quirks of fate that led to its domination over other religions that were more likely to do so.
I’ve listened to it twice. This is because I’ve enjoyed it, but mostly because I listen to it in bed and keep having to rewind chapters because I fall asleep.
Best Family Meal of The Year – Elliott’s 21st.
Every family meal is a treasure, but as we all get older, travel further from each other, and get consumed with all our individually wonderful lives, they can become rarer. Everyone made a great effort to be home for Elliott’s 21st and we made a heck of a weekend out of it.
Best Gig of The Year – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah , at The Button Factory
This was a tough choice, as I got to see some great gigs this year. Nothing beats seeing a band perform live in the company of friends. I heard Clap Your Hands Say Yeah for the very first time back in 2006 when I was in a shop in Manchester and they played the album in the background and it stopped me in my tracks. I bought the CD and played it incessantly. But they were always breaking up as a band, and I never got to see them. But this year Alec Ounsworth decided to tour on the 20th anniversary of their first album’s release, and I bought tickets immediately and got to see them in the company of Baz, Jono, Paula, Micky, Paul, and Karl, all of my best gig mates. Heaven.
Best Run of The Year – Belfast Half Marathon
All runs are great, but runs with friends are the greatest. This year I got to run in Belfast with my Soulmate, and Robyn, Jake, and my evil Goddottir Eimear. It was Robyn and Jake’s first half marathons, and it was an awesome day. Robyn had asked that she be serenaded at the halfway mark, and as all of the others had run ahead I sang Fontaines DC’s ‘Starburster’ to her as we jogged past the Harland & Wolff cranes. We then got to meet her boyfriend , Dundalk John’s family and went for some reviving post half marathon pints.
Best Reunion of The Year – Not Dead Yet Dinner 2025
Our annual class of ’84 get-togethers are each completely different to the preceding years due to the arrival of someone that hasn’t been before, and the fact that we’re all different people a year later with new experiences, or a new perspective on an older one. This years was the best so far.
Best App of The Year – Music League
This free app allows you to set up a wee league among your friends and each 5 days it prompts you to suggest a song based on a theme ‘Best Cover’, ‘Best Autumn Song’, ‘Best Boy Band Song’ etc…and it compiles a playlist and you then vote on each song, not knowing who picked which song. And most wonderfully of all, you’re allowed to leave a comment. Robyn added me to her league with the aforementioned Dundalk John, Aoife, Poreo, and Jude. I look forward to hearing their choices, and telling them why they were wrong.
Best Day of the Year – Today
Sometimes people are concerned that I get involved in too many things, take on too much , or just seem to be ‘always at something’. I do understand their concern, and its not really, or at least, no longer, a fear of time running out, I think its more of a gratitude that each and every day can be full of little wunders, adventures, songs, weirdness, smiles, chats, sharing, and not everyone gets the time or opportunity to stop and appreciate it. And don’t get me wrong , I forget too, and stomp around, annoyed about the wrong teabags, traffic, Poreo’s dreadful music taste, the news, hurlers on the ditch, Nordy Tayto, and have you seen the size of the sweets in the Cadbury Roses boxes this year ???
But complaining about today is a wonderful luxury too.
Thanks for listening, safe home, and may your God go with you.
Paul
P.S. Oh, forgot to say that reader of the year is you , yes you ! And this is just for you.
P.P.S This is the audio of an older blog – July 2023
