Adrian Phelan
Post 39
New balls please| Mr EU President| Jodie French| Ant invasion| Park run| Action for Happiness| Goodbye and thanks| Social links| Links to past posts
Wimbledon — Summer personified
Wimbledon is like Christmas in the summer for me. I love it and it gives me all the childlike feels. Since I’ve lived in the south of England, I’ve attended more years than not, either with tickets or queueing up for a ground pass. The British love to queue and there’s nothing quite like the one at Wimbledon. It’s in quite pleasant surroundings and there’s always lots of freebies.
And despite perceptions, the day out is only as expensive as you choose to make it. The Stella is always cold mind. Just don’t have eight of them. 😊
Two years ago we saw Jannik Sinner play in the first round on Court One, so I tend to keep an eye on how he’s doing. He struggled through his first match but as of today he’s still in it.
The 40th post of this blog will go out on the day of the men’s final. Wait and see how quickly the week will pass and it will be interesting to see who’s in it.
New balls please.
Craicing EU presidency
Ireland has begun its EU presidency, and I’ve been frantically trying to find out what that means, apart from closing off Dublin Castle for a load of meetings. I’m bound to be asked, and I don’t want to give the answer I’m dying to which is that we must act Like Donald Trump for a few months. (It’s actually, ’running the EU Council for six months and steering the political agenda of the entire European Union.’)
Either way I think it’s a big deal and I wish everyone involved the very best of luck, particularly those involved with keeping everyone safe (and sober).
I also hope it’s an opportunity to showcase what I consider to be the best walkable city in the world. Get down to the Guinness Factory if you’re visiting.
The filim bit
I brushed up on my French last week by going to see A Private Life starring Jodie Foster. Set mainly in Paris but with none of the cliched shots of the Eifel Tower et al the film is a wild goose chase where psychiatrist Lilian Steiner pursues the husband of a recently-deceased patient because she suspects he murdered her. Steiner and her estranged husband Simon, excellently played by Daniel Auteuil get caught up in a couple of sticky situations as they fudge their way to getting the proof they need to implicate their suspect. I found their capers and the film’s various twists quite amusing. There’s a side story of odd family dynamics as Lilian and Simon, spend some awkward time with their son, Julien and their newborn grandchild. This is woven through the film along with some intimate scenes between Foster and Auteuil where they don’t seem estranged at all.
The film is odd, but good odd and kept me interested throughout. It’s worth a look if you like either Jodie Foster, French things or mystery and suspense.
It’s not a must see in the cinema, however. It can wait for the TV.
The ants are back, Ted
This time last week there wasn’t an ant in the house. This time this week the kitchen is crawling with thousands of them. It’s getting to the point where I’m getting a taste for mass murder. I do not know what their incentive is. And where have they been all year? It must have been one hell of a party behind the appliances to produce that many. Or a gismo thing where they touched water or were fed after midnight (Contact me if you get that reference).
Anyway, I’ve tried everything from playing Snow Patrol on a loop to cooking fish and nothing’s working so if anyone has any tips on getting rid of them, email me.
Park tralking
One of my dad’s buzz words was ‘tralk’ which he defined as a cross between a trot and a walk. That pretty much sums up my Parkrun this weekend. It was my first back after a fair few weeks and it was tough. But when you’re going from nothing straight to 5k you can’t expect anything else.
I didn’t fall over which is a step in the right direction (for want of a better expression) and as I always say, it’s the best thing you could ever do.
A closer look at my results shows me it was run 39 and this is post 39 of this blog. A total coincidence but one very much a happy one.
Life begins at 40 as they say, so check in next week.
Do Good Well
While looking for something to include here I came across Action for Happiness. The name alone warrants its inclusion. What a positive movement. They describe themselves as a movement of people taking action to create a happier and kinder world, together. They also say they are completely non‑religious, non‑political and non‑commercial, welcoming people from all backgrounds.
There are free resources on the website to support your own happiness journey so perhaps take a look and then this week’s ask is to help raise awareness of their efforts.
This page looks good if you want to dive straight in.
Goodbye and thanks
So that was post 39. Quite an eclectic mix this week. I’m trying to learn something new each week, particularly around promotion, so if you think you can help, get in touch. And a quick plug for my CV. Do keep me in mind.
Socially viable
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Past posts
28 June
21 June
14 June
7 June
31 May
24 May
17 May
10 May
2 May
26 April
12 April
5 April
29 March
22 March
15 March
8 March
1 March
21 February
14 February
7 February
1 February
23 January
16 January
9 January
2 January
26 December
20 December
12 December
5 December
28 November
21 November
14 November
7 November
31 October
24 October
17 October
10 October
3 October
Adrian Phelan 
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