im2old4thisblogstuff

And here we are again, Christmas. A time for giving, being with loved ones, eating a huge dinner and a massive amount of sweets, and watching Christmas movies on the telly - my favourites are Die Hard 1 and 2.  It has been an actual trial to get to this point, what with the outbreak of COVID in 2020 seeing the Roaring Twenties 2.0  getting off to a fantastic start. And the war in Ukraine, forcing thousands of its citizens to abandon their homeland. There was also the extreme weather we experienced here, near 30 temperature in July to near -3 in December. It seems like things are going to hell in a handbasket. At this time, I always feel that it is important to think of those who are less fortunate. Those who are experiencing homelessness, starvation, poverty and depression all have it tough at this time. It makes me think of the song It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year  by Andy Williams, well, it really is not! I don't mean to get anyone down and make you feel bad, ...

Friday 2nd December saw the launch of the 'Healthy Communities' initiative in Wexford and I was asked to be a speaker at it. I was using one of the services called Social Prescribing which promotes mental health and well-being all through the county. At my last meeting, Lisa had asked for a testimonial from me and I assumed it was for publishing on their website and their literature. But I had no idea what would follow next. Another lady at the service, Deirdre, called me a few weeks later and asked me into a meeting. I said yes, kind of warily, in fact, thinking that I may have done something wrong. However, when I got there, she praised my testimonial for being honest and truthful. Her boss, Mary-Louise, came in and pretty much said the same thing. What happened next surprised me. I was then asked to do a promotional video for them, and attend the launch as a speaker. Something like that had never happened to me before. So, I said yes because I thought it was really important...