Everyone should be this happy at least once in their lives

Thomas Hall, what a place….

Last night Ireland won the rugby thingy. I don't really watch sport and i have no ability to do nationalism, however it would seem that many many people were EXTREMELY happy last night. Plus with Paddy's Day coming up, it would seem perfect presents for all. However, since i don't do sport or nationalism, it just passes over my head. But i did think, everyone should be this happy at least once in their life. Especially Brian O Driscoll.

Yesterday i had a kinda weird day where nothing really worked out the way it was supposed to. In fact i was on the verge of cancelling the appointments i had made when i thought no, i should do them because i need to do them. So i went ahead and had a lovely time. Sometimes it reminds me how much we all need people in our lives. I mean of course that goes without saying, but you know, sometimes when you are tired and think you have food poisoning that can seem a bit pointless.

I picked up a book, an old book yesterday. The Man who was Thursday by G K Chesterton. It made me feel rather nostalgic for my misspent youth. I used to lie in bed all day and read one novel after another. I remember when i had to speed read my way through three plays and four novels in a single week. I was never happier. Lying in my bed and going yeah, this is heaven. Watching the clouds scoot across the sky, wandering around campus, pretending to be depressed. It was fabulous.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about Exeter. Her son studies there now. I said I loved Exeter. It was filled with southerners and the North of England did not exist for us. What was THAT? We had lots of Welsh and Oxbridge rejects, and Bristol people and Bath people and Essex people - we had one lad from Newcastle and he was as miserable as fuck. I remember him giving out leaflets about the Poll Tax at the student union. I had never seen a more out of place fish. He was at the school cos he wanted to do the degree i was doing - a joint honours in English Lit and American and Commonwealth Art. A noble enough cause, i suppose. But my god… there he was in his German Army jacket, clearly wondering why he had done what he had done to himself. I mean the biggest society in the school was the Young Tories. I was so out of it, i did not know what Tories were.

We stayed in Thomas Hall which was straight out of a Jane Austen novel. It had tennis courts and old stables, a majestic drive and a stream. Of course everyone lived like this, i said, why wouldn't they? In fact the North was so not a place in my consciousness that more than ten years later when i was told that this person i was about to meet was a Geordie, i said, yes, what is that? A Geordie is someone from Newcastle. Where is that? It's in the North. Like as in coals to Newcastle. Yes, that one. If they are from Newcastle, why are they called Geordies i asked. I don't know why, came the annoyed reply from the Scouser, which i did not know was what Liverpuddians were called.

Anyway, Exeter… Now twenty years later Thomas Hall will be the new Steiner Academy in Exeter. How awesome is that? I could be going back there one day as a Steiner teacher for training. Weird huh?

Well today will be lots of organisation. I have just had this weird cappuccino instantly coffee thingy which has convinced me that i will never ever again have one of these things. For a lomng time i eyed them with suspicion and i am only having one cos we have run out of real coffee in the house. But they taste the way you'd imagine them to.

Such a day it was yesterday I went for a walk around the Waterworks for the first time with Oisin and a friend. We chatted about all sorts of things. Things in the past, things in the future. When i think about last year and how miserable i was - honestly, did i ever think i would emerge? But emerge i have. And its alright yes? I have now understood a little bit of why we suffer, I have seen how good and kind people are, i have discovered that what it is to be in this world a bit more… at this moment i have a sense of overwhelming gratitude and delight. That everything will be alright.

And when i look back on my life thus far, i think, wow, i have been Brian O Driscoll happy i have - and not just once, but many many many times over, in this life. To all the moments, the tiny stitches which make up the fabric of our lives, may we never miss a single one of them.