Diary

Snap back to reality

Holidays are over, always too short, and I started work again on Monday more exhausted than when I left (as previously anticipated). I was in Lyon again, staying at my sister-in-law's beautiful house, and spent a week of delightful excess, partying, drinking and eating more than I should’ve. Clément and Juliette’s wedding was brilliant, although rainy, and I ended up getting home at five in the morning pretty wrecked. No hangover though the morning after, as all the eating and dancing of the previous night ensured my alcohol intake had been eliminated pretty quickly. The best part of it was obviously seeing friends I hadn’t seen since I left France five years ago, and we’ve all changed quite a bit! Some got married, others have children (and often both), and I found it quite depressing realising that we’re now all grown ups and our crazy college, we’re-young-we-will-be-forgiven-for-any-crazy-stuff-we-do years are well over. I now have to follow the tracks of millions before me and conform to a “respectable” life i.e. settle down, spend time doing an unfulfilling job, or stress over “getting a career”, buy an overpriced Dublin house, get a decent, maybe even new car that I can actually rely on, get married (well, maybe not!), have children, a dog, not blow my cash on clothes as there’s a mortgage to pay, commute for 3 hours every day, and finally “find my way to happiness”. If not, I’ll live an outcast life and not be entitled to anything society has made us believe was compulsory to be seen as a decent, honest, winning person. So much for freedom.
Sorry, I got carried away, back to that trip to France. I visited a few other friends, although I couldn’t see the whole lot of them. Staying at my sister-in-law’s place, as opposed to staying at my parents’, means that I was pretty far from town and couldn’t come and go as freely, as I couldn’t make them feel like they were a hotel. Plus my niece and nephew hadn’t really started school again and were around asking for a lot of my time and energy. They’re lovely kids but quite demanding (like every kid I guess).
And then there was the accident…(taddaaaaaa)….. We (Tom, my niece and I) were exiting the motorway, going around 30 km/hour as the traffic was quickly slowing down, when a fucking lunatics behind literally drove into us at very high speed. All I can remember is being jerked forward and back again and seeing us driving into the side barrier. Tom got out, and Eleonore and I went out of the window, as the doors wouldn’t open and the lad in the other car got out as well and all he could say was “sorry, I was day-dreaming!”. Really? Were you? Fucking eejit!. We waited for the breakdown rescue guy, as we were blocking the motorway exit, and when he saw the damage on the Laguna (pretty robust car), he concluded that the lad must have been going very fast, although we’d already got that from the strength of the impact. Anyway, the car is wrecked and since it was 10 years-old the insurance probably won’t pay much (insurance companies are crooks anyway). It was the car Tom and I were supposed to inherit and drive back to Dublin to replace our old Citroen CX that will die on us anytime soon. Anyway, we’re all safe and sound and that’s what really matters. And my niece really understood why wearing a seat belt is no bullshit. Live and learn.
That’s the story of my holiday. We left Lyon on a hot and shiny Sunday only to land on a chilly and rainy Dublin a couple of hours later, took a cab and got stuck in a crazy GAA final traffic. Welcome back to reality.

Brought to you by Sandrine @ 3:42 pm