Mark O’Meara: the blog

Well the year is close-as-dammit to over and I suppose I should ruminate about the year gone and the year to come. With a few cheesy special effects and a reduced cast I could even do a flash-back laden Christmas special.

The last year has been, by any measure, a massive one for me. For the first time since I was eighteen I am not in the paid workforce in any fashion. For the first time ever pregnancy went from being something to fear above all else to something to enjoy and appreciate.

And of course the Funster has arrived. This time last year he was nothing at all and now he is over 6 kilos and quite responsive to all sorts of things. This feels like the largest journey of all.

And Nicky has proven to be not only a trooper in pregnancy but a terrific and caring mum. I have always had faith in her but it is quite the experience to be so spectacularly vindicated.

Like all years I have become closer to some people and others have drifted away. It would be a lie to say that I wish some of them had not but that’s the way it goes for everyone and I have no claim to being different.

As for the year ahead I have no predictions as such. Presumably I will get a little balder and Nicky just that bit more beautiful. Not doubt Finn will be a source of steady surprises, joys and bewildering moments. I think it is safe to guess this is not the year I will learn to play bar chords.

But I will play from time to time, perhaps at Dr Folk or, if my tolerance holds out, the Yak.

So that’s it’s for the Christmas special. A quick thanks to those still reading, some of you for close to three years and five thousand entries, you are as much a part of this flight of self indulgence as I am and I thank you for it.

Lesson for the day - write something to mark the time.

One of the things I got for Nicky for Christmas was a little indoor/outdoor thermometer and it is very handy at this time of year.

It tells me that is is currently 35 degrees outside now and 26 inside. Both are sure to climb as the day goes on and I wish we had made the decision about the air-conditioning just that little bit sooner.

Lesson for the day - heat is hard to get away from.

The Mavis was good enough to look after the Funster for us, bless her cotton socks, and we went off to see Return Of The King at Gold Class as organised by Karen who I used to work with long long ago.

All in all I enjoyed it, especially the first three quarters and I do think it is probably better than the first two, already bloody good, films.

Lesson for the day - some movies are best enjoyed in complete comfort, especially when they go for almost four hours.

When we got back from the Alpine Retreat we had a bit of a pre-bed game of Scrabble. Just something to do to settle.

And it was a tough game in many respects and neither of us ended up with anything like a record score with individual scores shy of 300.

But our total score, with 286 a piece gave us a new total which was a bit of a surprise but a pleasant one.

Lesson for the day - there are real surprises in good board games.

It was lovely to see everyone at the Alpine Retreat.

Sadly our puppies decided that no other doge were allowed near Their Baby and behaved like a pair of bullies. But it was lovely to see all the people, large and small.

And while it is now nice to be home it was lovely to be out among friends.

Lesson for the day - four legs good, two legs much much better behaved.

I don’t mind that all sorts of people, men and women, gay and straight, don’t wish to have sex with me. It really doesn’t fuss me. And I am happy to have heaps of contact with these people, not because I have to but because I generally quite like to.

So it got up my nose to have a woman who is a friend of friends say to me a number of times that she would much rather go pretty much anywhere where men were not allowed and could not understand why women had anything to do with them.

I certainly understand that she desires intimate contact only with women and I am the last to argue with that. I also understand that some men can be painful (as can some women). And I suppose that I don’t even mind that she holds this prejudice.

But I could do without the repeat references to it being peppered into the conversation with me. If I made corresponding comments about lesbians it would be quickly identified as both stupid and quite hostile.

Personally I don’t care what people identify as or are identified as but I do care what comes out of their mouths when they are talking to me.

Lesson for the day - silence is also gold plated.

As we came home and over the overpass I could see the tiled roofs of the brick veneer houses disappear into the distance. You would not have to be too caustic to call it toy town.

But it is home and I really like our block of it. It feels safe. The people and animals I love live there. Each and everytime time I come home I wish I had done so sooner. The outside world doesn’t scare me but it doesn’t comfort me the way that being home does.

Lesson for the day - the girl with the dog had a point.

On Christmas day I was discussing my flummery issues (as you do) and Fiona’s Mum gave me a couple of tips. The short version of these was to let the jelly set almost fully first and to whip up the condensed milk.

So I did both of these things and, lo and behold, real properly fluffy flummery.

Lesson for the day - previous generations know stuff.

Back to back Christmas Days are better than a double bill but it does kind of kill any plans for sitting around being idle on Boxing Day.

Tomorrow we are off to visit Coffee Bean and the day after we are off to see Return of The King.

But today we are having our rest day and I have to say it is quite the thing to do.

Lesson for the day - take it easy, take it slow

Well we spent Boxing Day at Nicky’s family Christmas and all went well. While I don’t claim to have seen everything it certainly seems that all went well and there were no punch-ups of any description.

So that is two good Christmases for us. I am glad you don’t have a third to go to. Firstly I don’t trust my luck to hold and secondly I just need a rest from people for a few hours.

Lesson for the day - there is such a things as enough of even good things.