MY mission was to watch a James Bond film in its entirety for the first time.
My appointment with James Bond left me unexpectedly both shaken and stirred. I won't lie, I cried my eyes out at the end of No Time To Die. Despite the duration of the film being far too long, I reluctantly enjoyed my first 007 film.
Whether a product of the pandemic or of being parents to a toddler, I realised that we hadn't been in the cinema for a couple of years, and it had been a year since we were 'out out' of a Saturday night in Belfast city centre.
I was really impressed by the way that many restaurants and bars have transformed available outdoor spaces. The town wasn't very busy but there was good atmosphere. A good Belfast night out is always fuel for the soul, but then comes trying to get home.
Lightweight that I have become, I was ready for home around 10.30pm - early enough to get a taxi home, I thought. Wrong. It was a 30-40 minute wait for a taxi, and 20 minutes for the last bus.
Belfast is a small city. The businesses are trying their best to make the 'new normal' experience as enjoyable as possible for the customer, and they are not being helped by poor transport provision. It is off-putting to anyone who needs to find a way home at the end of the night.
We are are experiencing a climate crisis and rightly, we are being encouraged to leave the car at home and incorporate the use of public transport into our lives more.
I'm all for that, but where is the transport? Opening hours in pubs and clubs has been extended to 2am. Great. But how do we get home if we avail of the later opening hour? No buses are available at that time of night, only taxis.
There aren't enough working taxis in the city at the minute. What happens to someone who is on their own, trying to get home late at night? Inconvenience turns into fear in this regard.
As for trains - the lack of a train network west of Portadown, and the speed of the trains we do have, paints a depressing picture.
****
THE beautiful game has never interested me. I do enjoy jumping on the bandwagon from time to time when there's a big tournament on, but who doesn't?
I don't understand any of it, particularly the possibility that two teams can play competitively for an hour and a half only for the game to end scoreless.
My family is a mixture of Aston Villa and Liverpool fans but I have never felt the impulse to consistently support a team, until now.
I can honestly say that I support Richmond. Never heard of it? You need to watch Ted Lasso, an original series which is streaming now on Apple TV (I recently got three months' subscription for free).
I heard that the series was about an English football club, so it passed me by initially. Come awards season, again I jump on the bandwagon. This year, I discovered Ted Lasso which had been nominated for 20 awards, no less. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
The scorned ex-wife of the owner of a football club hires an American football coach from Kentucky, who knows nothing about football, to manage the club.
What starts out as an act of sabotage, becomes a story of true friendship. Ted hasn't a clue about football and because of his lack of knowledge, players, journalists, fans, everyone connected with the club wants to hate Ted, but he wins them all over with his infectious enthusiasm, empathy and his desire to understand what makes people tick.
This cynical viewer has been won over by Ted's positivity, his willingness to be part of a team and make the people around him want to be the best version of themselves possible. The other characters explore the complications and intricacies of all sorts of relationships with side splitting humour one minute, and deep human connection the next. It is a masterpiece.
It's only a TV show, but the world of Ted Lasso provides the perfect escapism required in an ugly world. Call me naïve, but at present, I will gladly embrace anything that injects life with a little positivity and hope.
