My mother has always said it’s healthy to have a pastime. “Something to keep the mind occupied,” she’d muse. Good advice. But then again, aren’t mothers always right?
Personally, I like to think that my penchant for watching endless DVDs counts as a hobby. I can also put away a packet or two of jaffa cakes at the same time. This is known as multi-tasking. As you can see, I take my hobby very seriously.
Other ladies, however, like to think outside the box (literally). They venture far and wide to get their kicks – from the deepest blue sea to the highest mountains (well, the highest mountains in Wicklow), via casinos, pubs and clubs galore. But can they do it while eating a family size bag of pop-corn? I think not.
Su Thomas
Director, Pinnacle Records Ireland
Hobby: Scuba diving
So here’s an idea that’s a bit left-field. While the weather is nice and chilly and the waters are unpredictably choppy, why not jump in and have a look-see what’s going on way down there, in the depths? Crazy? Not so, claims Su Thomas.
Su has been scuba diving for about nine years. “Once the bug bites, it’s hard to stay away from the water,” she says.
“I did my open water course [the basic diving qualification] when I was in Malta. Most people go on their first dive while they’re on holidays.”
Holiday divers rarely keep it up when they get home, but there are those who do – with hugely rewarding results. “On a good day the west of Ireland is one of the best places in the world to dive," says Thomas. "The variety of what you’ll see, in terms of the topography, the seabed and the fishlife, is huge. A school of mackerel in the right light is just as beautiful as any tropical fish.”
Diving can take you all over the world. In addition to Malta, Thomas has dived in Cuba, Turkey and, most recently, Mexico. Next stop: Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, followed by the Aran Islands.
There’s the social life to think about, too. “You get to meet people and it’s good craic. A lot of time is spent hanging around – on a boat or waiting for a boat – and you inevitably get chatting. Divers tend to be quite boisterous so there’s lots of slagging."
Jenny Cruess Callaghan
Student
Hobby: Poker
It’s not often that a father will be proud of his daughter on account of her inclination to deprive other people of their savings. No, we’re not talking about some mafia family here. We’re talking poker!
“My dad’s a professional poker player, so I’ve grown-up with it,” explains Jenny Cruess Callaghan. “I only started playing tournaments myself about eight months ago. At first I didn’t like to go on my own because it was a bit intimidating – but now I go at least twice a week.”
As poker gains popularity, casinos are beginning to appear all over Ireland, and more and more people are playing a game of ‘Texas hold’em’ of an evening. At the same time, it’s rare to find females among the ‘combatants’. “Being a girl and being so young gives me a bit of an edge actually, because everyone immediately thinks I don’t know what I’m doing,” says Jenny.
This young woman is, it seems, a total shark. Working off the advice that her father regularly sends via email from the south of France, she is quickly counting her winnings. “The most I’ve won is €700. That was about three weeks ago. But I only really enter the little games with €20 pay-ins.”
So will you find her in the casino at 4 am? “Lord no. I have to be sober to play tournaments. But if a game starts at a party, I’ll definitely join in for the craic.” Like father, like crafty daughter.
Linda Turner
Student
Hobby: Surfing
We are all aware of the stereotypical idea of a surfer: long blonde hair, brown bodies rarely out of boardshorts, and a tendency to say ‘dude’ at the end of every sentence. Dude.
“God no, that’s not me at all,” says Linda Turner, a surfer from, of all places, land-locked Longford. “I really hope there’s no one like that in Ireland.”
Surfing in Ireland is...well, on the crest of a wave. Most third level colleges have a surfing club and at weekends the coasts of Sligo, Clare and Donegal are rarely without someone bobbing happily among the waves.
“We have top-class surfing in Ireland,” says Turner. “Bundoran is one of the best surf-spots in the world. When I was in Maui everyone was raving about rainy old Ireland and our great surfing. I couldn’t believe it.”
When Turner wants to hit the waves, she heads to Achill Island. Here, she learned how to wind-surf when she was 15. “I started wind-surfing and took up surfing about three years ago, when I borrowed my brothers’ board and just went at it. It’s tough when you start, but a lot of fun.”
She recently went to Morocco to test the waves there. “I got battered. The waves were huge. I’m used to piddly little things in comparison, so it was quite a shock. But I like to think that it was good for me.”
What’s her advice for budding surfer-chicks? “If you want to surf for the sake of doing it, then cool, work away. But don’t start just because it looks cool. It’s hard work.”
Karla Healion
Production Assistant
Hobby: DJing
For any music lover, the temptation to get a pair of decks and bring them to every party you go to is huge.
Never again will you be subjected to someone else’s warped taste in music. For Karla Healion, the dream has been a reality for the past 10 years. “When I started I was actually managing a musical equipment shop and was doing a sound engineering course at the same time,” she explains.
Surrounded by DJs, including well known Dublin DJ Warren K, it’s not surprising she quickly took to spinning. Aged 17, she played her first paying gig. However, she insists that it’s still a hobby for her. “Most gigs that I’ve done haven’t paid much and, in fact, I would do the more underground gigs for free. Usually you’re just playing for mates’ house parties and things like that.”
Then there is the lure of record shopping. “It’s like a hobby in itself. I hate any other kind of shopping. Records can take all your money but I’d rather spend it on vinyl rather than lipstick or clothes.”
Lindsey Kerrigan
Receptionist
Hobby: Hillwalking
While battling the elements during the walk to work may be enough for most people, Lindsey Kerrigan likes to take it to another level altogether. About once a month, Lindsey will accompany her father, and anyone else he can rope in, on a not-so-leisurely stroll somewhere in the vicinity of the Wicklow Mountains.
“I got into hillwalking through my father,” explains Lindsey, “All you have to do is spend 10 minutes talking to him and then you’re going walking with him next Saturday. There’s actually about 20 people who go with him religiously.”
This is a man who, five years ago, climbed the foothills of Mount Everest and even got to base camp five. So there’s no messing about here. “I do it for the exercise really, it’s not what you would call pleasant," says Lindsey. "Walking around Marlay Park (in Dublin) is pleasant – this is tough going, really tough going. You’re walking for about five hours, and even longer in the summer.”
Don’t shed a tear for her just yet, though. “I go with my cousins and sometimes a friend will join us, and then afterwards everyone heads to the pub for a couple of pints. In that way it becomes more of a social thing.” Well, what could be better than a comfy pub in Wicklow after a hard day trudging through the mud?
Susie Tyrrell
Student
Hobby: Wine Tasting
“I’m studying culinary arts in Dublin Institute of Technology”, explains Susie Tyrrell. “We had to do wine tasting as part of our course. My lecturers make me drink glasses of wine for my degree – what can I say? It’s tough.”
At an average event, a wine taster might sample up to 100 different vintages. It sounds like one heck of a night out. “I’ll be honest, when I started going it was mostly to do with the promise of free drink for me and my friends,” explains Susie (well, she is a student). “But even after the first night, I decided that I did enjoy the actual tasting process. It’s interesting how an area or a year can totally influence how a wine tastes. And you get to recognise the different flavours.”
To be fair, as a chef, Tyrrell needs to know a bit about wine. But how does she separate her hobby from her study? Apparently, it can be a struggle.
“Let’s just say I’m not exactly sober at the end of the night. And once I’ve sampled all the wines, I like to contemplate my findings on the dancefloor. I think I approach my cooking with more, er, concentration. But I’m really getting into New World wines now. I didn’t like them at first because when you think ‘wine’ you always associate it with France or Italy, but New Zealand has some amazing white wines.”
And finally, the most basic question: Red or White? “Oh, red,” she says. “Definitely”.