Ok so Adler’s tagged me, that means I’m "it".

"The newest fad in the blogsphere is "tag, you’re it". …now I have to tell you all five things about myself that you did not already know. I also have to tag five other people."

Here’s my five-by-five:

1) I’ve been an extra in two movies: Widow’s Peak and Circle of Friends. I was in the same scenes as Chris O’Donnell, Minny Driver and Mia Farrow (interestingly enough Marc knows Stacey Nelkin, who is a former girlfriend of Woody Allen so in a weird way we share a degree of separation from Woody Allen).

2) I once bought Gabriel Byrne a pint in Neary’s pub at the top of Grafton street.

3) I loved smoking cigarettes and was an avid smoker up until five years or so ago. I started with Johnny Blues, then Marlboros, Camels, Marly lights and so on. I quit cold turkey after many failed attempts with gum etc. I still consider myself an addict due to the fact that if smoking was not bad for you I’d spark up in a second. I once chain-smoked (lit one cigarette off the other) 18 smokes in a row.

4) I once cycled 81 of the 112 miles from Dublin to Clonmel, Tipperary with no prior training (before I started smoking). It rained part of the way. I wore a German army parka jacket and took boiled eggs in the pockets as a snack. Some people in a car saw me eating these whilst stopped at the traffic light in Newlands Cross. They had a VERY good laugh at my expense.  I cycled the first 60 or so miles, then got a lift for about 30 miles, then did another 20 or so. If you ever try this, don’t take a break in the middle. Just go for as long as you can and THEN stop.

5) I was hit by a car whilst cycling to school one day. The crash damaged my bicycle and cut my right index finger to the bone. This and some bruises were my only injuries.

The crash tore a bunch of moldings off of the car. The driver stopped, got out, gave me a handkerchief, took my name and address and told me to "go home and run your finger under the tap". Then he drove off, presumably on his way to work.

I met a friend on the way home named P.J. Troy. I was close to fainting from the shock and loss of blood and he helped me walk the remaining mile back to my house. Doctors cautioned that I may lose the tip of my finger but as it turned out it survived but is numb in certain parts (it also has a weird nervy thing going on ). P.J. continued on to school and promptly got detention as he was over an hour late!!!

A few years later P.J. himself was hit by a car whilst on his own bike. He died shortly afterwards due to head injuries sustained in the crash.  I will always remember that walk home with P.J.

I shall now tag the following people:
Marc Mercuri, Kim Cameron, Dan Harrison, Chris Webb and Donald Crowdis