Tommy Collison

We are a family of precious few traditions, it has to be said. Well, tradition in the, erm, traditional sense of the word. You know, like going to midnight mass or having Grandma over for Christmas dinner, or everyone piling on the couch at 20:30 on a Christmas Eve to catch the Father Ted Christmas Special.

Then again, the word ‘tradition’ is actually defined by Google as an “inherited pattern of thought or action”. That, to me, seems a lot more lenient in that it says to me that it doesn’t have to be anything common, normal or usual.

And so, here’s a tradition. :)

Last year, around this time, I went Karting. I’ve always had a sordid relationship with karting to be honest. I was never a very tall child so when people went karting, I’d come out onto the track, into their self-titled ‘smallest car’, sit in it and see if I could reach. Invariably, I couldn’t, so I’d wait in the main building while the others went karting. My annoyance as to not being able to varied, depending on whether there were books and TV wherever I was waiting, or if water was readily available, things like that. I was always one of those kids who could stare at the wall and entertain himself but you do kind of grow out of that.

So because this time last year was my very first time behind the wheel, I was a bit of a Granny, and the only way I would’ve won is if they’d been measuring from the bottom up, or by the number of overtakes. I wasn’t very experienced and wasn’t aware that you could go faster than I was going. In fairness, the kart makes a loud, guttural roar when you floor the accelerator and that probably put me off.

So, since I approach this with experience under my belt, this time will be different. I didn’t overtake anyone last year so that skill still escapes me. Once I get that sorted nothing stops me from coming first, right?

Check back here to see if my confidence is placed well or not…