An Axe-mplary Afternoon: The MIJ Christmas Party.

No Time Like The Present.

You will probably have guessed that Thanksgiving to Christmas is our busiest time of year: there is the hustle and bustle of packing and sending out your orders, and helping people choose the perfect gift for their loved ones. Overall, we tend to go home at the end of the day tired but contented. That means that our Christmas party typically happens a little later than most. MIJ has started a new tradition -Christmas in May - 2021's Christmas party was May 2022, and 2022's celebration was on the 12th of May this year.

A Celebratory Sail.

As with last year, we took the afternoon off - it's a good feeling to get away from work and to spend time together. Last year, we went on a boat trip across Dublin Bay from Dun Laoghaire to Howth, and had a delicious lunch at a restaurant along Howth's dock. The village is renowned for being the place to go for good seafood as the fishmongers there supply most of Dublin's best eateries; it also has some of the most expensive houses in Ireland located along its picturesque coastline. It's worth a visit if you come to Ireland and have the time. If you can do it by boat, all the better!

So far, so civilised. This year, we went for something a little more...adventurous. When Claire asked for ideas, Ruth suggested axe-throwing, and because Ruth is full of good ideas, axe-throwing is what we did!

The First Rule of Axe Club...

Axe Club Dublin is not somewhere you would find without directions, but you have to love it when you get there! Tucked away at the bottom of a tiny residential side street, it's a dark, wood-covered building with a firepit in the middle of the communal area that invites camaraderie and coffee.

Our lovely host gave us the run down on what we would be doing - and not doing - before we got started: the appropriate grip for throwing an axe two-handed, the back scratch to ensure proper alignment, forward momentum, and the ninety-degree angle as the release point. And then we got to have a go for ourselves.

Our Warrior Queens.

No one will be surprised, I'm sure, to hear that Gemma's competitive, nor Ciarán for that matter. They both did well. Over the course of an hour, however, despite some excellent showings from the rest of the group, the Chadwick sisters wiped the floor with us.

Having set up a leaderboard, á la Top Gear, MIJ's top scorers were Jane in first place, followed by Ruth in second, with Claire and Danny tied for third. The tie for third place resulted in a very exciting throw off between Claire and Danny. Eventually, Danny emerged victorious, but it was close! We crowned our Barbarian warrior queens, paid homage, and had photos taken while wearing horned helmets because, sure, why wouldn't you?

The Zen Of Axe-Throwing.

It's undoubtedly an excellent form of mindfulness training. To remain relaxed and aware of one's body while ensuring one does not channel all available force into the axe is almost counter-intuitive. If a person tells you they throw axes, it's easy to imagine that it requires enormous strength and energy, but it's much gentler. Oddly, you get better results when you go slower and, as our instructor told us at the beginning, only use about 10% of the power you think you should.

We've Only Just Begun.

Having thanked our fantastic host, we wended our way back to the city centre, via the No Name Bar at Gareth's recommendation, to La Maison restaurant for a truly delicious dinner. In fact, although we thought it would be very early to eat at five o'clock, we were all suitably ravenous, and some excellent wine ensured that we had to be persuaded to leave for another booking at eight o'clock!

I'm told that the night was a late one for most involved, but I couldn't possibly comment. There may have been some sore heads on Saturday, but if something's worth doing, it's worth doing well, don't you think?

An Important Note.

Thank you, Claire, for organising such a fun day out, and for ensuring that the restaurant knew our myriad dietary requirements. We're not an easy bunch to cater for, but she took the time to find somewhere where we could all eat happily together and enjoy each other's company. That's no mean feat, and we appreciate the effort.

To absolutely no one's surprise, Jane and Ruth plan to return to Axe Club regularly to hone their already pretty excellent skills, and Claire has already booked to go again with friends because she had such a good time. That's a win in our book, and thank you, Ruth, for your axe-llent idea.

(Oh go on, you wouldn't have let that one go either!)