I am that person, you know the one that’s somewhere roasting (hard to imagine in this current weather I know), baking in the sun and stands at the side of the swimming pool and waits... and waits… and waits... oh and stares at the crystal blue, cool water lapping the side of the pool and … waits… and waits… Then in a moment of ‘there’s no going back’, I leap!  I would add, not in a belly flop but neither is it a graceful Tom Daley dive, it’s a fun filled leap! Once I am in there, I wonder why on earth I didn’t do it before now and I relish the cold waters finally embracing me. Then I jump out and jump straight back in again. I repeat this several times and enjoy every minute like a 7 year old. 

Why am I telling you this? Well it’s that time of year when the ‘Back to School’ signs are everywhere to be seen, and I am reminded of all the important decisions that are made at such an early age that determine the path you take later in life. I took the legal path, like most lawyers, because I was rubbish at maths and, yes I did love LA Law but I had a mother, who could never understand what you would do with a degree unless it lead to a profession. Look, everyone wants to be Erin Brockovich with a class action, but the daily grind of law couldn’t be further from the Erin’s and Ally’s. It’s not that I am not good at my job, clients seek me out and kindly recommend me but the ‘job’ of law is so different from even when I started 15 years ago, I suppose like many jobs, less people facing, more paper work and frustration.  

As you know I love food and to cut a long story sideways, I have been standing on the side of the pool too long, well 15 years. So I have decided to leap! I am taking a career break and going to give it a go with NI Food and Drink Tours. Who knows if it will work, but ‘there’s no going back’, the itch needs scratched so I might as well leap!

Maya Angelou said ‘You can never be great at anything unless you love it’ and for those making the decisions that influence where you will be spending 10 hours of your day, 5 days a week, I have only one piece of advice… Focus on what you love. It may take 30 years to figure that out but keep working on it because if you love it, you will make a success of it.  

Following the huge success of Caroline's Belfast food Tours, we have no doubt that NI Food Tours will make an even bigger statement on the Northern Ireland Tourist map and we wish her the very best of luck from all at Forestside. Brave lady!