A bit like Ole Gunnar Solskjær, there are times I wonder if I am in the right job. Many years ago when I was at an event, a couple came over to compliment me for a radio interview I had conducted some time previous. I nodded shyly feeling like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights. These nice people probably expected more of a return for their gracious act of kindness. I genuinely did not know what to say.

A friend who was with me scolded me. “Those people went out of their way to pay you a compliment and you made them feel like fools for doing so.”

He was completely right. It doesn’t cover over my real-life social awkwardness. On a recent taxi trip, as happens now and again, the driver began talking to me and in the midst of the conversation he recognised my voice. I have learned my lesson in terms of being conversational and polite in such instances, but it doesn’t make it any more comfortable.

Working in the media where you are essentially a public figure of sorts is different to most jobs

Maybe there are some people who go into the media business to massage their egos or become famous, but I dread a taxi conversation or a chatty barber in case they ask me what I do or where I work. Working in the media where you are essentially a public figure of sorts is different to most jobs.

I think it is a great privilege and I love what I do, but I fear that drawing attention to that fact might be misinterpreted as being flashy which is a complete no-no to our collective psyche. In Ireland, you can never get above your station. I’m sure some psychologist could help me unpack a lot of that and as to why for instance I would get the shivers if asked to conduct a street vox pop.

I can take a chastisement but would rather the ground swallow me up than take a compliment

Funnily, I can stand on stage in a room full of people and conduct a serious debate or make a speech but if I had my way, I’d then leave by the back door. It’s as much out of fear of being complimented more so than being chastised. I can take a chastisement but would rather the ground swallow me up than take a compliment. You learn more from the chastisement maybe. The great irony is how I make a living from asking people personal questions about their own lives and yet I’ve realised how stressful it was on the rare occasion I have found myself on the other side of the microphone.

I’m just too “old school”, in that I believe that the journalist should never be the story. But nowadays social media has facilitated the blurring of that line.

It’s not important and by actually writing this, the irony is, I’m being precious

It shouldn’t be a difficult human trait to be nice and courteous. But I can understand how shyness can be interpreted as aloofness. During the summer I was asked for a photograph with somebody because they love listening to the radio programme. I had to hide my embarrassment so as not to rebound the embarrassment twofold back onto them. “I am not a celebrity, get me out of here.”

It’s silly. It’s not important and by actually writing this, the irony is, I’m being precious. But it is to point out that there are people in life who are genuinely happier not to hog the limelight and prefer to blend into the background. It should not be misinterpreted as being ignorant.

Anyway it suits being this way as a Manchester United follower right now.

More than sport

Not everybody has an interest in sport, let alone the GAA. But listening to the radio last Sunday afternoon and the excitement at the various county finals, it is a reminder of how the GAA “club” is about more than sport.