My Greystones: Fiona Alston

Despite the fact that she hails from Scotland, Fiona Alston is just about the kindest, sunniest and funniest girl you could ever hope to meet around here.

Having had a long-distance love affair with Greystones for many, many years – well, it is where the horse of her dreams lives, after all – Fiona finally made the big move last month, and has become, for better or worse, one of us.

It was only a matter of time, of course, given that Fiona has spent pretty much every day for the last year or so commuting all the way out to Greystones from the big city, for that early morning jaunt through Glen Of the Downs woods with her beloved, Son Of Snurge, and then, perhaps, a quick triathlon or two before greeting the morning proper around 9am.

Bejaysus, this woman makes The Flynnstones look like, well, the Farrelly brothers.

Reckon it would be fair to say that Fiona took the long road to Greystones though. Born and raised in Scotland, whilst still a teenager, this feisty young woman headed to Tipperary, spending each and every day exercising racehorses. Having become a little saddle sore – metaphorically speaking – Fiona decided that a change of career, address and future was in order, and so moved to Dublin to become a journalist.

A regular contributor to The Irish Times, Fiona covers tech innovation, SMEs in business (nope, don’t know what that is either) and good ol’ health & fitness. Like all good freelance journalists, this gun’s for hire, by the way…

When not sweating over a hot laptop, Fiona spends just about every waking hour either exercising her trusty horse, or her fine self., having recently signed up for an actual triathlon. Qualified as a personal trainer, Fiona clearly knows what she’s doing. More importantly, the woman enjoys what she’s doing, which makes it that little bit easier to live up to her life mantra, Be The Reason Someone Smiled Today.

Even if that means comically off your horse whilst clearing a briar-packed hedge.

Hailing from good farming stock – mum still looks after the livestock and the veg back in Scotland – Fiona has always been one for wandering beyond the fence. Having spent a year and a half in Germany – where that fine Scottish accent almost got battered into submission – when she was just 18, and sheered sheep in Argentina (as you do), Fiona’s lust for life – and this great, big world of ours – knows no bounds.

So, welcome onboard the good ship Greystones, young Alston. We can always do with a little more sunshine around here…