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# Where it all started: a Honda, a Christmas pudding and Fota Island
- URL: https://www.ciaran-murray.com/where-it-all-started/
- Published: 2026-09-24T09:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T06:28:20.000Z
- Description: At fifteen I bought a Honda 125 with money from a few hours' work a week. Then came the first waiter job, a Christmas pudding, and Fota Island at eighteen.
- Author: Ciaran Murray
- Tags: Heritage & Place, Cork to the Highlands

*Written on 24 September 2026, the first of three looks back before the move. The move has since come forward, from late November to the end of October.*

I've been looking back this week at where it all started.

At fifteen I was saving every cent from a few hours' work a week, wherever I could find it, and I bought my first motorbike: a Honda XL Varadero 125\. I was on the road on it at sixteen.

![A teenage Ciaran beside his Honda Varadero 125 outside a house.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/wias-honda.jpg)

Then came my first waiter job, at the Ambassador Hotel in Cork, working weddings and functions. At one Christmas wedding the chef handed me a Christmas pudding. I'd never tasted one. I've loved them since.

## Fota Island, at eighteen

At eighteen I joined Fota Island Resort and began learning how a five-star operation really works: attention to detail, consistency, and standards that have to hold when the pressure is on, not only when the room is quiet.

![A young Ciaran in a suit and tie, smiling, outdoors on a bright day.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/wias-suit.jpg)

Over the next few years I worked across restaurant, bar and pass, including the flagship winter events, where service ran to 3,000 covers a day. I went from waiter to food and beverage supervisor inside two years.

Two people from those years stand out. Dan Leahy, the head chef: patient, very funny, and someone I still respect. And Sid Datta, who managed the clubhouse where I worked; his professionalism and work ethic left a mark on me that hasn't faded.

## Cork, Dublin, Killarney

Since then I've moved through food and beverage supervision and management in Cork and Dublin, with responsibility for teams, service standards, stock, suppliers, cash, labour and the commercial numbers.

![A selfie on a green hillside under a blue sky.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/wias-hill.jpg)

This year I went back to five-star, at Aghadoe Heights above the lakes in Killarney, working across restaurant, bar, pass and in-room dining.

## Full circle

Outside work I've come full circle with the motorbikes. I'm starting advanced training on a Harley-Davidson Nightster 975 with Andy at Harley-Davidson Dublin, quite a step from the Varadero 125.

![A night-time selfie lit by a single street lamp.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/wias-night.jpg)

The next chapter is Scotland, ideally the Highlands. The second part of this look back is [the drinks, the people and the places](https://www.ciaran-murray.com/the-drinks-the-people-and-the-places/); the third is [why the Highlands](https://www.ciaran-murray.com/why-the-highlands/).

![Ciaran today, smiling at a riverside table in Cork, the city behind him.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/wias-today.jpg)

What was your first job on a floor, and who taught you the most in it? Tell me in the comments on LinkedIn, or hit reply if this came to you by email.

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