Let's hold on to the good things!

Life is going on, we are learning to live with Covid.

The weather has been very good in Ireland which means that we can spend lots of time outside - and that's what we have been doing!
The parks are packed, swimming spots are full and people are doing lots of cycling.

I cycled to Ranelagh about 7pm to buy dinner and the place was packed with pedestrians and cyclists. 
I hope we hold on to this and continue with the outdoor socialising, walking and cycling. 

And the other good thing I hope we hold on to is virtual meetings. Yes amazingly enough I do think they have a place in this world even thought they sometimes can be difficult to participate in at times.

I participated in the most incredible meeting the other night - an online book club! It was my first time being part of a book club and I loved it and I even loved the online aspect too.
How great is it to switch on your computer and zoom meetup with lots of like minded people and talk about a book that you have all read.

        Check out the text from my younger sister after I reported what I had just been up to!

And then today after work my twin sister had a great variation of an online meeting. 
What we did was we both started watching the same video at the same time - Amy in Florida and me here in Dublin.
And what a great video it was - Margaret Atwood and Judy Blume in conversation. Two wonderful writers and superb conversationalists. I enjoyed listening to both but quite honestly Judy Blume is my hero. She is the most genuine, gracious, sensible but sassy and bright lady. And sharp and smart.......and just all round awesome!

Whenever I see Judy being interviewed, it brings me right back to the time that Amy and I met her in her bookstore in Key West. To say we were charmed was an understatement. We were enthralled by her and she had us in the palm of her hands. She was incredibly gracious and generous and spoke to us for about 30 minutes. I know they say you should never meet your heroes but when it comes to Judy Blume that is not the case!

If you want to watch the video it's is up on Youtube - click here to watch it.

Bike Boom 2020

All over Ireland Bike Shops are experiencing massive demands for their services and goods. I am seeing reports on twitter of bike shops selling out of bikes, large queues outside for parts or repairs and also bike mechanics working 6 day weeks and up to 10 hour days. It's all quite incredible!

I am noticing a lot more cyclists on the streets and they are coming in all forms. Older cyclists, younger cyclists, families, groups of boys, groups of girls - but children particularly.

Today when walking back from Ranelagh I saw a mother and her two children. One child looked about 7 and the other about 9 and they cycled up main street stopping at red lights with their mother behind them. It was a brilliant sight!

Currently people are cycling as it is safer than using public transport and additionally the streets are so much safer with less car traffic on the road. Here in Dublin the council are also upgrading cycling facilities like making a large safe cycle way along the river Liffey and putting in bollards to protect cycle lanes. All of these improvements will go along way to keeping people safe and encouraging people to continue cycling.

Long may it continue as the more people who get out and cycle the safer cyclists are. 

Here's a pic of my Dutch Bike which I sold back in February - I'm sure it's getting lots of use now in this Bike Boom!

Masks: just one other thing in the new reality

As usual Wednesday was my day in the office. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed the cycle down to the train station (I mixed it up and got on at Landsdowne for a change) and then had my cup of coffee while I waited for the train.

The train heading to Howth passed while I waited for my train. There was very few people on the train and even fewer wearing masks - I reckon about 10%.  

After I had my coffee, I slipped on a disposable mask and continued waiting for my train.

When I got on to the train, there was again very few people in the carriage (less than 5) and I think only one of them was wearing a mask.  

I certainly did not enjoy wearing the mask and I don't envy hospital workers who have to wear one for the whole day. It was hot and uncomfortable to say the least.

Later in the day I called to a dressmakers and bought a pack of five washable cloths. What a difference! 
They are soft and were much more comfortable to wear. I presume they are much better for the environment and I feel that I supported a small local business so I was glad to get them. 

I know wearing a mask would have been very commonplace in Asia before the Coronavirus pandemic and it is now being done worldwide, it seems like it may take Irish people a little longer to start wearing them than in other countries....let's watch this space.

Ups & Downs: Good Days & Bad Days

Today was a bad day.  
For no reason at all I was down. And that's ok.

I did all the right things, I was awake before my alarm and we got out for a walk in the park with the dog. I ooohed and aaahed at wildlife and made light conversation. But I felt down.

The weight of the pandemic got to me.

 

I got straight in to working when I got home but still felt bad at lunchtime. 

We didn't really have time for a walk as we were both busy with work but we said we would go for a quick one.  It cheered me up - the weather was nice, the traffic was quiet and we had a nice chat as we walked and Bones mosied along beside us.

Later I saw the numbers of new cases here in Ireland, announced by the CMO Dr Tony Holohan.

16 deaths (RIP) and 51 additional cases

We are doing well, the numbers are reducing. 

We are testing and tracing. 

Presumably there will be 51 phone calls made by the tracing team to the 51 people who tested Covid positive. They will give details of everyone they were in contact with (hopefully less than 5 in each case) and then the team will continue on and make a further 250 odd phone calls to all who were in contact with the patient and will ask them to self isolate. In addition those in contact with the covid positive person will be tested twice.  

This is how Covid 19 will be beaten in Ireland.

And even though today was a bad day for me, I am hopeful.

 

Blast from the Past

I was going through old photos yesterday, getting them organized in to albums. 

I'm sharing some of them now with you and giving you the background to the photos.

Just before we got married we bought our first home which was a two bedroom apartment that faced on to the Phoenix Park. It was a great location and just 3 miles from the city centre and close to my work in Blanchardstown at the time. 

The apartment looked like it had not been done up since it was first built in the early 1970's.

When we moved in there was dodgy tiles in the kitchen and bathroom and there was actually no real fitted kitchen. There was an old free standing oven with a few cabinets.

Here's the before picture and then the after picture when we put in a blue(!) kitchen with an additional peninsula counter.

The before picture was taken during a party we were hosting - it was a Eurovision themed party and we were all dressed as Eurovision acts. This photo was in May 2001.

Unfortunately this picture is in black in white, but for your viewing pleasure I do have a colour pic of the funky tiles in the background along with the free standing cooker.

We got in to the refurbishment very quickly and within a few months our kitchen designed by Ciaran (but I asked for it to be blue) looked like this! 
I can date this picture as being about July/Aug 2001 as it was at my hen party about a month before we got married.

I adored the blue kitchen but not long after we were on the move again to our next house which was a 4 bedroom house that we stayed in for 10 years.

I found another fun photo which I am happy to share with you.

It's my twin sister Amy and I with our older sister and our now 90 year old Nana.  This photo was about 38 years ago.

Click here to see another fun pic of when Amy turned up to my parent's house wearing the same clothes as Nana!!

Relaxations in Ireland - on our way to reopening

We are moving to a new phase in Ireland. From Monday, there is a slight relaxation on restrictions with people allowed to meet up to 4 others outside and of course 2 meters apart. Additionally outdoor workers can go back to work and also hardware stores will open.  Homeware stores are not allowed open at this time so Ikea will not open.

Ireland is on it's way to reopening but it will be on a slow phased basis. We have a Summer ahead of gradual cautious relaxation of restrictions and reopenings. Hopefully this slow steady approach will serve us well and will keep the curve flattened and won't bring a second wave.

An additional change that has been advised by the Government is that a mask should be worn in indoor spaces (shops) and on public transport. I have disposable masks but am on the hunt for a reusable mask. Drop me a line if you know of anyone selling them locally in Ranelagh.

This is the type of mask I'd like - it's my sister with her mask she got in Florida.  I probably could have made my own but I had given all my fabrics to the local charity shop and my sewing machine to my mother, just before the lock down, when I was clearing out my house. I know there is a place selling them in Dun Laoghaire, so I can buy one on Wednesday when I am back there for my day in the office.

Schitts Creek is back!!!
Final series is now up on Netflix. Last night we watched the last episode of the previous season and then moved on to the new season. It was as good as ever!!  We would have liked to watch more but we stopped after 3 episodes and will watch more tonight. It was the highlight of our week to hear about the new series!

We were asleep by 11pm and then awake at 7.30am and up early to walk the dog before Ciaran started a work meeting. While he was doing his meeting I hoped on the bike and dropped Gerry a little gift of Take the Cake cupcakes and a card for his birthday. I found the most perfect card as he has been doing his garden all this time in lockdown and he dug up his garden and reseeded his lawn and now has a gleaming lawn of perfect green grass.

And now it's only 11am on Saturday (time to have a cup of coffee while I blog) so we still have the whole weekend ahead of us - enjoy your weekend and til my next blog, Byeeeee! 

Wednesday is Work in the Office Day

Check me out in my high viz and cycling helmet!

As I've mentioned before, Wednesday is the day that I work in the office and not remotely from home. I have to say I really enjoy getting up early and leaving the house a little after 7am and cycling to the Dart Station to get on a practically empty Dart from Sandymount Station.

The views from the train are great as it goes along the coast - here you can see the two chimneys from the Poolbeg Generating Station. 
Same as last week I brought a coffee with me for on the train and I savored it as the train made its way to Dun Laoghaire.

It's a little unnerving going out in public to work on a weekly basis. This week I planned to wear a mask on the train but sure I forgot to bring it with me......but perhaps it may become second nature very soon to wear one whenever on public transport. In the office, it is great to see colleagues, but I am also nervous about being around people and I am constantly giving my hands a really good wash in the bathroom.  I guess this is just me trying to control the whole situation because in reality the only thing I have control over is how clean my hands are!!!

After work I took the dog for a walk - there is always something to look at and I enjoyed seeing this bush blooming in my neighbours garden.

Numbers are looking good in Ireland and we are probably heading to a reduction in restrictions on Monday 18th of May. From that day (if the Chief Medical Officer and NPHET give the ok) people may be able to meet others in public areas and construction sites will be allowed start up again.Let's see if this happens - an announcement will possibly be given tomorrow.

Where ever you are stay safe and well.........Byeeeeee

Monday Funday!

So Monday turned out to be fun, considering it was, well you know, Monday....

After work I got up to two things. First off I did an online Zoom Bikram Yoga class all the way from Luxembourg - that was A-mazing! 

And then after dinner (well I lie, I was actually eating dinner  at the beginning when I joined - but I left my camera off) I went to an online meeting of the Dublin Cycling Campaign Group with 100 other participants. It was so good and very inspiring. It got me all riled up so I emailed my local councillors this evening to thank them for all the recent cycling infrastructure improvements in Ranelagh (wands have been installed to protect cycle lanes) and to ask them if more could be done to protect cyclists and pedestrians.

It felt like I had a very productive Monday after a really slow Sunday. It was invigorating!

Bones also joined the meeting for a few mins - he plodded up the stairs to me and asked to be picked up. I had my camera on at this point so presumably he was seen by all!  In fairness he behaved himself and sat quietly - but he is a big fan of cycling as he loves me nipping around on my bike with him peeping out of my panniers :-)

Weekend Wrap Up.....

Saturday was SUNNY!!!

We got up and did a "Ramble in Ranelagh" which you can read all about on Ciaran's website with a few nice pics of the route we took to Framexperts.

After that it was a case of house cleaning which we did quickly and then I sat out in the garden and sunbathed - bliss!
Ciaran painted all day and then we did a Whats App meet up with Amy and Patrick which Ciaran then followed with a Zoom meet up with friends.

While he was on his Zoom meeting I organized dinner (Rasoi delivery!) and then after watching an episode of Hollywood following by Normal People it was time for bed.

Sunday was a slow day....possibly the slowest day ever....and the weather was cold cold cold. That's about all I can say....

Hope you had a good weekend and that you are safe and well.  Here's to a new week (with more of the same ahead)......

Byeeeeee

Friday Surprise!

Well Friday sure feels like a long time ago, but here is the conclusion of the ongoing Virgin Media WiFi TV saga.  So as of Friday afternoon after the 2nd visit by a technician we finally have everything in proper working order. The last piece of the jigsaw was our access to Netflix through Virgin Media on the television and that is now set up and back working.....so we started watching the Netflix show "Hollywood" which is interesting to say the least!

Surprises during this time are gratefully accepted and on Friday we came back from our lunchtime walk to find a lovely present for Ciaran on the doorstep in a gorgeous Chateau Minuty tote bag - what a gorgeous surprise indeed!

Later we sat out in our garden (it was incredibly sunny) and enjoyed the gorgeous Chateau Minuty Rosé with some cheese (see Pembroke Wines for info).

 

Bones joined us too after he got a bath - how clean does he look?  This is possibly the longest and best condition his hair has ever been in. I've been brushing it daily as I did not want it to get in to a knotty uncomfortable state given that all dog groomers are currently closed.

After we finished our wine and cheese, I wrapped the left over cheese in these awesome reusable wax wraps that were very kindly gifted to me by a work colleague when I was due to be leaving for Spain.....and sure we know how that all turned out :-(
These beeswax wraps are so handy and keep food fresh without the need to use nasty old cling film.  I see that you can now get them in Supervalu - these are not the brand that I have but I would imagine they are mostly the same, no matter what brand you buy. I actually mentioned them in a blog post back in 2019 so I am very happy to have some now!

Here are the Beeswax wraps you can buy in Supervalu and I see they are also available from The Kitchen Whisk

A short art film to watch from home

Here's a short film about Pigsy and his art that you can watch from home while staying at home

It can't be goodbye to Bewleys, a Grafton Street institution, can it?

On 26th of April 2020, I walked down a deserted Grafton Street (see blog post here) and took photos of shuttered shops and then wrote a blog later in the day.  I ended the blog by wondering when the stores would be open again.

Sadly it seems one of them won't be opening again - the iconic Bewley's cafe with its famous Harry Clarke stained glass

I've blogged many times about visits to Bewley's and it was a favourite pastime in recent times for my mother and I to meet and go to a lunchtime play in the little Cafe Theatre at the top of the building.

It is a sad day to hear it will close, a victim of the Covid 19 pandemic combined with massive rents, it seems.

Zoom Online Bikram Yoga

It's a new world for sure.

On Monday, I found details on Facebook about some online bikram classes taking places at different times in different parts of the world. One of the times suited me for after work on Tuesday so I made a plan to join in.

On Tuesday I finished work promptly, threw on my yoga gear and joined Adam in Canada(!) for an online yoga class through the medium of Zoom.  It's not something I would have ever thought would need to exist a few months ago and I also would have thought that it would not work but by god, it was just brilliant!

I was lucky to be able to do the yoga class in a room with a glass roof at the top of our house that gets sooo hot - on warm days it is like a solarium and yesterday was a warm day with the sun shining all day.  Within no time at all once I started to practise I began to get a sweat up and was actually glad to have the small window behind me open and providing me with a breeze on my body (definitely not Bikram but sure it's a new world where quite possibly anything goes!)

 This is the roof in the studio so I have a view of the sky! This pic was not taken the day I was doing yoga in the studio as that day the sky was bright blue but the sun was shining so much the photo couldn't show the roof!!

So the class was really good with an excellent teacher who gave corrections and modifications during the class "Enid bring your body more forward" but the best bit was during Savasana. He said the most positive, inspiring and helpful words and I honestly felt like it was the first time I relaxed fully in maybe 6 weeks.

I'm already looking forward to my next class on Saturday :-)   

A few modifications were needed for my home practise -

the glass floor was so hard I needed to put an extra towel down for kneeling poses

Ongoing with Virgin Media.....

The update on our WiFi situation as I wrote about a few days ago, is that Virgin Media called out on Saturday and it appeared like they got everything fixed up. The TV is working off the Horizon Box but they had to put in an addiotional new box/router for the WiFi.

WiFi most importantly is working but I noticed that when watching TV, the info about each programme doesn't appear and also the On Demand apps aren't working. I didn't think this was such an issue and was prepared to live with it. However, yesterday we tried to watch Netflix on the TV and this was not working - presumably it is because the WiFi is bypassing the Horizon TV box and going through the new box. 

So Ciaran rang them again and a technician did a few tests and then booked in another technician to visit next Friday.  
Watch this space.......

Zoom Dinner Party

Some time during the week we received a text from Capt G asking us would we be on for a Zoom Dinner Party on Sunday evening.

Obviously with not a whole lot else going on in our life I immediately responded "Yes!!!"

Gerry got back later with a few details and instructions.  It was going to be on at 7.30pm on Sunday night and I was to start a Zoom meeting at 7.15pm and all we needed to have was Vanilla Ice Cream and alcohol in the house.  Talk about intriguing!!

Getting Vanilla Ice Cream in to the house gave us something to do before the event with Fiona and Gerry getting Movenpick Ice Cream from Mortons, with Patricia scoping out Scoop in Ranelagh to see if they were open (only for deliveries it seems.....and not sure how that would work out with ice cream) with Ciaran and I settling on Haagen-Dazs for me and HB Ice Cream for him!

On Saturday another job for us was to set the table, which gave us another thing for us to do....I did mention that we don't have a whole lot going on in our lives, didn't I?!

And so at 7.15pm Ciaran went online to the meeting and met up with Fiona and then I joined them and then Patricia & Stephen came on. We chatted for a bit and then the real excitement started as Gerry started calling to the doors with deliveries of food!!!

And what a delivery it was! Food specially chosen for each of us from The Little Kitchen on Leeson Street.  Unfortunately I was so excited by it all I forgot to take pics of our food - but luckily Gerry and Fiona had taken some photos

 

Here is what everyone ate (as far as I can recall), as selected by the captain -

Me: Prawns to start with Lamb Shank for mains

Ciaran: Wings to start with Burger and Chips for main (Gerry knows Ciaran too well!!)

Fiona: Goats Cheese Salad with Lamb Shank Main

Gerry: Mussels for starter followed by risotto

Patricia: Prawns and then Halloumi for main

Stephen: Mushroom risotto as a started with chicken for his main 

I am beyond impressed by Gerry and what he chose for everyone - it all went down a treat, and I haven't even mentioned the pudding for dessert which was a toffee pudding to share and of course to be topped with the Vanilla Ice Cream that we had all bought. 

It was a fantastic night, I felt so connected and the craic and company was so good. But the main applause had to go to Gerry for pulling it all together - he played a blinder and put on a masterclass in organising a Zoom Dinner Party. It's not for nothing that we call him the Captain!!!

Thinking about the whole night the next day I think there is probably a business in here for some enterprising events company. They could put together a package where they guarantee the food to arrive in 3/4 locations at the same time and then offer some type of online entertainment for the guests - a trivia quiz or maybe some other fun activity.......anyway that's just me having some Bank Holiday Monday musings......