Covid-19: Ireland is shutdown

Hard to believe in some way, the situation the world is in, with no country being unaffected at this time from Covid-19. From a new virus being discovered in China in 2019, to its spread from China to Europe and beyond over the first months of 2020, we now find our selves in Ireland in a country that has gradually had movements restricted to the current restrictions.  At midnight last night the country was shutdown with only movement of essential workers allowed or visits to the shops within 2km of your home, with the main message being to "Stay at Home".

With over 2,000 cases in Ireland and 22 deaths RIP, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar took advice from Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan to put these restrictions in place.

This is the most sombre blog post I have ever written.....and I know there is worse to come. However, I truly believe that Ireland is in a good position in comparison to other countries. I trust those in charge, they have responded in a manner befitting of the situation and have followed all guidance from the World Health Organisation.  Schools were closed by March 13th and the majority of people have restricted their social contacts over the last few weeks with many only having contact with their close family within their houses. ICU beds have been increased, albeit from a low level with additional personal protective equipment on its way from China with the national airline Aer Lingus commissioning flights for its delivery.  We are strong, we have a decisive caretaker government in place. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Ministers Simon Coveny and Simon Harris are dedicated and experienced and are doing their very best. I am proud of them.

I fear for the UK and USA - I think they did not react quickly or correctly.

I pray Ireland will not become like Italy or Spain.

To end this post, I say that as a world wide population, we are strong, we are resilient and we will get through this.  

This will pass.

Happy St Patrick's Day to you and yours from Ireland!

I hope you are having a nice St Patrick's Day where ever you are in this crazy world we are living in.
About a week a go the government cancelled all parades here in Ireland so it's been a fairly quiet day here in Dublin. Additionally the pubs were all closed from Sunday night onward. I was particularly glad about this as I believe it would have had a very negative effect on the spread of Covid19 if the pubs had been left open on St Patricks' day.

We cancelled all planned meetups with friends and have not been going out to any restaurants and pretty much hunkering down except to take the dog for a walk or to quickly go in to the shops for essentials.

We got up today and went for a long walk around Ranelagh.  We got to Forest Avenue restaurant which was due to be selling their sour dough bread at 11am to 5pm along with other goods which in effect was turning their restaurant in to a neighbourhood market.  However when we got to the restaurant, there was a queue outside the door and someone told us the opening was delayed until 12pm. So we left and continued on walking and went in to the park to enjoy the nature. I got close to the resident heron who is quite friendly and lets you get fairly close to him before he flies away.

After our walk, we set up our speakers on our window sill and at 12pm we opened up the window and blasted "Oró sé do Bheatha Bhaile" out on to our street. 
This was a world wide online facebook initiative to get Irish people all over the Ireland out in to their garden or on to their balcony and to sing together at 12pm for St Patricks Day while in self isolation. You may have seen some of this on Facebook - let me know if you did.

I cooked up a full Irish breakfast for brunch which was tasty as ever and is a must have on St Patrick's Day - especially the Clonakilty black pudding!

And after that we both logged on to the two different Spanish language apps / online classes that we are using to learn Spanish. I am using Transparent Language Online which is available for free through Irish Libraries. Both of us did a half hour language learning session.


I'm planning on charging up my electric bike battery and taking the bike whatever the weather in order to avoid having to take public transport. Using a bike rather than getting on the bus or train is a simple thing that most people should consider to try to do and it may curb some of the spread of this virus.

Other than all of the above, we are well stocked up on food and supplies.  We didn't panic or overbuy but we have enough food for about a week's worth of dinners with food in both the fridge and the freezer along with a small amount of toilet rolls!

Saturday Stock Up

I was up early today and headed to the shops for basics in order to have food in the house so that I can avoid having to go out unnecessarily.  I don't tend to keep a lot of food in the house and generally shop day by day in order to avoid food waste. 

However, with the progress of the Covid-19 pandemic we decided to go for a shop this morning and went to both Lidl and Supervalu in Ranelagh.  The shelves in Supervalu had very low stock levels but as we were shopping a big delivery truck pulled up and staff started taking in the supplies and immediately began to put them out on the shelves.  While in Lidl the shelves were fairly well stocked with the only thing in low supply, from what I could see, was eggs.

I bought some fresh meat (which I put in the freezer), tinned food and a bit of cheese and bread.  Alongside all of that food, I also bought rashers, sausages, eggs & black pudding in order to make a substantial meal for breakfast.  And then Ciaran put a box of cornflakes in the basket with some milk.  I reckon we are set for a week.

I intend to make Keto Bread so also got some Kerrygold butter which is part of the recipe but also is the best slathered all over the bread!

Click here to see the Keto Bread Recipe I follow which uses Coconut Flour. It's ridiculously easy to make and could get us out of a fix if shops are closed.

Separate to all of the above, we are continuing with our packing and decluttering of the house and getting everything in order for our move to Malaga. At the moment, Spain seems to just behind Italy in regards to increasing cases of Covid-19.  Non-essential travel to Spain is not advised but flights are still running at this point.

Gone Full Havisham at the Bewleys Cafe Theatre

My mother and I went to see the latest production in the cute Bewleys Cafe Theatre today.  "Gone Full Havisham" is a one woman show, written and starring Irene Kelliher. 

Wow what a performance and also what a great story! 

We are introduced to Emily O'Halloran who is holed up in a hotel room in her wedding dress in the midst of a mental breakdown (which is playing out on social media) after getting jilted on her wedding day 5 months ago.  

With a fantastically dramatic performance by Kelliher, I thought the play showcased the current landscape in regard to social media and life online in general, while tying in with nostalgic references to growing up in Ireland in the 90's - of note was the awesome nod to Dana International's Eurovision performance. It was quite the juxtaposition and one wonders if judgement in the nineties came from a small amount of actual people one knew (Dad, Auntie & Elise - and Lucy the doll!), while now the judgement is off the scale with intense 24 hour nonstop interest from strangers online. 

Most of the reviews online are positive so I hope that this play goes on to other venues and it gets lots of audience as it is a well written piece with great production and an incredible performance by Irene Kelliher.

Little upgrades that make big changes

We had the wonderful Dean Cooper out with us today in order to fit handles on to the wardrobes in our bedroom.  The wardrobes were originally designed, fabricated and fitted by Dean Cooper Furniture. The initial design back in 2011 did not have handles on the wardrobes and they looked marvelous and were easy to use with a press / pop action opener.  However there is nothing as easy and as practical to use as a pull handle on a door so Ciaran set about getting a handle added.

He returned to Dean Cooper, who designed and handcrafted a bespoke handle for our doors and then fitted them today.  

I am unbelievable happy with them - they look great and they work phenomenally well!

Here's some before and after pics

Cycle protest for the Liffey Cycle Route NOW!

Yesterday I picked up my electric bike from the shop (it needed a new motor). It was ideal to get it back then as I needed it for today's cycle protest which started at 11am at the Grand Canal Theatre.

Organised by Dublin Cycling Campaign and others it was held in order to highlight the need for the Liffey Cycle Route to be built immediately rather than delayed until 2024.

It was a cold day but the turn out was large with probably over 250 cyclists and others on different modes of transport - a guy beside me was on a single tire type of electric skateboard while there were two escooter riders in front of me (wearing high viz that said "You're not stuck in traffic - you are traffic"). There was individuals and families with kids (on bikes and in cargo bikes) and even dogs in baskets on bikes or being pulled in carriers.....I had planned to bring Bones who likes to sit in my panniers but I was worried it might be too cold for him.

Check out this awesome lad in his goggles!!!

We cycled from the Marker Hotel at the Grand Canal Basin all the up the Liffey to the Dublin City Council Offices and then over the bridge and back down the quays returning to the starting point.  Families went to the front and we cycled to the speed of the slowest cyclist - I did not need to turn my electrics on and I'd say no one broke a sweat.

It was really great to get out for the cycle and make our message known - but I missed my twin sister who came on past protest cycles with me....but I know she was with us in spirit from her home in Florida!

Have a read of the Irish Times coverage of the event here which includes a video. And hopefully my next blog about the Liffey Cycle Route will be good news with a plan in place to get it built NOW.

For further reading, look up #liffeycycle and #liffeycycleroute on twitter.

Pigsy news - Pigsy in the Designyard

Back in April 2019, I blogged about an art piece  by Pigsy being accepted for sale in the Designyard. 

That was all very exciting but there is bigger news now!

There has been massive interest in Pigsy and his art work so Designyard now has a full range of Pigsy artworks available. The range includes large scale originals and also limited edition prints in numerous sizes.

As I said it is all very exciting for Ciarán (Pigsy!) but what was more exciting was when I was walking through the city with a friend, she commented on the Designyard as we passed by and queried whether that was where Pigsy had his work. I said Yes and pointed out the front door and said there is a massive Pigsy piece right behind that door.....and right at that time she said "and there is a Pigsy in the window". I was so excited I took a photo!

And here it is.....

Click here to see Pigsy prints that are available in Designyard