Happy World Bike Day 2020!

Wednesday was World Bicycle Day and I happened to be in the office that day so of course I rode my bike there and back (with a little help by getting the train some of the way).

My commute home was the fastest ever on the bike.  At 5.42pm, I looked at train times and saw there was one at 5.49pm so I quickly made my way to the exit and cycled about a minute to the station. From there I had about a 2 min wait for the train which then took me to Lansdowne Station where I cycled home from and got in the door just a little after 6.10pm.  Pretty much door to door it was 30 mins - not bad for Dun Laoghaire to Ranelagh!

 
Here's the tweet I sent on the way to work - I can't tell you how much I love that cup of coffee while waiting for the train, particularly on Wednesday as the weather had changed dramatically and it was very cold in comparison to the amazingly sunny day previous.

If you want to know more about the Brompton Bike that I am currently using to get to work, click the video below.

 

Socially Distanced Coffee & a Chat

The Bank Holiday has just passed leaving us with one glorious day of sunshine today before it changes and reverts to form becoming cold and a little wet here in Ireland.

We had such a lovely weekend, with an invite to a 4 person bbq in friends around the corner. Just so so nice and a lot of fun.

And then on Monday we did our own little bit of socially distanced entertaining have 2 friends over for "coffee and a chat" and then sure I threw another "C" into the mix and made a few little canapes along with a little fruit, meat & cheese mix on a board with croissants too!

We set up on the little courtyard out the back of the house and I put a small side table and a little bar cart together to serve the food on.  Instead of covering with a table cloth I covered the tables with two Paul Costelloe tea towels with gorgeous pics of ladies in pretty sun dresses on them. Very cute!

It was a perfect morning, sunny weather & good company and a relaxed atmosphere because in reality all of us had possibility nothing else to do that day!

Life in lockdown is strange.......but rather good at times.

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.