Ireland is opened up!

Ireland is open and restricted no more

After being one of the most restricted and locked down countries, Ireland has scrapped most Covid restrictions. With a high vaccination rate, Omicron has spread rapidly through the country but the high infection rate has not led to high hospital or death rates.

The good news also is that when you look back over the excess death rate over the past two years, Ireland has a much much lower excess death rates than most countries in the world. Restrictions worked and vaccinations are now doing their job. Ireland is on the up!

Covid Certs no longer needed for pubs

Taoiseach Micheal Martin announced the changes yesterday after the government made decisions based on NPHET advice. 

From 6am today:

• Any number of people can gather with no more restrictions on household visitor numbers
• Restaurants and bars can stay open beyond the restricted time of 8pm
• Sporting events and fixtures can have 100% attendance (good news as there are lots of big upcoming rugby games)
• Indoor events and weddings will have no restrictions on numbers
• No contact details need (Goodbye Covid Cert) to be given in restaurants, cafes and pubs
• Social distance rules are gone and sitting at the bar is allowed in pubs again

Masks

For the moment masks will still need to be worn on public transport, in shops and other settings. Also Covid Certs will still be needed for travel.

With the changes in Ireland, the country will drive on and of course still continue with the vaccination programme. Over 5 year olds can receive the vaccination now and with take up being low in this section of the population I imagine the government will probably heavily promote it with advice to contact your GP for guidance if you are unsure whether to bring your child for vaccination. Boosters are also available for all who are due to get one.

Ireland has done well but Covid has not gone away - I intend to continue to take care and will consider whether I consider situations I find myself in to be safe. If I think certain situations sound unsafe, I won't attend. Spring is also coming, the evenings are getting brighter and spending time outside is probably the safest option. 

It's a positive move and although life has gone on for the passed two years it is a great boost to see most restrictions going. 

Ireland is moving onwards and upwards - we are resilient and we prevailed!

Wordle - let the Spordle begin!

Wordle with a twist: Spordle

My sisters and mother have all got in to this new Wordle game. Have you heard about it?

It's a word guessing game, with one word a day. When you guess your first word you get clues about the letters you chose which helps you make your next guess.  If you select the right letters in the right position, they go green. While the right letters in the wrong position change to yellow. With letters that are not in the day's word changing to grey.

See below for an example.

Also pictured is the day that I guessed the word on my second guess!!!  Pure luck!

Spordle - Speed Wordle

So to add to the fun, my family are modifying the game slightly, and are going to play what my younger sister Katie named "Spordle", which is basically Speed Wordle. 

Today, we plan to all log on at exactly 2pm Irish time (we are 6 people based in 3 countries) and start to play Wordle. The one who guesses the wordle first wins the Spordle game!

What do you think of that?! Do you think it is a fun add on to the concept of Wordle? Let me know if you are going to play Spordle!

She was going for a run.....

RIP Ashling Murphy

She was going for a run.......

A 23 year old school teacher murdered while out running along the canal in Tullamore.

She was going for a run about 3pm after school last Wednesday and was murdered about 4pm just as it was starting to get dark,

Ireland mourns for a daughter

Ashling was a talented musician from a well known musical family.

Tonight on the news, there was footage of vigils taking place all over Ireland. At one of the vigils, Aisling's band members played music in her memory. 

Playing a beautiful mournful sad song, the music got to me. 

And what really got to me was when the camera zoomed in on the face of the girl playing the button accordion and it showed a large solitary tear running down her masked face. Playing music, and crying with sadness as she remembered and mourned her friend. A friend who was loved, respected and was the best of Ireland.

And although I am incredibly sad I am so very angry that a woman in Ireland can't go for a run after finishing a day of teaching her 7 year old pupils in first class. The injustice of it. How wrong for Ashling to be taken from her family and friends like this. How wrong for her 7 year olds to lose their teacher like this. 

A woman taken in her prime and we unite in anger and grief in Ireland. She was going for a run and she never came home.

Wrong Wrong Wrong. 

RIP Ashling

Saturday - What a work day!

Bike to Work

Yesterday was quite the day with a bad start to my work day and completed by a bad train journey home!

As you know, I normally am extolling the virtues of my bike for my commute to work. Yesterday, however, there was rainy windy weather as I set off to cycle to the train station on my commute to work. It was dark also but a positive was that there was not too much traffic as it was a Saturday and just a little after 8am. So with the rain lashing down, I wrapped up in water proof trousers and Leg Wraps from Georgia in Dublin to keep dry on the cycle.

However, it wasn't the rain that turned out to be the problem, unfortunately as I came to the end of Baggot Street my back tyre released all its air with a pop. I had a puncture!!

All I could do was get off the bike and push it the rest of the way to the Landsdowne Dart Station where when I got there I googled bike shops in Dun Laoghaire with the plan to leave the bike in one in this area when I arrived and then pick up after work or during next week. But first I needed to find a bike shop that had Brompton tubes in stock, as my fold up bike as really small tyres. If there was no bike shop in Dun Laoghaire who had the tubes in stock I was going to have to fold the bike and bring it home on the bus with me after work and then leave it in to a Dublin City Centre bike shop on Monday, for repair then.

Mike's Bikes

Luckily, however, Mike's Bikes in Dun Laoghaire had the tubes in stock and said I could drop the bike to them for repair - I phoned them when I got on to the train.

Getting off the train I pushed the bike from the Dart Station up the road to Mike's Bikes on Patrick Street, left the bike with them and then dashed in to work. With all of my rain gear on I was one hot sweaty mess by the time I arrived to work, but I was happy to know that the bike fix was in hand with owner Eddie and his team.

After picking up the bike later after work, I thought all was well and back to normal. But then as I was on the train home, the train stopped and sat at Sydney Parade for about 15 mins due to a major signal fault. After sometime, the driver came on the intercom to say that they didn't know how long the signal was going to be out for and that Dublin Bus was now accepting train tickets for any passengers who got off the train and changed to the bus.

So, I got off the train and cycled from Sydney Parade to my house. I should have done this immediately when the train initially stopped!!

It was well after 7pm when I finally got home.....what a Saturday! 

Christmas is over for another year

That's a wrap, Christmas is over! 

Sorry to see the end of Christmas but I am well back in work and it's time for everything to get back to normal. While Ciaran played padel, I started taking down the tree and decorations.

Here they are all are nicely boxed and bagged up.

These boxes are for all my tree decorations. They have a box within the box to make two layers with grids for each little decoration.

I pack away my Christmas jumpers with my decorations.

Here's the bare spot where the tree was. Tomorrow, Ciaran will bring the long cushion for this spot down from upstairs and will put it back in position.

Also, Ciaran will move all of the boxes to the storage area in the floor of the hallway. When we rebuilding the house he designed a hatch in the hallway that opens up to a "crawl space" that we can use for storage. It's a very convenient spot for the decorations.

Sad to see all the decorations down but I will leave the lights up in the garden for a few more days. It's fierce cold at the moment so I think the lights brighten the area and make it feel less Wintery.

So that's it for another year!

Another day, another cup of coffee to start the day!

Espresso Cup Collection

So when I was unpacking my Christmas decorations a few weeks ago, I strangely found my espresso cups all packed away among my decorations. 

It was timely to find them all and I decided to use a different one each day for a little cup of espresso to start my day over the Christmas holidays (little things like this give me so much pleasure). Here's a few pics of some of the cups. I have to say it brightened my day to drink out of the little Key West Cup and it brought memories to the forefront of Christmases past that I spent in Key West - the most being two years ago where we stayed in the incredible The Saint Hotel. Good times!

Miley Cyrus: It should have been me

Miley Cyrus - I'm a new fan!

I've never really seen what the big deal is about Miley Cyrus. However, about a week ago I saw her live on Jimmy Fallon. Wow! What a performance. She totally owns the stage and I was gripped. It's a clever, humorous and charismatic performance. and it has stayed with me for days.

I'm a fan for sure now.

It should have been me

Here's the song (It should have been me) she performed on Jimmy Fallon. Let me know what you think!