Lockdown. It’s not all bad but I still can’t help making plans for when it finally ends

It goes on and one doesn’t it?

We’ve all been in lockdown of one kind or another for weeks. Some of us have been more locked down than others. (I know what you’re thinking. No, I don’t mean more locked than others!)

And I’ve actually been self-isolating more or less since I got out of hospital in October. I go for walks, I drive Charlotte and Connie wherever they want to go but I don’t get out of the car. And I’ve been in the bar of Terenure Sports Club once in six months when, in the past, it was more likely to be six times in a month.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

I wonder.

(I always remember when Ronald Reagan, during one of America’s regular recessions, said there was light at the end of the tunnel. Someone suggested that the light he could see in the tunnel was a man with a torch looking for food.)

It has to end, doesn’t it?

So what are the first things I’ll do?

I’ll see family. I’ve a great family, Connie has a great family and it will be lovely to see them, face to face, again.

I’ll have a pint.

I’ll go to a few gigs. 10CC in Vicar Street on August 23 might be a bit optimistic. So maybe my next outing will be The Stunning in the Olympia in October or Hudson Taylor in the same venue at the end of that month or even Ron Sexsmith in Liberty Hall in November.

And I’ll have a pint.

I don’t particularly like shopping. If it’s a supermarket I can go in for bread and milk and leave with a trolley full of stuff we don’t need.

If it’s a clothes shop I’ll buy stuff that doesn’t fit because all I ever want to do in a clothes shop is leave.

And I’ll have a pint.

I’ll go to a church. I miss going to the church because even if many or most people no longer believe I do. And I like the tranquillity of churches, particularly Mount Argus.

And I’ll have a pint.

 

I’d really love to go and see Leinster play in the RDS. Not sure I’m up to it. But I can always go and see my own club, Terenure Sport Club (that’s the old CYM as opposed to Terenure College by the way) play.

And of course I’ll have a pint.

I’ll join up with friends I’ve only heard on the ‘phone or seen on Zoom and we’ll chat and laugh and tell stories about the lockdown and we’ll have a pint.

Meanwhile, music and books, books and music. And even a little bit of cooking! I made a very tasty blue cheese, hazelnut and asparagus risotto the other night. My own tv series surely awaits.

And I’m with Connie and Charlotte all day every day.

So there are good parts to this as well, aren’t there?