Diary of a busyish woman

  Lock down, open up; lock down, open up; lock down, open up.  That’s been the pattern here in Ireland since March 2020 & we've all heard, especially via media channels, how hard it’s been for older people; students confined to study at home; families with young children. It’s been hard for all those working in our health system & much air play has been given to describing the routines nurses, carers etc followed as they went to & from work trying to keep themselves, their families & their patients as safe as possible. People working in supermarkets & others in various essential services received a little attention. That concern disappeared rapidly as the focus moved to a 'return to normal'!   Are we complacent - probably. As the numbers of infections wax & wane, the general population becomes more concerned with shopping, activities & holidays & not necessarily in that order.  How soon will we forget that quality time we spent with our famil

  Our memories are never exact & that’s a fact. They’re coloured by the emotions of then & now; and what we want to remember. Perhaps I only walked with my father once or twice to the five acre wood or perhaps it was a more regular event - I don’t know. All I can share are my memories.  Leaving Mum, grandparents & sisters behind, I walked beside Dad, independently, silently, admiring my wellies! Down the lane, across the road, Dad climbed over the gate & I clambered through the lower bars. (That was what I now know as a blacksmith’s gate - lower bars close together to prevent lambs skipping through & the space widening as you looked from the ground up, the frame secured by a diagonal bar). Anyway back to our walk, we continued up the field towards the wood with Dad stopping every so often to look around, checking the cattle who took no notice of us, taking a look at the neighbours’ fields; & pointing out flowers like gorse or blackberry, which were buzzing, as t