Careful what you wish for will be my new mantra for 2021. I had joked about the possibility of dispensing with the Gregorian calendar in favour of lockdowns of variable length replacing seasons & days on continuous loop rather than segmented into hours. On the eve of what looked like another full lockdown I think someone in charge must have heard & taken me seriously!

Like many I suspect I am trying to avoid scraping the barrel of my mental well being by searching for new things to occupy my time, while we continue to ride the covid tsunami with fortitude and minimal dependence on alcohol.

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Joy, it seems is to be found in the oddest of situations if you count singing favourite songs while en-route to the local shopping mall to buy woolly tights. Might not be everyones dream day out but desperate times call for desperate measures. When impulsively deciding to visit a different supermarket to purchase pizza counts as ‘the icing on the cake’ for an outing you can be sure you’re reasonably close to cracking up.

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It’s hard to comprehend that it was only a year ago we spent a fabulous weekend roaming carefree around Dublin because it feels like a lifetime ago. At no stage did I envisage my future daily routine would morph into one where the daily walk would be followed by a home workout that includes a foam roller then grabbing a coffee to hide in my office engaged in various computer based activities punctuated with bouts of juggling practice.

Conference calls also seem to dominate my world in a way I never thought possible forcing the little pop up message informing me of how much my ‘screen time’ had increased to frequently appear. It now seems to have given up the struggle. I imagine it to be hiding tearfully in a corner of my phone sobbing ‘I tried to warn her really I did’. Meanwhile the guitars sit like sentries waiting for the moment to be plucked from their rests for my amusement.  Even my juggling balls are now located on the route to the kitchen for coffee replenishment to facilitate a regular practice. 

My son took up darts to provide welcome screen breaks while working from home & rashly brought the board with him for a flying Christmas visit. Hubby insisted I dug out his antiquated set but they weighed a ton and made my wrist ache. I think is was all part of a ploy to knobble the competition as I kept thrashing him. I have managed to hit the bulls eye 4 times so far so my new darts are working well.

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When in Cinderella like fashion son & partner departed before the Boxing day rules took effect he left the darts board behind. This affording me the opportunity to fling sharp pointy things at the wall to vent my frustrations over the ongoing situation. Son replaced his board & now we can use an app & FaceTime to play one another even though we live miles apart.

At 7 years old my washing machine was bordering on geriatric so research has began to find its successor. Embracing modern technology I used a live chat to be connected to a branch of a well known retailer only to discover that particular store didn’t stock the sort of appliance I was after. Not easy to fill in the automatic feedback form that follows as it strictly wasn’t the assistants fault but I am now back to scrolling through pages of technical stuff. Oh for the day when you could just go in to point & say, ‘I’ll have that one please’. So the search continues until I find the one that self loads, dries & puts away I guess so I might be awhile! Couldn’t wait THAT long so took the plunge & ordered what sounded best from the description.

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Im not a great fan of new years resolution so I have converted them to ‘intensions’ one of which into try and finish the song I have been working on & possibly write some more. I will post the lyrics so far on the creative corner pages first music at some point to follow. Ear plug sales will possibly rise so invest now!! Take care.