I’ve heard in the past that August is considered a slow month and I think of it in terms of news bulletins that are shorter than usual, often with content to fill in the gaps that would not usually be considered newsworthy. August 2020 seems neverending and it didn’t start well given that the first of the month fell on a Saturday, so not a good combination for personal reasons. I have a couple of draft posts in the pipeline so this one isn’t intended to fill an August gap, rather it is a short reflection on a snapshot in time.
In a post this week Sheila McNeill referred to her experience of lockdown:
“Whilst lockdown wasn’t easy, it seemed simpler, with just a few big messages and guidelines to follow…That has almost all gone. Now, we can go more places, see more people. There is a veneer of “normality”, but it is very fragile.“
Fragility hit home on Tuesday this week when new Irish government guidelines were issued, with one big message that would impact me directly:
- visitors to your home or garden should be limited to not more than 6 from not more than 3 households
Ever since I relocated to the town where I currently live I have been included in my friend’s social circle that meet for tea and cake in a café every Saturday. It was an opportunity to hear about their respective weeks and chat a little about mine (or not depending on how I felt). I didn’t always feel like going, and sometimes I didn’t, but it was my choice.
Once the lockdown guidelines lifted a few months ago my friend invited us to physically (not socially) distanced tea and cake in her kitchen. Every week I looked forward to Saturday afternoon at 3pm for the hour that followed. Expert home baking would be brought, something different every week, swiss roll filled with homemade raspberry jam and whipped cream, light as air scones, banoffi pie, lemon drizzle cake, raspberry muffins…. such joy. But more important than the cake was the company. For that hour we would chat about our respective weeks in education and healthcare, the weather, keeping ourselves, our friends and loved ones safe.
This weekly hour was one of my (only) two social bubbles and for at least the next four Saturdays it is no longer possible. There is an alternative of course, and that is to go out to a café with my four friends since this is still allowed under the guidelines, but in terms of risk this is surely much greater than gathering in my friend’s large kitchen with the bonus of arguably superior home-baked goodies. It makes no sense but as the saying goes ‘it is what it is.’
Choice it seems, is fragile and not to be taken for granted.
Until next time, Sandra
Sandra Flynn 