by Julie

Back to normal?

Included in the news reporting of the chief medical officer’s press conference today were statistics from Apple, showing that traffic volumes are almost back to pre-lockdown levels, public transport is down by 60% and walking down by 40%. While the less crowded footpaths are very welcome to me, I find it quite depressing that traffic is back to normal and lockdown is really only fully over today! So much for changing how we do things and living differently: looks like things are going straight back to normal. And of course that’s good in lots of…
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by Julie

The cost of running

I forced myself out of bed this morning for a run, and am I glad I went. It was a beautiful morning, quiet enough with walkers but increased car activity. Now that lockdown is easing, people are going back shopping and playing football and doing other things so the footpaths are much quieter - noticeably so around here. It’s definitely good for me in terms of running if there’s less people out and about. I think I will stick to the pre-work running. Really just means getting up a bit earlier when it comes to…
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by Julie

Virtual Bloomsday

Today is Bloomsday, a day when James Joyce’s novel Ulysses is celebrated in Dublin and around the world. It was set on 16 June 1904 in Dublin, which was the actual day that Joyce met his lifelong partner Nora Barnacle. It’s kind of a day-in-the-life of various characters and indeed the city itself. It’s funny and challenging and musical and totally Irish, yet somehow universal. To me it’s always been a kind of secular holiday, a day to celebrate Joyce and Dublin. It’s mostly on-line this year but it’s still special. All day RTE has…
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by Julie

Running the mile I’m in

So I did my first virtual running event yesterday, the Castleknock 5k. It’s a lovely charity event they hold in memory of a local guy who died young a few years back and all proceeds go to a selected charity. This year it was the local hospice, St Francis’, who had supported my Dad and Mam, so I wanted to make sure I contributed a few bob. I always remember a girl I knew in Athlone saying ‘if you ever get a chance to do anything for a hospice, do it’, and she was right.…
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