Day 57 - On the radio!

I’m finally feeling back to normal again now after my gradual recovery from last week’s announcement about how long lifting restrictions will take! The sun is also finally shining here again in Cork after a week of rain (when everywhere else in the country seems to have had sun). And I finally get a day off from the madness of preparing and selling my new Chemistry book.

I started the day the same way I start every Friday, with our 8am Pete class. For some reason Garrett’s image on Zoom looks like an oil painting, and it’s still making me laugh every time that I see it in Pete’s class! The class today was very high speed. Pete was doing the exercises along with us and this seems to have upped the pace of the whole session.

I spent most of the morning cleaning and tidying our house, which has been a bit neglected for the past few days. It was quite therapeutic, cleaning the place and throwing out old food ahead of our weekly shop tomorrow.

In another real highlight of the lockdown, I somehow ended up on the radio in the afternoon! This couldn’t have come at a better time, as it really lifted my spirits and gave us a great laugh! Mum had heard them discussing imaginary friends on Newstalk, and she messaged me to encourage me to text in about the imaginary friend I had when I was younger.

I sent the text, and shortly afterwards someone from Newstalk phoned me to ask if I would come on the show to talk. Of course I said yes! After about half an hour eagerly awaiting the call back, I finally got the call. The producer explained what was going to happen, a sound guy then checked that I could hear him ok, then finally Ciara Kelly was saying hello to me. It was all a bit surreal!

I chatted about the imaginary friend that I had when I was younger, and I even suggested that I might bring her back to keep me company during lockdown! It was a great laugh and I was buzzing afterwards. Peter had been listening in on the radio in the other room, but strangely, I was still talking on that radio for a bit after I’d hung up and come into the room. There must be some sort of delay on the broadcast. I enjoyed getting messages from friends that had heard me, for a while afterwards, anyway!

After this, me and Peter sunbathed in the back garden for a while. The warmth was lovely! Then, I went for a forty minute run “with Fiona.” I absolutely love the lookout spot, that I can now run to, beside the “Beautiful Lee Valley” sign. It’s beautiful there!

In the evening I ordered takeaway from Elephant and Castle. I’ve been looking forward to this since Fiona told me about it at the beginning of the week. They’re a Dublin restaurant that has just opened in Cork, and I collected the takeaway from their premises in the centre of the city. When I parked my car on South Main Street and got out, I could not get over the silence around me. It was so strange and surreal to be standing, slap bang, in the middle of Cork city, and hearing almost complete silence! There was almost nobody about too, except for hoards of Deliveroo cyclists.

After dinner, we chatted with Peters family on Zoom, then caught a bit of the end of the Late Late show. As I headed off to bed after this, Peter asked me “what’s going on - you seem very happy?!” “I am happy,” I said! It’s great to be back on top of the peak of the rollercoaster!En savoir plus