Очистить поиск
Cork
  • Lisa Shine
нояб. 2019 – сент. 2025

Cork

A little blog about my adventures in Cork! Читать далее
ПодписатьсяОбзорКалендарьПоделитьсяПоделитьсяКорзина
Сначала новые
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 32 - Bank Holiday Monday

    13 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    This morning, I was working away again on our “lockdown quartet” piece, re-recording notes that sounded slightly off or out of time. However, by the afternoon it had become clear that we’re going to have to start the whole recording from scratch again. It’s a pity, because I had laid down five or six violin parts already, but sure what else would we be doing! It must have been hard for Margo to record the violin one part on her own, but the tempo of it is quite variable throughout the piece and we’re struggling to play along with it, especially Anna on the piano, as she has a lot of notes to fit in!

    We also had our “private” Zoom Pete class at 1.15pm today, as is usual now on a Monday. Me, Fiona, Mum, Lisa and Garrett did it. I’m really loving these online classes. It’s good to feel like you’re doing some good for your body during the lockdown. I still don’t have a kettlebell, so I had to do some of the exercises with my 9kg rock again. For kettlebell swings, I put the rock in a bag. It definitely felt a bit dodgy, and I was hoping that it wouldn’t fly out of the bag and smash the window while I was swinging it around!

    I’m not really sure what I did with the rest of the day, to be honest. But again, that’s a good thing I think. This past weekend has felt nice and lazy, which seems to have been what I needed. I had a 2.5 hour Zoom chat with Mum, Fiona and Anna. Then, Peter left the house for his first bit of exercise in four weeks, to come with me for a 4km walk in the evening sunshine.

    I found this evening tough. Missing my family just hit me like an absolute wall and I’m absolutely aching to see them again, all of a sudden. I had been doing fine in the lockdown so far, and the days had actually been flying along. However, the three more weeks of lockdown now seem to be stretching ahead, almost infinitely, and I have this feeling of not being able to cope, that I haven’t had so far. I think it was triggered by the fact that I decided today to extend my career break from Muckross and stay in Cork for another year. It’s weird that this decision changed nothing about my current situation today, but changed everything about my mindset! Hopefully it’s just a temporary blip in my emotions.

    At least Tesco are delivering stuff from their newsagents and I have a treat of a nougat bar for myself this evening!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 33 - First isolation running session

    14 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Today I finally got to do my first running speed session since the lockdown started. I’ve had two chest infections this year, and the most recent one only ended about two weeks ago. So I’ve had a good bit of time since January where I wasn’t able to run at all because of being sick. Then, I spent the past two weeks doing easy running only, to build up my fitness again. So it felt lovely to get the legs turning over and to give my lungs a bit of a workout this morning! Emmett Dunleavy (a running coach) is putting training sessions up online, that you would normally have to pay for, so I’ve started following his training plan.

    Despite it being a reasonably popular spot for runners, I went down to the river to do this session, as it’s flat there. I pretty much had the stretch of path to myself for most of the session thankfully though. I couldn’t remember where exactly along this road my 2km radius reaches to, so I did each 5 minute rep as a 2:30 minutes out and back again rep, just in case! Then, at the end, I found an empty outdoor carpark to do my 60 second race pace reps in. It was perfect because I knew there’d definitely be no pedestrians to dodge in there. I found a bag of sand, or something, in there too, which had the name “Crusader” written on it. This is the name of my running club, so it was like a sign or something. I’m not sure what exactly it was a sign of, but my mind likes wandering these days!

    In the afternoon, I learned Oti Mabuse’s Beyoncé-themed dance class, while wearing my Summer sarong as a costume! Fiona did this dance yesterday and sent us a video of her doing it. It looked really fun, so she inspired me to get to it today! Mia is thoroughly unimpressed by the dance videos that we keep sending at regular intervals!

    After this, I went for a walk in the sun and chatted to Fiona in the phone while she did the running session that I did this morning. Phone chats with family are so lovely these days - they really lift my spirits! Although, the chat had to be done mostly by me when Fiona was doing the speedy bits of the session!

    In the evening, we had our second Crusaders lockdown quiz. It was a tougher one this week, with the questions set by James Cottle. At the end he asked “who wants to do the quiz next week?” And, thinking that he was asking who wanted to participate, I enthusiastically said “yes!” So, having unwittingly volunteered for it, I will be next weeks quizmaster. It must have seemed so weird to everybody else when I volunteered with such gusto to be quizmaster. Fiona said that she had to leave her camera, she was laughing so much. She also told me that this moment was the highlight of her week! I’m glad to be of service. Haha! But, to be honest, it was quite the highlight for me too. It’s always lovely seeing all the familiar Crusaders faces, even if I am making a fool of myself in front of them!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 34 - New running route!

    15 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Next up on our running plan today was a 40-50 minute easy jog, and me and Fiona headed out together, so that we could chat on the phone while running. I really wasn’t sure where to go for this run, as I’m getting sick of the routes I’ve been doing so far, and the flat path on the south side of the river Lee is always quite busy with people. Really wanting to avoid the hills, I headed off to the river. However, this time, I started running along the road on the north side of the river. I haven’t run along here before as I had never known whether there was a path. I’ve driven it a few times and I had it in my head that it would be a bad place to run. How wrong was I?!

    The road has a completely flat path that continues for 2km. There is almost nobody on it, and the road is very quiet of cars too! I think the reason that there are very few people on this road is because there are very few houses within 2km of it. There are almost no houses on the road itself, and I was in the countryside quite quickly. I cheated a bit, because I jogged down the hill from my house, and then started running for 2km our to the end of the path and back. At the furthest point, I could have been 2.5km from home. A Garda car passed me on the way back though and didn’t stop. As Leo said, they’re not in the business of trying to catch people who stray slightly beyond their 2km radius.

    I’m so overjoyed to have found a new running route, especially one that is flat and reasonably empty of people. It will make a change from all of the hills I’ve been running on recently. Poor Fiona had to listen to me on the phone for half the run talking about how excited I was to find this new route! I finished my run with an extended walk, to prolong my time out in the sunshine. On the walk, I spotted a bag outside someone’s house offering free homegrown herbs, and also a windowsill offering free Italian pasta and tinned food. I love seeing nice gestures from people! I’ve also started saying hello to anyone I pass on my walk. It’s a nice little way to brighten up my, and their, day! I’ve noticed a few elderly people on Blarney Road standing in their doorways recently. It seems that they like the company of seeing people, even strangers passing by, so I’m going to smile and say hello any time I can.

    I spent most of the afternoon working on the Crusaders table quiz that I’m hosting next week. Then, in the evening, Mum was quizmaster for our Sheehan family quiz. It was great, and also lovely to see all the family again. I particularly liked the picture round that Mum had made, where we had to name each member of the family from about sixteen baby photos! Someone thought Mia was Peter, and a few confused Vincent and Grandad. What I couldn’t get over was how like Fiona Granny was when she was a child!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 35 - Editing music

    16 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    The sun is shining and it is making me feel one hundred times better! Who could be upset about lockdown when you’re sunbathing in your garden, feeling the lovely warmth of the sun on your face?! I went for a gorgeous walk along the river again, on my newly found flat, quite road. It was a little bit busier because the weather was nice, but this new route is mostly quite empty, with lots of space to pass each other. I listened to the radio foe an hour of the walk and then phoned mum for the last ten minutes or so. One of the things we chatted about was how things would have been if Granny and Grandad were around for this pandemic. It would have been so stressful trying to keep them safe and well. Mum may have had to cancel their carers, that used to call in to them, and move in to Crannagh to care for them herself. I also think it’s strange that they never knew about the pandemic that was coming. I’m sure Grandad would have come up with all sorts of plans to help end the crisis. A key part of his plans would, no doubt, have somehow involved me, Peter and a science laboratory! I’d love to have heard his thoughts on it all!

    I spent most of today editing the music and the music video for our lockdown quartet. The project is really coming together. I listened to the tune, in its current state, and I was in tears by the end of it! It’s quite an emotive piece and it got me thinking of the day when I’ll finally be able to hug my family again, and how that will feel. I’m so proud of what we’ve created so far and I can’t wait to show off the finished product!

    It’s Peters niece, Sarah’s, 19th birthday tomorrow so, at Margo’s suggestion, I have put together a little video of the family singing happy birthday to her, while each in their own home. I’ll send it to her in the morning. Again, I have a feeling that it may invoke some emotions in people! So many occasions have passed already where we would normally be with our families.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 36 - Online paint class

    17 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Today was Friday, so the day started with our usual routine of an 8am strength class with Pete. We have now all openly admitted that it is these classes that are most helping us to get through the lockdown. We now have two classes a week. We have our own semi-private class on a Monday, and a group class on a Friday. Who would have thought that it strength training classes would be our saviour?!

    I’ve been on “Easter holidays” from work now for almost a week. I guess holidays aren’t really as much of a big deal now, but I’ve really settled into aimless mooching at this stage and it’s wonderful! I usually always try to be as productive as I can, even when I’m on holidays, so I’m loving this change of pace! It’s good for the mind.

    After my morning Pete session today, I went for a 30 minute virtual run “with” Fiona, along the river again. We now do our runs at the same time as each other when we can, and we have great chats on the phone while doing so! This is another great activity that is getting me through the lockdown. I don’t know how those that are over 70 and cocooning are surviving without being able to go outside! It’s also funny how many activities I am “living for” these days. Off the top of my head, I would say that it’s Pete sessions, runs “with” Fiona and the weekly Tesco shop!

    The afternoon was spent, as has been the case for a few days now, working on our lockdown quartet piece. Then, in the evening I did a virtual Paintclub session, while chatting to Mum, Anna, Fiona and Mia on Zoom, who were all doing it too! The instructor went quite fast, but I think our paintings turned out to be lovely. They’ll be nice momentos to have of this time. My living room was a bit of a painty mess by the end of it but I didn’t have the energy to tidy, so I headed off to bed, deciding that it could wait until the morning!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 37 - 5km time trial

    18 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    How is it day 37 already?! I thought the days were blending into one another before, but they really are now! Thankfully, I’m over the slump that I hit in the middle of last week. I had really started feeling overwhelmed by the length of this lockdown and by feelings of loneliness and missing my family and friends. What most people are saying is that these feelings come in waves, and thankfully I’m out the other side now, enjoying myself and getting creative again now! What helps is to think outside of yourself by remembering that no matter how awful it makes you feel, what you are doing to stay at home is saving lots of lives.

    Myself and Fiona started the day with a 5km time trial. We’re both still following Emmett Dunleavey’s training plan, and a time trial to gauge where we’re at was on the cards for today. It was drizzling when I went out, and I couldn’t have been more delighted, as this usually means there are less walkers to have to dodge. It’s funny how, in one way, I love waking up to bad weather these days! I did my 5km in 26:13. I’m happy with this, as my training has been quite interrupted in recent weeks. It’s a good benchmark to improve on.

    I didn’t get up to too much for the rest of the day. I did some more work on mixing our lockdown quartet piece together. I donated to the Mater Hospital’s “Miles that Mater” campaign, and I nominated five more friends on social media to also “run 5 and donate 5.”

    In the evening, me and Peter sat down properly at the dinner table (for the first time in a while) and ate our Indian takeaway that we were too tired to eat last night! I had even made homemade tzatziki to have with my dinner. After dinner, the film “Song for a Raggy Boy” was on TV, so we watched that. I don’t think I’ve watched a film on RTÉ in a while and it felt nice watching a film picked by someone else! It wasn’t the most uplifting thing to watch, especially in the context of all the negative news around us, but it’s a good film and we enjoyed watching it. I went to bed straight after the film as I was wrecked after the morning time trial!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 38 - Meringue

    19 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    I made a meringue today! It didn’t turn out exactly as it should have, but that was because I only realised afterwards that we had a mixer in the house. I had used a hand blender, which overheated way too much before I had mixed the meringue for long enough. The finished meringue tasted great, but the texture was just a bit off. Ah well, at least now I can feel happy that I’ve baked something, like everyone else in the country at the moment, it seems. I’m finally in the club!

    Also today, I went for a long run in the morning, while chatting to Fiona on the phone. I crossed the river and went into Fitzgerald Park for the first time since lockdown started. It felt lovely to be in a park, and to feel so much greenery around me. And, thankfully, as it was early and quite misty, there weren’t too many people around. One interesting thing that I came across, on my way home from my run, was a church that was broadcasting mass through a speaker outside the door. Obviously people are not allowed to gather at mass these days, but priests are still celebrating mass on their own in the church. I hope this priest had people watching on a webcam, because there was nobody standing outside the door listening. Although maybe priests don’t mind celebrating mass with nobody watching!

    I didn’t do too much else today. I mostly pottered and did a few bits and pieces like finished my Crusaders table quiz questions and worked on a few things for our lockdown quartet. At one point, me and Peter had a video call with his family too. His mum has been finding things a bit tough going in the past little while. I think lots of people are starting to struggle a bit with this lockdown, particularly in recent days.

    Thankfully the trend in the number of new cases in Ireland is looking more promising with each passing day. Today we still had almost 500 new cases, but those in authority are now saying, more often, that we’ve begun to “flatten the curve.” Fingers crossed! Although, I also heard mention today of schools potentially being opened before the Summer, and I suddenly felt a yearning for the lowdown to continue!

    Today is the last day of the Easter holidays from work anyway. It’s funny not having the usual Sunday night fear! Tomorrow is shaping up to be a reasonably busy day at home though. Thankfully the new laptop battery that I ordered arrived today, so I’ll be able to move my laptop, if I have to, without the hassle that I’ve been putting up with up to now! Tomorrow is also the day of my weekly Tesco shop, which is a real highlight these days. This one is a “click and collect” too, so I’ll get to go out in my car, for the first time in about two weeks. I’m very excited!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 39 - Back to work (at home)

    20 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    The Easter holidays are over, so it was back to work today. Peter was up at 7.30am working away, and I surfaced about two hours later! I’d a Zoom conference call to check in with the rest of the staff, and then I spent most of the day preparing and recording my lectures for the week. It takes a good bit of time to make the PowerPoint and to then record it, so I got a bit frustrated at how slow it all took, especially with the weather being so nice outside!

    As I’ve mentioned previously, the weekly Tesco shop has become one of the big highlights of the lockdown for me, and today was the big day again! To make it even more exciting, we weren’t able to book a delivery slot, so we got to drive down to Wilton Tesco to do click and collect instead. Both me and Peter went, and it was exciting to be out on the road again. I think I’ve only been out in the car about three or four times in the past five weeks. At Tesco, we parked at the Cick and Collect door, Peter gave our name and a guy came out with our stuff in boxes and left them beside our car. Then, Peter put the shopping into the car (because only he had gloves), we left the plastic boxes back beside the door and headed home. We didn’t encounter any police on our journey, but I was a little bit nervous when driving as I’m not entirely sure if we’re allowed to be out driving with two people in a car together.

    I the evening I went for a lovely walk in the sunshine. What absolutely brightened my day, and made my walk so enjoyable was noticing, for the first time, that lots of houses on Blarney Street have things in their window for passers by to have a look at. I’d heard of this happening in lots of places around the country, but only noticed it here today. I also passed a climber practicing on the wall of Cork City Gaol! This is one of the best things I’ve seen yet. I called over to him and told him that it was a great idea and how it’s brilliant to see how creative people are being during the lockdown. He replied that he “just had to climb something,” and that he was only climbing sideways as he thought it might be illegal to climb to the top! I told him to enjoy, he told me the same, and I continued on my walk with a smile!

    It was nice to see so many lovely things on my walk. The six o clock news was very sad this evening, and I had watched it just before I went out. They announced seventy seven deaths today, the highest daily total yet. Then, at the end of the news, they put up a few pictures of people that have died so far, and I started crying. I think I have a lot of pent up emotion, that I don’t realise, at the moment. The one image that struck me the most was a picture of quite a young man from Cabinteely in Dublin. Seeing these people’s faces is really upsetting, but it’s a nice tribute to them too.

    I’m going to make a prediction for what I think will happen next, in terms of the lockdown, if only so that I can laugh at how wrong I was in two weeks time! I think that at the end of this period of the lockdown, on May 5th, they’ll announce that some people can go back to work, and that the rest of us can start going more than 2km from home. People are starting to get a tiny bit complacent now, they’re also starting to get itchy feet, and the government will be coming under pressure to ease the restrictions soon. Word is also coming through of other European countries that are already relaxing restrictions. It’ll be interesting to see what happens, but I don’t think things will change as much as people want them to!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 40 - Quiz host

    21 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    It’s day 40 of our lockdown and I can’t believe we’ve gotten to this point already. What have I don’t with the last forty days?! Good thing I have this diary to tell me! It’s been like some sort of weird lent, where instead of giving up chocolate, we have to give up leaving our houses!

    Today started, as it usually does, with an easy run down by the river. I passed two Garda checkpoints within the first kilometre or so of my run. It’s funny that just one month ago, a Garda checkpoint to ask you why you’re leaving your house would have been unthinkable, and now it’s almost completely normal! Things have changed so quickly. The new way of life has become normal so quickly. I was just thinking that it was just over a month ago that they announced the school closures, and Peter and I headed to a jammed Wilton Tesco to stand in queues of people all stockpiling food. These days, meeting one person on the opposite side of the road is close enough contact for me! Thankfully, the Gardaí at the checkpoints are never really interested in pedestrians and are pretty much only stopping cars, so I was able to continue my run unhindered.

    I ordered some seeds online last week and they arrived from Mr Middleton’s a few days ago. Having planted lots of them in my garden, I put some in envelopes today to post up to Mum and Fiona.

    I’m really fully embracing lockdown mode in recent days now, or “living my best quarantine life,” as they’d say on social media! I’ve no doubt that it’ll probably only last briefly, and that I’m only days away from another meltdown and another frustrated outburst at the restrictions, but I’ll enjoy it while it lasts. I think the best way to sum it up is that I am now ok with being unproductive, for the first time in a long time!

    I prepared homemade chickpea burgers with chips for lunch, and me and Peter sat at the dining room table to eat them. How civilised!

    Then, at 6pm, we had our weights training class with Pete. I think it was our hardest one yet! It was also a funny situation because Peter was jamming on his guitar in the same room as me doing the class. I’m still also using a massive rock, instead of a proper weight, but I hope to rectify this on Thursday when Lidl have a sale of fitness equipment.

    At 8pm today, I took on the role of Crusaders quiz host, having accidentally volunteered for it last week! It was a great success, even if I did end up pretty tired afterwards from talking to myself for over and hour. I really enjoyed making the quiz this week too - it was a lovely diversion. The best round, I think, was one where people had to guess the missing word from James Cottle’s race reports. People seemed to like to novelty of it, and I’m sure there were some funny answers! I got great feedback afterwards in our WhatsApp group amyway. The winning score was 37 out of 50, and a good few people seem to have gotten about 25 right, so that sounds like I pitched the standard appropriately.

    I don’t know how another nighttime has rolled around again so quickly, but I will be fully embracing my sleep tonight, as I’m tired from my run and strength class. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but I hope it brings nice weather at least. There are rumours of some very sunny weather in the next few weeks!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 41 - Lots of fitness!

    22 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    I did three separate exercise sessions today! I went out for my usual running session by the river in the morning, followed by the usual hike back up Strawberry Hill afterwards. Then, in the afternoon, I did an online boxing fitness class, organised by Fiona’s work. I did this one outside in the sun and it was great to be able to do it in the fresh air. Peter was also outside at the time, though, and giving me some very strange looks! Finally, in the evening, I went for a walk and chatted to Fiona on the phone while she went for her run. I have to say, this was my least enjoyable walk so far. There were way too many people out and about and I just found it all a bit stressful. At one point, people were standing on opposite sides of the road talking, so I walked down the middle of the road, while another walker came down the middle of the road towards me and a jogger came close to me from behind! I did get to see lots of nice things new the windows of houses on Blarney Street again though, including some balloon animals in a box that said “please take home!” I would have taken one if there was no risk of catching covid-19 from it!

    For lunch today I made a halloumi salad and I sat outside in the sun for a while afterwards chatting to Mum on the phone. I put some seeds in the post to Mum today too. I can’t wait until garden shops are open again. My favourite one, Griffins, is operating an honesty box sale from their gate, but unfortunately, at about 20km distance from my house, they’re much too far past my 2km radius.

    In the evening, Peter had a Zoom call with his family. I could hear him saying “Lisa’s doing fitness classes every day here!” He probably thinks I’ve gone mad! I would have chatted on the Zoom call too but I’m feeling a bit “Zoomed out,” so instead I watched a trashy television programme on my own called “Too Hot to Handle!” Sometimes, even in a lockdown, we all need a break!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 42 - Attempted kettlebell purchase

    23 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Kettlebells, weights and other home fitness equipment is like gold dust these days. Single 10kg kettlebells are selling for €100 to €300 euro online! As a result, I’ve been stuck using a 9kg rock from our back garden for Pete’s classes twice a week and I’ve been desperate to get my hands on a proper weight. Fiona and Lisa Banahan have been, helpfully, keeping an eye out for weights online, and Fiona spotted that Lidl we’re going to be selling them from 8am today!

    So, I’d an early start this morning. I headed 5 minutes up the road to Lidl, arrived there at about 7.55am, but was very disappointed to find about eighty people in the queue ahead of me! I decided to stick with it, and had a nice chat with the people on either side of me in the queue (both of whom were over 70 and therefore not meant to be out)! After half an hour of queuing, I got into the shop but, of course, all of their weights were gone. I’m suspicious that the staff took them before they even put them out on the shelf.

    Anyway, I consoled myself with a garden hose and some compost and headed home. I spent most of the day on Zoom then, teaching chemistry and doing individual meetings with students. One student “stayed back” after class for over half an hour, basically looking for therapy from me because of how stressful the situation in Kuwait is. It sounds very strict there, but that’s probably a good thing. She has to wear a bracelet that the police scan every day, and it tells them where she’s been for the day. She has to self-isolate for two weeks because she’s recently returned to Kuwait from Ireland, so if she comes within 2m of someone else’s bracelet an alert is triggered! I told her to focus on what she can control, which is how much study she does for her upcoming exams.

    In the breaks between classes, I pottered around the garden and sat out in the sun. I’m going to admit now that I bought a massive box of squashies on Amazon last week. I somewhat regret it, but it was great! I was inspired by having seen Anna get the same box off Julian for her birthday a few weeks ago. It had ten big bags of sweets in it!

    There’s a new thing doing the rounds on Facebook where you have to post one of your favourite running photos, to remind us of positive things during this time. I posted a photo from the National Road Relays last year. I loved that team event and I can’t wait to get back to training with the gang again in the not too distant future!

    In the evening, we had a Sheehan family quiz on Zoom. Conor was the quizmaster this time, with a little help from Barry. It’s funny that John never remembers to mute his phone when he’s discussing his answers with Vincent! I came second in the quiz, again, with Anna being the winner for the second week in a row! Quizzes are a lovely way to catch up with family and friends at this time.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 44 - Stay at home!

    25 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    We have just over one week to go until the current restrictions expire, but there’s a lot of talk of people relaxing the restrictions themselves already. On the news, Dublin Bus said that they have seen an increase in passenger numbers, and seismologists in Dublin have also noticed an increase in vibrations that correspond to increased car and pedestrian activity in the city. Leo Varadkar has, therefore, been on television telling people that if they don’t adhere to the restrictions properly, that they’ll have to be extended.

    I went out for my usual run “with Fiona” this afternoon, and it felt like the place was jammed with people. It made for quite an unpleasant run actually, because there were too many people to dodge. Fiona reported the same where she was on Dun Laoghaire pier. I also couldn’t get over the amount of recreational cyclists out and about!

    In the morning, before my run, I did a virtual Zoom brunch with the family, which was nice. Fiona had collected a takeaway brunch from The Mellow Fig for herself and the others, and I made my own scrambled eggs at home.

    In the afternoon, Peter and I collected our shopping from Tesco, which is always a highlight of the week! Demand for click and collect seems to have reduced, as we were able to book this slot only yesterday.

    In the evening, we’d a much overdue Zoom chat with Lisa, John, Garrett, Orlaith, JT, Fiona and Paul. It’s so nice to be laughing heartily again with friends. We actually stayed on chatting for about three and a half hours! JT told us that, three days ago, he started having symptoms of covid-19! Rhona had it about two weeks ago and has ,thankfully, recovered, so it looks like JT picked it up from her. This is the first time that I’ve personally known someone with the infection, and I’m so glad to hear that it’s been relatively mild for both of them. Although, Rhona did go to the hospital with breathing difficulties. That’s scary to hear.

    Today was also Peter’s siblings, Mike and Mo’s birthday. I made a group “happy birthday” video again. I must get back to finishing our “lockdown orchestra” piece of music tomorrow!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 45 - Unexplored parts of my radius

    26 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    We are now 45 days into our lockdown and there are still, somehow, parts of my 2km radius that I haven’t explored! I went out at 10am this morning for a long run while chatting to Fiona. We spent most of the time discussing what lies ahead in the future, especially in terms of immunity to covid-19, and the development of a vaccine. The WHO announced yesterday that there is currently “no evidence” that covid-19 induces long term immunity in people. We had a good chat about what we thought the implications of this were.

    About halfway through my run, I spotted someone emerging from a gap in the hedge beside the road, and so I decided to see what was beyond the hedge. I was so glad that I did, because what I found was an expanse of field, right beside the river Lee. And barely a soul around. It was just perfect! There was one spot where the trail was only wide enough for single file, but when I emerged from that section, I saw that two people were waiting patiently for me to come out of that section before they went in. I think this will be my new spot to come to every day. It feels like absolutely ages ago that I was running up the hill from our house, and past the buy Supervalu etc.

    The rest of the day was nice and lazy. I worked a bit on our lockdown orchestra. Incidentally, producing our orchestra piece has almost become my full time job, but more of that anon! I also did a free yoga class on the Downdog app. I chose a “restorative” class, as I was quite tired. I then edited my Tesco delivery which is due tomorrow. I think I’ve mentioned before that planning the Tesco delivery is a big highlight of the week!

    I somehow ended up out in the garden for a bit in the afternoon too, even though the weather was quite cool. My buxus plants, that I adopted from Fiona’s garden last Summer, are looking half dead, so they are in dire need of some care and attention. I’ve trimmed them, and will water them every day for the next while.

    In the evening, me and Peter sat down to watch the new Chris Hemsworth film, Extraction, on Netflix, as he had been discussing it on the Graham Norton show the night before. It wasn’t the best film ever, but it was a nice, easy watch. It was one of those films that’s good if you don’t think too deeply about it!

    Anticipation is really building now about what will be announced this Friday, in terms of our restrictions that are due to expire on 5th May. I’ve been listening to the radio and television. Some days it seems that the restrictions won’t change at all, but other days it seems that our 2km radius might be widened slightly, or done away with altogether. I’m so jealous of the people on the National Public Health Emergency Team that already have some idea of what’s coming next week!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 46 - My new kettlebell arrived!

    27 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    I always seem to be on a bad buzz on a Monday these days. The reason being that I have to upload screencasts of my lectures for the week ahead on a Tuesday and, despite being stuck at home all day every day, I still leave all the preparation until the day before! As a result, I spent pretty much the entire day today, making powerpoints, recording lectures and preparing homework assignments. I think, at the start of the lockdown, I used to be more at peace with tapping away on my computer all day, preparing material for class. However, then we had a week off for Easter, and that put me into a different routine which has been tricky to break out of! It’s funny because, before Easter, I didn’t know how I was going to cope with having the week off, and I assumed I’d just work right through it. That obviously did not happen!

    In some excellent news, the kettlebell that Fiona ordered for me was delivered today by An Post. This brings to an end a five or six week search for a kettlebell! I don’t know how she did it. As I’ve said before, kettlebells are not available online or in shops, unless you’re willing to spend several hundred euro! I can finally ditch the rock that I’ve been using in Pete’s class. This will be bittersweet for me as I, and the others, have become somewhat fond of my rock. Fiona was very excited about the arrival of my kettlebell anyway. Perhaps even more excited than me!

    By the time I had finished my lecture preparation for tomorrow, it was late enough in the evening. Thankfully, today was a much needed rest day in our running training plan, so it was an evening on the couch for me. I finally finished the amazing “Easter Logic Problem” that Anna posted to me. Although I did need a little bit of help from Anna! Then, as is usual, I worked on our lockdown orchestra music. Peter has lots of ideas for how to improve the sound of the piece - we must have played around with the music and discussed how to make it sound better for about an hour. What will I do when I finally release the piece?!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 47 - You just cant win!

    28 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Today, a funny thing happened to me on my run. As I was running along the path, I could see another runner coming towards me quite quickly. I decided to cross to the opposite side of the road, to avoid coming within two metres of him. I had to wait a few moments before I could cross, as there were cars coming, but I managed to duck across just before our paths crossed. As we passed, I gave my usual smile and wave, but he shook his head, tut tutted and shouted “there’s no virus!” You just can’t win! This is a new one on me, getting given out to for making an effort to socially distance. I wonder is the guy a conspiracy theorist, or is he just fed up of people “overreacting?” For some reason, this incident annoyed me way more than any time a walker has given me a dirty look for being out running.

    These days when I’m out and about, I wave and smile to as many people as I can, especially the people that I see almost every day. I like having a project of trying to befriend the regulars that I come across while on my daily run! Plus, smiling and waving pretty much always softens the attitude of walkers that look like they might be annoyed at the sight of someone out running. There’s a guy that usually sits outside his apartment block, above the Sunday’s Well Road. Some days he’s doing some sort of DIY project, but today he was just sitting and watching the world go by. He’d a big greeting for me today when I said hello!

    This morning, I’d a few bits and pieces to get through for work. This included a plagiarism meeting with a student, who didn’t actually show up for the Zoom meeting in the end. I was quite productive with the morning though, and got my work to-do list completed.

    In the afternoon, I took a while to make a nice lunch for me and Peter, to read a running magazine and to write a postcard to send to Garrett, who sent us one this week. We had quite a laugh composing our poem on the postcard!

    In the evening, we had our Pete class at 6pm, then it was Crusaders quiz time again. Brendan was the quizmaster. The questions were hard tonight, and he flew through them at quite a fast pace. Even when people kept asking him to slow down, he kept churning out the questions quickly. It was a bit stressful, but quite funny, and I got a final score of 19 out of 50. During the quiz, myself and Emer had a great text conversation about Percy Pigs, as she was eating some. Now that I’m thinking about these, some of my favourite sweets, I’m suddenly thinking about how much I miss Marks & Spencer food! You think you’re fully aware of everything that you miss during lockdown, and then moments like these pop up. Small, but not insignificant moments!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 48 - Maddest day so far?!

    29 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    Today started off as just another day in isolation. I went for a short, easy run down by the river. I showered and had breakfast. I answered various student emails and caught up on a few bits and pieces online.

    While I had been out on my run, my thoughts had wandered to my, recently finished, Leaving Cert Biology revision booklet. It had been my New Year’s resolution to make such a booklet and, thanks to all this extra time during lockdown, I had finally finished it. I’d almost forgotten about it though, and I starting thinking about what I was going to do with it. I’d probably email it to my cousin Luke, who’s doing the Leaving Cert this year. I’d like to try to sell it to students maybe, but I don’t know where I’d do that. How would teachers react to me trying to sell something to them? By the end of my run, I had decided to post the booklet in the Irish Science Teachers Facebook group, as a start. One or two people there might be interested in buying it.

    So, in the morning, I submitted my post about th revision booklet to the group. It didn’t get posted straight away though. This private Facebook group is moderated and all new posts are screened. I figured they wouldn’t allow a post that was openly trying to sell something. So, I continued with my day, preparing homework for tomorrow’s online classes, and so on.

    A few hours later, I noticed something strange in my email inbox. PayPal was starting to notify me of payments that had been submitted to me. People had started buying my revision booklet! It was so unexpected. “Peter, I’ve just made almost €50 off this revision booklet!” I was speechless! What an interruption to my afternoon. I had to drop the class preparation that I was in the middle of, and I had to start emailing the booklet out to my new customers. I was slow, at first, as I hadn’t expected there to be such a demand, but I quickly changed a few things to make the process at my end a little bit more efficient.

    An hour later, the demand was far exceeding what I could keep up with. “Peter, there’s now €500 in my PayPal account!” I needed to go to the bathroom, but emails and queries and all sorts of messages were keeping me going flat out! A quick bathroom break and I was back. I had made €700 in just two hours. This is crazy!

    The rest of the afternoon and evening continued like this. There was a non-stop stream of teachers buying the booklet and, where I had expected people to be annoyed at me asking for money, people were so grateful. I received so many lovely and complimentary messages throughout the day. Teachers are clearly worn out, and running low on digital resources at this stage, so they were loving my booklet. “I wish I had this before,” one said! By the time I finally fell in to bed this evening, I had received over €1000 in payments! At one point, it had gotten so mad that I even considered taking my post down so that no more people could access the link to buy my booklet! Peter tried to talk to me at one point during the day and I replied “can’t talk, I’m trying to run a business here!” “Ok Walter White!” he replied, in reference to the chemistry teacher in the TV programme, who starts making money on the side by making and selling drugs!

    A few teachers messaged me over the course of the day asking if I had a chemistry version of this booklet. I told them that I had one in preparation (which I don’t!), so I have my work cut out for me now over this upcoming bank holiday weekend to get this now, much-anticipated chemistry book started and finished!

    At 8.30pm this evening, we had our usual Sheehan family quiz, with John as host. Paul won tonight, and all of the rest of us were joint second! It was nice because Suzanne in Australia joined us towards the end of our call, for the first time. I am exhausted now. I didn’t even have time to watch the six o clock news this evening!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 49 - World record attempt begins

    30 апреля 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    For some reason, my friends have talked me into trying to beat the 5km world record, by doing it in downhill 100m increments! Thursdays are my busy days though, in terms of online classes, so I wouldn’t get to try it until later in the day.

    As usual, my day started at 10am with a live Zoom lecture. I was a bit worried about today’s lecture, as I didn’t get to prepare for it as much as I would have liked due to the sales of my biology book kicking off yesterday! However, both lectures today went fine, and the students were their usual optimistic, enthusiastic selves, which always gives me a bit of a lift. In general, they don’t seem to worry as intensely as older people, even during this global pandemic, so it’s good to be around that sort of attitude every so often these days. In my individual meetings, I was chatting with one girl in Kuwait. She was very overwhelmed last week, as she is electronically tagged due to covid-19, and the police monitor her whereabouts every day as she has recently returned home from Ireland. She seemed much more motivated this week though, and my weekly video chat with her seems to have contributed to that, which is good. I enjoy catching up with her every week!

    After all my classes had finished for the day, at about 4pm, I headed out to complete my Crusaders one mile time trial. We’ve a fun, virtual competition happening, where the winner is the person who gets a mile time that is closest to their predicted time. I predicted 6:55 and finished in 7:11. Fiona headed out at the same time as me an finished in a fantastic 5:55! It’s tough racing these sort of speedy, short distances at the moment, especially on your own.

    When I got home from the time trial, I then decided to make a start on my 5km world record attempt, by running five downhill 100m segments. It was a lovely, sunny evening, and I completed the 500m in 80 seconds, which is five seconds ahead of the pace I need. My legs were a bit sore from it afterwards though, so I’m not sure when I’ll get out to do my next 500m segment! In fact, with five reps done and forty five to go, my motivation is waning somewhat already. At least I have my segment marked out, and it’s on the road just across from our house, so it won’t be too much effort to pop out and do a few if I feel like it later in the week. Although, I’m now wondering if it’s a bit of a mad plan!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 50 - Update on restrictions

    1 мая 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    What a rollercoaster of emotions today!

    Today was the day we were all eagerly anticipating, as our current restrictions are due to expire on the 5th May and an announcement was due in relation to what happens after this date.

    I started the day, as is usual on a Friday, with our 8am Pete class. Then I wrote five chapters of the chemistry revision book that I’m hoping to release for sale next week!

    At 6pm, we sat down for the news, and for Leo’s announcement, and it was not good news from my point of view. From Tuesday, we will now be allowed to drive and exercise up to 5km from our homes, and over 70s will finally be allowed out of their homes again. The extended 5km radius doesn’t make too much of a difference to me, although I see that I’ll be able to make it down to Tramore Valley Park, which has a nice 5km loop in it. I’ll also be able to make it to the Glen River parkrun course. The main thing for me though, is that we won’t be able to go more than 20km from our homes until July 20th! I shouldn’t have read the detailed document that was forwarded in almost every WhatsApp group that I’m in. I feel so overwhelmed! July 20th is ages away, and the only restriction that I care about is getting to see my family.

    Needing to put that out of my mind, we ordered takeaway, which only took 30 minutes to arrive today, compared with the 2 hours it took last week. Then, me, Fiona, Anna, Mum and Paul went on Houseparty, an app that lets you video chat and play games. The games were so bad they were good, and I got in such a laughing fit that I was crying and could barely breathe! It’s nice to be able to do things like that with my family.

    For the next while, I’ll be focusing on one day at a time. I’m sure there’ll be tough, overwhelming days, but there have been lots of nice days so far too, so here’s to lots more of those!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 51 - Today was tough!

    2 мая 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    After the news last night of the very slow unwinding of the lockdown restrictions, I found today tough. Judging by comments online though, I’m not alone. All I can do is to take things one day at a time and to enjoy each day as it comes!

    I started the day, as I always do on a Saturday, with the parkrun Global Quiz. You watch the quiz live on YouTube and then fill in answers on a separate website. This week I got five answers correct, my lowest score yet! My PB so far is eleven out of fifteen.

    After the quiz, I headed down to the field by the river to do my “Mona Fartlek” session, as instructed by the training plan I’m following. It was a really enjoyable session, even if I did end up running it in the boggy section of the field, due to the number of dog walkers around!

    When the session was done, I headed off in the car to collect my online shop. It was a big one this time - the boxes of Cheerios for Peter just seemed to keep coming! They were on special offer this week.

    The afternoon was warm and sunny, so we sat outside for a good while. Then I worked on two chapters of my chemistry book and we watched the film, Ms, Peregrine’s House for Peculiar Children. Peter said that films like that are his favourite type!

    From May 18th, groups of four people will be allowed to meet in outdoor places, so we’ve already arranged with our friends Brendan and Megan in Carrigaline, to meet somewhere on that date. That’ll be something nice to look forward to!

    I’ve the Wings for Life virtual run to do tomorrow, so I headed to bed early to get enough rest.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 52 - Wings for Life World Run

    3 мая 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Today was the big day when me and Fiona would be taking part in the Wings for Life World Run! This year it was organised through an app, where your progress was tracked and you were “caught” by a virtual catcher car. As is usual on our runs, me and Fiona chatted on the phone for the duration of the run. My aim was to get to 15km before being caught, while Fiona was aiming to complete a half marathon!

    The whole event was as close to the buzz of a race as you can get in the current circumstances, and both of us were well-able to stick to our planned paces, thanks in no small part to the adrenaline buzz associated with the whole event. I managed to get to 16.49km before being caught, while Fiona got to 23.59km! This put us 10th and 3rd female finishers in Ireland, which I’m very proud of!

    I was wrecked afterwards, so all I managed for most of the rest of the day was a nice, hot shower and to cook an omelette for dinner. Later in the evening, I had a Zoom chat with Lisa Banahan, Orlaith and Fiona. Right at the start of our chat, Peter asked me to move from the living room up to the bedroom, as my chatting was disturbing his guitar playing with the lads. Unfortunately I ended up spilling a glass of red wine all over myself, my laptop and the hall, stairs and landing, while on the move. It was funny, popping back into the living room to gesture to Peter about what had happened, and all he could see was me covered literally head to toe in red wine! He didn’t know what was going on, and couldn’t stop to ask as he was mid-tune on the guitar! We had a good laugh about it on Zoom when Orlaith spotted me mopping the floor with tissues while the others chatted! Having a good, hearty laugh on Zoom these days is great. There were plenty of laughs tonight too, as John did his usual criticism of us and our love of the Wings for Life race!

    Peter stayed up for hours into the night, drinking a few beers and chatting to Seán, Turlough and Brían. It’s so nice that we’re gradually finding new ways to socialise and to connect with our friends.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 53 - Bleeeuuurgh!

    4 мая 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    I couldn’t come up with a title for today, so I’ve captioned it with how I feel. I would say that while most days have been good days interspersed with bad bits, today was probably a bad day interspersed with good bits!

    I woke at about 6.30am after a bit of a restless sleep, which is not unexpected after the Wings for Life run yesterday. Then, I worked solidly on my Leaving Cert chemistry booklet until about 2pm. At this point, the washing machine decided to start making banging noises again, for the second time this week. I think we’re going to need someone to repair it. For some reason, though, this was what tipped me over the edge today! For the following hour or so, I sat in the chair by the window crying with frustration at the length of the current lockdown restrictions. Thankfully, Peter comforted me, and then I rang my Mum, and I was eventually feeling better again by about 4.30pm. Time for a very late lunch!

    At about 5pm then, Peter came out with me for a much-needed walk to clear my head. We’d a lovely stroll out towards Blarney, and we stopped several times to appreciate the countryside and to absorb the lovely surroundings! This lifted my mood hugely.

    By the time we got back to the house, I remembered that I still hadn’t recorded my lectures for tomorrow’s classes. So from about 7 - 8pm, I sat on my bed recording four lectures on the topic of acids and bases! I’m not sure about the quality of the lectures this week!

    At 8pm, I had my first Zoom chat with my school friends since the lockdown began. It was lovely to see them all. Each has their own struggle that they’re dealing with at the moment. What Leona had to say really struck a chord with me though. As someone with an underlying health condition, she has been cocooning for the past two months and, even if the restrictions are eased in the next few weeks, she’s not sure if she’ll be able to leave her house this side of Christmas! That really put things in perspective for me.

    Julie had her second child last month and hasn’t been able to have any visitors to see him. Melanie lost her job in Delphi resort, but seems to be happily painting and illustrating in her house in Mayo. Laura is working in Tallaght hospital and says that some of the wards are very quiet, although things seem to be picking up in the last few days. Aoife is starting a new hospital job next week, and so is making the most of this week “off.” We’d a great chat together. Some moments we poured our hearts out to each other, and then there were other moments of lightness and laughter. Next week we’re planning an Italian night where we’re all going to eat an Italian meal while on Zoom together. I look forward to that!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 54 - Routine day in lockdown

    5 мая 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    This morning I headed out for my run while chatting to Fiona through headphones, as is usual most days at the moment. On our plan was something called a “cut down” workout. The reps got shorter, but their intensity got higher. I really enjoyed it, and I had most of the Lee Road to myself, given that the day was cool and overcast.

    I had to time my run carefully though, as I had almost no time to spare when I got home, before I had to go on Zoom for a staff meeting. I put a fleece on over my running T-shirt to make myself look more dressed up for the meeting! The meeting was to do with our exam timetable for the start of June. We finalised the dates for our online exams in the meeting, and the students will be told by the end of this week.

    Most of the rest of today was spent trying to finish my Chemistry revision booklet. It’s a slow-going, and sometimes tiresome, process but it’ll be worth it in the end, when hopefully lots of teachers buy it!

    We had our weekly, semi-private Zoom class at 6pm today. I wore the lederhosen dri-fit that I bought at the Munich marathon last year, and it somehow lifted my mood loads. Whatever works I guess! John popped into the background of Lisa Banahan’s camera at the start and was like “what are you wearing?!” Haha, brilliant!

    At 8pm, we had our weekly Crusaders table quiz and Georgina was the quiz master. The questions were great, but I got my lowest score yet at 11.5! Georgina is out of a job at the moment, so she said that the quiz gave her a lovely focus for the week. I found that too when I was quiz master a few weeks ago. She had clearly put a lot of effort into the quiz, as evidenced by both a picture round and a music round. Her “Crusaders” round was on the theme of “people who acted as crusaders in their field.” Numbers for the quiz tonight were a bit down on previous weeks - I wonder did Brendan’s speed quiz last week scare them off?!

    After the quiz, the usual suspects, me, Mum, Susan, Mairéad and Paul Kelly stayed on Zoom to chat, as we always do. Susan ended up demonstrating some knee exercises for Mum, while standing on a kitchen chair, having had a few glasses of wine. It was funny! I left the Zoom conversation at about 10.30pm to go off and watch the new RTÉ series called “Normal People.” It’s great! Such a nostalgic and relatable drama. The next episode gives me something to look forward to for next week. It’s all these small little things in our lives that put some sort of structure on the expanse of time and uncertainty that lies before us.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 55 - Chemistry booklet finished!

    6 мая 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    I really needed to get my Leaving Cert Chemistry revision booklet completed today. I had hoped to finish it over the bank holiday weekend, but other things got in the way (including a bit of a meltdown on certain days!) so I still had five chapters to complete today. I’m under time pressure, because there’s talk of cancelling the Leaving Cert and I won’t be able to sell as many (or any!) booklets once that’s announced!

    I’ve also decided to start eating healthily from now on! I can’t get over the amount of junk food I’ve been putting in my online shopping, and I’d like to change that. Today got off to a good start with some yoghurt and fruit.

    I worked solidly on the chemistry booklet until lunchtime. With it pretty much finished by then, I next worked on the website for it for a while and then put the finishing touches to the cover of the booklet etc.

    I went out for a thirty minute run along the Blarney Road at about 6pm. It’s so cold outside - it’s like autumn has come back. We even had the heating on today! I keep hearing about all the amazing weather that they’re having up in Dublin, but we don’t seem to be getting any of it here. Just lots of rain this week!

    At 9pm, we had our weekly Sheehan quiz. Paul was the host and Suzanne was able to join us from Australia this time! At one point during the quiz, me, Fiona and Anna were making secret faces and actions at each other on camera. We were trying to communicate to each other without anyone noticing, but we got too confident with our actions and Emmet noticed us. I laughed about the whole thing more than I’ve laughed in a good while! Oh and I almost won the quiz, except that Mum and Anna beat me in a tiebreaker where I couldn’t remember the name of one of the American doctors that is coordinating their response to coronavirus!

    I felt great after this family meet up and a bit of a laugh. There’s lots of nice things about this lockdown too.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 56 - Chemistry book goes on sale

    7 мая 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Today was the big day! Eight days after I put my Biology book online, I was finally in a position to start selling my Chemistry book. And not a moment too soon. More rumours are trickling out about the Leaving Cert potentially being cancelled, so if I wanted to sell any copies this side of the Summer, I needed to get it online today.

    I’m quite tired at this stage now. I’d a reasonably gentle pace of life towards the start of lockdown, but the popularity of these Leaving Cert booklets has really made things a lot more hectic! I had one or two more things to edit in the booklet this morning, which I did. Then I uploaded details of my website etc to the Irish Science Teachers Facebook group. At 10am, I had to teach a chemistry class through Zoom, then by the time that was over, sales were already coming in. For the rest of the day, I balanced trying to teach my chemistry classes with trying to fulfil orders for my booklets. Putting up details of the Chemistry book has had a knock on effect of drawing peoples attention to the Biology book again, so it’s trickier this time trying to make sure that I email the correct book to people! Some people are also asking me for a Junior Science booklet now too!

    In the evening, I headed out to run my mile for the Crusaders relay event. Out on the Lee Road, I improved my time by eleven seconds, to achieve seven minutes for the mile. A bit disappointed not to duck under seven minutes but happy to have improved! When I came home, I cooked some veggie chilli and sat down to watch the news and Primetime.

    The big news this evening is that the Leaving Cert has been cancelled! I’m not sure I agree with this plan, as I think it’ll disadvantage students who really want the chance to prove themselves. It looks like their grades will be based on class tests etc now. A lot of students improve by a huge amount, from class tests to the Leaving Cert, in my experience!

    By the time I went to bed this evening, I had sold seventy two copies of my Chemistry and Biology booklets. I really did get in in the nick of time!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Lisa ShineCorkПутешественник

    Day 57 - On the radio!

    8 мая 2020 г., Ирландия ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    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!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод