The “Level 5” lockdown has been extended in Ireland until at least March 5th — i.e., everyone must stay at home except for essential errands and exercise which are limited to 5 km, only essential businesses such as grocery stores are allowed to remain open, no “click and collect” online orders for pickup, restaurants can only offer take away, no socialising with or entertaining guests from other households (with the exception of “support bubbles”). Schools are still closed but are supposed to reopen “as soon as possible.” The government is also considering additions restrictions that will “reduce the volume of international travel to Ireland to a dribble,” including mandatory quarantines (instead of the current self-isolation requirement that is not strongly enforced). Travelers from South Africa and Brazil are currently banned from entering Ireland altogether, to minimize the spread of new COVID-19 variants. (Summarized from this Irish Times article). The number of daily new cases in Ireland has dropped to around 2,000, but that’s still higher than the peak of ~1,250 during the second wave in October. We still have a long way to go.
This morning I wake up with my back feeling particularly stiff/sore, so I spend 15 minutes laying down on the arched back stretcher I recently acquired. Even at the lowest arch position it is challenging to stay on it the whole time, but it seems to help somewhat.
I don’t have anything concrete planned for today. I am continuing to catch up on laundry, which due to the smaller capacity of the washing machine and longer wash cycles takes almost all day. This afternoon I spend some time on personal finances and updating my career “action plan” spreadsheet — there are a few job postings in queue, but nothing with an urgent deadline. There are also some other networking/research tasks on the list. Part of me wants to see how the phone interview goes tomorrow before pursuing other leads. I’m still weighing the value of pursuing a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) qualification, which would be a serious investment of time and money, and might not even meet the requirements of potential employers in Ireland. I’ve submitted more than a dozen applications for local jobs, most of which have been posted by recruiters, but I’ve only heard back from one — the short term project for the Higher Education Authority that didn’t pan out.
My schedule has been drifting later over the last week, so I make dinner on the early side with the intent on going to bed early. Lately I’ve been re-watching the Star Trek Discovery series, and it’s easy for the evening hours to go by without noticing. In fact, just now realize I may have missed the cutoff for today’s post to be distributed via email, so I’ll wrap this up for now.
Until next time….
