Today is one of the four yearly bank holidays in Ireland (the others being in May, June, October). I’ve been relaxing and taking it easy — catching up on some TV, talking with a friend in the U.S. over a long phone call, doing some small chores around the apartment. Yesterday I met up with a new friend, P., for drinks out at PantiBar where the streets were crowded with people enjoying the break in the raining weather.
After getting our pints and finding a space to stand in the crowd, we run into one of P’s friends who is also out “enjoying the craic,” as they say here. The three of us converse about all sorts of subjects… American politics, Irish politics, COVID, travel destinations, etc. At one point P says he hasn’t been vaccinated yet, despite being in his late 30s, which takes me by surprise. He doesn’t give a good reason for his hesitancy, although my impression is that his views lean more towards libertarianism. Since we’re outside the whole time, I’m not overly concerned about the exposure risk to me personally, but had I known beforehand I would have probably thought twice about meeting up.
On the topic of COVID, the number of new daily cases in Ireland has reached almost 1,300 now, more than the “second wave” in October-November 2020 when I first arrived. However, hospitalizations and deaths remain low. Many European countries have now surpassed the U.S. in terms of the percentage of the total population that have been vaccinated. Ireland is at 56% fully vaccinated and 11% partially vaccinated, compared the U.S. figures of 49% and 8%, respectively. Yesterday was the first day when Ireland’s vaccination centres began offering first doses of Pfizer on a walk-in basis to anyone 16 and older. Turnout is reported to be very high.
Tomorrow is the first day of my new job with University College Dublin (UCD). Late this afternoon I finally hear from my director who emails to set up a Zoom meeting for us in the morning. It’s been almost two years since my last full-time job. I find myself feeling neither excited nor nervous, but rather expectant and curious.
Until next time….
