It’s been another long and stressful work week. I’ve been cooped up in the apartment more than usual, in part because of Storm Barra that hit Ireland with rain and gale force winds Tuesday-Thursday. Schools were closed, and non-critical medical appointments were canceled. Thankfully no one was seriously injured, although thousands of homes were without power in Co. Cork for awhile.
Once the storm had past, the headlines in the Irish news returned to COVID-19. Currently the cohort of 60-69 year olds are being offered booster doses. Walk in vaccination centres have been overwhelmed with people queueing up and have had to turn people away. There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle over vaccination appointments, due to some people getting their jabs at their GP doctor’s office but then being unable to cancel the appointments automatically scheduled for them by the Health Service Executive. The government’s response: we are trying to maximize the opportunities for people to get their third dose of vaccine. It’s a race to get as many shots in arms before the omicron variant takes hold.
On Thursday night I had my friend CJ over for dinner. I cooked my Great Aunt Lula Mae’s chicken tortilla casserole recipe, which I hadn’t made in a long time. It was a treat as much for me as it was for CJ.
It was almost 7:00pm on Friday evening when I finally signed off from work, having traded back and forth emails with my director about the impossible deadlines that I’m expected to meet in the next two weeks. While the weather has been dry today, the weekend forecast calls for more rain so I was determined to get out for a walk. I headed eastward along the Liffey to take in some views of the holiday lights that are decorating Dublin this month.
Until next time….
