Spring has arrived right on cue for Easter. It’s been much warmer this week, with highs in the low 60s / upper 10s C. There have been some rainy days but today there are large patches of blue in the sky. I’m sitting in St. Stephens Green wearing a short sleeve shirt, the first time since autumn. I worked in the morning, although the firm was officially closed and left it up to employees as to whether or not they wanted to work. Good Friday is not recognised as a bank holiday, although there are lots of people out and about who probably have it off. Easter Monday is a public holiday for everyone.
I took off work early this afternoon for a dentist appointment. My last checkup and cleaning was August 2020, before I moved to Ireland, so I was overdue. I went to a dental office off Grafton Street that’s part of a large franchise aptly called “Smile,” the largest in the country. Unlike in the U.S., the actual dentist performed the cleaning with the hygienist only assisting. His name was Mohammed, he mentioned he was from Galway, and I’m guessing he must be second generation of his family living in Ireland given that he was relatively young and had a native Irish accent (at least as far as I could tell). In addition to performing a general checkup and cleaning, he took some xrays. Thankfully, there are no issues other than my gums being a bit inflamed from going for 1.5 years without a cleaning. The appointment took about 30-45 minutes total and cost €119, of which my health insurance plan will cover €25. I haven’t looked into how much additional dental insurance would cost but that’s something I should research before I really need it.
The new job is going well. I’ve worked on more projects this week, although I’m not expected to meet any billable targets for the first 6 weeks and even then they will be slowly ramped up. I still haven’t gone into the office but am planning to do so 1-2 days next week. Technically, we are supposed to use a desk booking app to reserve a workspace — this was implemented during the early waves of COVID to limit the number of people in the office at any given time — but the rules seem to be relaxing more. Two people on my team are currently working remotely outside of Dublin. There seems to be some expectation that they will eventually be required to come back into the office, although perhaps only occasionally for specific meetings or events. The “new normal” hasn’t quite been established yet. I have been trying to get out in the evenings for walks, especially now that it stays light out until around 8:30pm. On Wednesday, I met up with my friend CJ for a couple of pints but that’s been the extent of my social life during the week. It will be a quiet weekend for me as most of my friends will be spending the Easter weekend with family. I may be inspired to do a spontaneous day trip somewhere, depending on the weather and my mood.
There have been some horrible events in the news headlines this past week for the LGBTQ community in Ireland. Last Saturday, a young gay man in his early 20s suffered an unprovoked attack from a random stranger on Dame Street not far from where I live. His eye socket was broken and he had to undergo surgery for fractures in one of his ankles. The perpetrator has not been identified, although there’s a slim chance that some CCTV footage may have captured the incident. It is being considered a hate crime given that the attacker used homophobic slurs and seems to have targeted the victim for being gay.
Then even more shocking events took place when two gay men in their 40s-50s were found dead in their homes in Co. Sligo after sustaining significant physical injuries. A suspect was arrested and has been charged with both murders. The accused is a 22 year old young man with a non-Irish name (perhaps of Indian ancestry?), although it’s not clear if he is an immigrant or grew up in Ireland. The crimes have been an enormous shock to the small community of Sligo, which only has a population of around 20,000, and the country in general. Vigils are being planned this evening.
Until next time….
