Lionesskeeper's Shiney Contribution to the Blogosphere (Blogger Edition)

We're coming towards the end of March and to be frankly honest, I am exhausted. Both physically and mentally. For the last year, I have been working on a much forgotten about frontline service. Everybody thinks about the Healthcare workers when it comes to the frontline, however the fact of the matter is there are many other services that provided for people on the frontline during the last year when they needed it that aren't given the same recognition. Now I am not saying that we should disregard the fine work of healthcare workers in both General and Mental Health services in this country. They have been exemplary in the past year in dealing with the problems that Covid-19 has presented. I'm merely asking people to remember the people who are making this country tick, the civil services, the bank workers, the driving instructors/testers, the driving licence office workers, the people answering queries in phone centre up and down the country and the shop owners and employ

Hello again world from Ireland. Well thing are moving forward in relation to the reopening of businesses and society not just here but around the world. With the gradual reopening come the questions about whether we are being too cautious , whether face masks should be worn or not and in what context should they be worn . Later on in the week also more guidelines were issued on the wearing of masks. . Also the question of what happened to the 1,000 people who were stranded abroad when this all started resurfaced . One of the questions though that I would be asking is, what will be the effects of opening up the country will be. Yes, at the moment, infection rates are low but what if that were to change . That is the fear. We shall see as it was in fact announced on Friday that the government were going to fast track the reopening of the country . Instead of the five stages to reopening the country, that has now being reduced to four.  However there had been a warning from a Briti

Hello again world from Ireland. Well the start of the week saw a rather amazing thing happen for the first ime in two months, there was no deaths reported. Again though, as mentioned in my previous post, there have been calls to reduce the 2m rule for social distancing . During the week however I spotted a well known beauty spot populated by revellers and people enjoying the weather with no enforcement of the 2m rule. I would honestly say I would not be surprised if you did see a surge in cases in the area and all over Ireland in the next few days/weeks.   There are also calls to open some hair salons as a lot of people miss the ability to visit them for appointments. Even in the last couple of days coming up to the bank holiday , major beauty spots nearby to me ended up being closed to prevent large gatherings there. This is after a week earlier, the local market had to be closed earlier owing to people not adhering to social distancing guidelines and reopened the next week under

Hello again world from Ireland. Well Monday 18th has come and gone and really there was very little change from the previous Friday. In that the traffic had already increased with people having been venturing out and a couple more places are open which weren't open before. What had been announced and was a welcome announcement from me was that face masks/coverings were recommended for people to use venturing out and doing shopping. And who find themselves in enclosed spaces. As of this moment, I can really see no difference to last week. As I have mentioned in my previous post, I am going to continue to do what I was doing and wear my face mask if I intend on going in to pick up essentials..Garden centres and hardware stores are open which is welcome for a lot of people. Also, business that not many people think of as being essential (but really are in this day and age: IT services, electrical and phone repair shops )  are all back open as well. Also golf courses and tennis courts

Hello again world from Ireland Well there have been some changes since I last blogged. Some that I have been aware of when I published the last post. Yet I decided to hold back on the news until now. Ireland is slowly reopening .             It was announced the Friday of the May bank holiday that the country will be slowly reopening in a phased capacity as of May 18th. It is going to be really strange I think when this happens. I have gotten used as an essential worker during the lockdown to quiet streets and less people about. Not to mention the novelty of nearly empty car parks. The real strange thing happened when I went down the town after work. What hits you is the silence. Bear in mind, this is a silence in a city which is usually buzzing with life and only experiences this sort of silence in the dead of night after the pubs and the clubs have all closed up. However that being said, the one thing that I will not miss is the anxiety over whether or not I am stay

Hello world from Ireland. What a strange place we are all living in now.  Streets where people would congregate in convivial chats whilst at the same time getting business done up and down the country are now empty. People are heeding warnings issued by our government which are played constantly throughout the day in advertisements on radio, internet and television. There is a general consensus in  the country that we will heed the warnings being given to us. We Irish are generally good at that. We heed our medical professionals as do our government. I think the funniest thing which has come out of this lockdown is the funny imaginative things that people are doing during lockdown which are keeping us all entertained and all our spirits up. The worst thing that I think that our government could decide to do is open everywhere again all in one foul swoop. It was after all reported in the  Irish Times that there may be repeated waves of Covid- 19 that we may still have to endure. more w