Today was to be a very fine summer day with temperatures forecast to be up in the mid twenties and we were all looking forward to a great day on the beach. The sun shone brightly in a lovely blue sky following last nights spectacular setting sun.
The mood of the locals did not reflect the great sunny weather. The talk on everyone’s lips was Corona Virus and the lockdown in three counties and the rising number of cases. There was an increasing sense of frustration and blaming of people of all ages and from other counties for visiting tourism areas. No one was taking any responsibility for their own behaviour.
The frustration and overcrowding of tourist areas is caused by staycation .It is leading to crowded beaches and blocked traffic on country roads. Everyone has their own unique perspective on the situation with people citing their own safety and protection as the main cause of concern. There certainly was mood of anger and despair prevailing in the area.
I rose early today and I headed for the woods and harbour for my morning constitutional. It is strange feeling when you change your walking time routine. You meet a totally different group of people. I noted that there were far more local people walking dogs at the earlier hour.
I also noted a few people out fishing in the river and hardly any children out and about at the earlier time.
I promised myself that I would do this again and I could get much better exercise with much less distractions of socialising and stopping and chatting. Another major advantage was that there were no problems with social distancing with fewer people about.
Having stretched the legs over 10000 steps I headed back to the car and drove home stopping at my mother in laws for a cuppa and slice of pear and almond tart.Yummy calories.
Following this welcome break for sustenance I headed for the homeland.
En route I had to call in to Dunnes Stores for some necessary Shopping for dinner. This was all fairly mundane stuff, but we were promised a more exciting afternoon because we were babysitting 1 lively 2-year-old and a nature loving 7-year-old from 13.00 to 18.00.
I was very quickly transported from buying broccoli and scones to let’s go bug hunting Grandad. It was a perfect day for such an activity and so with all parties doused with liberal dosages of factor 50 we were ready for whatever any bug could throw at us.
Senior was armed with a jar with a magnifying glass on top and he was mainly going to study bees today which had to be caught immediately . It wasn’t long before we captured our first bee and then the questions started . How many legs does a honeybee have? I explain that bees have 3 pairs of segmented legs and we examined our imprisoned bee and sure enough it had 6 legs. We had of course to capture some more to prove that all bees have the same number of legs. All was well when we were all happy that each one had 6.
We had a slight sojourn for lunch ,which we managed to have outside , and the focus shifted on to the white butterfly many of which were flying about. These likewise had to be captured and examined which was all great fun for us but I don't know what the butterflies thought.
Our two-year-old was not too impressed and he needed the trampoline to be brought out and tested.Interest in this bouncing contraption was not long lived.
And so, the basketball had to brought out and a small basket procured so that he could throw the ball into it but once again the attention period was short lived.
We heard a little request for the goals and football to be brought out to a now crowding garden. So, he played all in rotation for brief periods until the sandbox was opened up which really grasped his attention and kept him entertained until he heard of interactive TV games which were keeping his brother entertained and then he wanted this too.
The boys had an afternoon of fun, games, art, cycling ,lego, treats and really enjoyed themselves with granny in ,what they lovingly call “Hotel Granny “,where the best grub is prepared and served by granny and they wondered what would happen when granny died because they would have no granny gravy.You can't get more serous than this.
They were safely dropped back home at 6 p.m.We were all tired physically and emotionally drained but the boys had thoroughly enjoyed themselves in Hotel Granny.
Our own state of weariness and stress was eased somewhat by a lovely chilled glass of Chardonnay later on in the evening.
We were lucky that we had such a beautiful summers day and there certainly was great variety in the day but very little of the lounging on the loungers.
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