As anyone who ever hit the road with a backpack – and a glint in their eye – will attest, a good weekend should ideally have at least two Wednesdays in it.
For it’s felt as if even the sunshine had been imprisoned. The lazy carelessness of summer is here to be embraced more eagerly than ever.
Celebratory rituals have been curtailed for all the right reasons, but a cautious coming together is permissible as the clouds lift. With vaccinations rattling along – 2.9m so far – all are pretty much agreed it’s high time to inject a bit of fun into our lives. Of course the usual Covid terms and conditions apply, but we are human and the impulse to reach out to each other is healthy. Relationships put in cold storage are gradually getting the warmth to thaw out.
This week HSE chief Paul Reid posted: Ireland had come “a long way from the dark days of January”.
He recalled how at that time there were 2,000 people hospitalised with Covid-19 and 200 in intensive care.
More saliently, he noted: “We can’t ever go back there. Brighter days ahead. Let’s keep winning hearts & minds and people’s committment [sic]. Its what works.” “We are in a better phase now of looking ahead,” he believed.
Dr Colm Henry said the vaccination system across Europe has also brought “some stability”, with the seven-day moving average “now showing a big fall”.
The direction to local authorities around the country to facilitate outdoor socialising by putting extra bins on streets and making more toilets available must also be followed through on.
Dr Tony Holohan’s understandable concern about mass gatherings needs to be taken on board.
Yet with more people vaccinated and with more reopening it is inevitable people will come together, and towns and cities need to be organised appropriately to accommodate them safely.
Due regard should also be given to the call on the Government from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties to put an end date on its emergency legislation brought in to curb Covid-19.
As the group noted, the extra powers “damage the relationship between police and general population”. They believe there has been an “over-reliance” on the legislation to ensure compliance with public health guidelines.
They argue that better communication and supports may have been more effective. In any event, if we maintain the positive momentum they may soon be redundant.
We have been surviving on the dregs of divilment for so long, the opening of the doors of diversion could hardly be more timely.
“Man was made at the end of the week’s work, when God was tired,” wrote Mark Twain. Well, if we agree on nothing else, we can at least accept we’re all tired.
It’s a Bank Holiday weekend. So does it really matter if the glass is half empty, half full, or twice as large as it needs to be?