Donegal Isolation – Dreaming of holiday staycation – The pandemic continues

Hello World from lockdown Donegal. I hope you are all coping. I really, really do…

The sequel never lives up to the original…Lockdown No. 3 just isn’t as good as the first one. This lockdown we all have much different roles to play. As I sit at my kitchen table daily from 9.30am – 2pm, I am now a teacher aswell as a mother, property valuer, a holiday homes bookings manager and a wife. In the last 11 months life just got a whole lot more complicated than any of us has ever had to juggle. Gone are the days of first lockdown – walking the beach without a care in our heads, baking with the kids and playing outside and focusing mainly on our wellbeing. This time I think we are all suffering. Trying our best to play our roles – keep working, routine, teaching and living in hope that it will all end soon. Staying hopeful and positive but someday’s it really just gets to you…but that’s ok. We are all allowed days like this and sometimes the smallest thing triggers it.

Today I got a message from my kids school telling me that mid term was next week. At first I got excited when I realised I get a few days off from home-schooling, but then I felt sad….really sad, that time is moving on and we are still pretty much stuck in the mud. Will the kids return to school soon? Will we get a summer that we can enjoy? When will we be able to fly again? When can we enjoy social gatherings again – our family and friends – I miss people and socialising SO MUCH!!! Especially the elderly ones. They are the top of our family tree. They need us as much as we miss them and probably miss us even more than we can ever imagine.

All these questions without answers that I’m sure all of you are mulling over, but we plough on and we hope for better days ahead.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that this school has play areas for students. They also paint play spaces in schools to improve the atmosphere while simultaneously encouraging active learning and physical fitness. By including educational components in designs, children can learn cognitive skills such as arithmetic, literacy, and science while playing. If you’re interested, visit https://www.schoolplaygroundpainting.co.uk/refurbishment/repainting. Discover more about it.

For all of you out there feeling a little bit melancholy like myself today – here is the light….

We may not be able to fly to the usual foreign destinations that we love, look forward to and enjoy…I think I have finally surrendered to this fact – just in the last few days, I might add! The main reason being that this week there has been a consistent ring of my phone, bing of my email, whats app and online enquiries. Bookings are buzzing and website traffic is at an all time February high for Wild Atlantic Wanderer’s website. There is definitely hope and optimism out there. Other people are busy making plans for a glorious Irish summer. As I type, Donegal is booking out – aswell as every other County in this green, glorious land!!! So…I’ve decided to dust off the cobwebs, doom and gloom and get on board the bookings train myself. I pretty much live off the quote – “I’d rather be looking at it, than looking for it”, – so its time to bite that bullet and book an Irish Staycation like everyone else.

The bings and buzzes and rings mean that, YES – There is hope. YES – There is a vaccine being rolled out. YES – my darling, funny, beautiful and may I add VERY glamorous Granny (>85) just got her first vaccine appointment today for next week and we will all live again if we can see the next few months out! YES – Donegal is amazing and there is so much to see and do!!! See below for some ideas…

The Best of Inishowen, Co. Donegal – Wild Atlantic Wanderer

Donegal for the Holiday / Staycation – The Best Bits!!! – Wild Atlantic Wanderer

I’m ending this little note on an optimistic one. We are getting through this day by day, one step at a time. You are doing your best. You are being amazing in the face of adversity. You are doing what you need to do to get through this and no one is judging anyone. No one knows what anyone else is dealing with and its ok, to not be ok. I personally live in hope that lots of good changes will happen in the next few months. I’m really hoping that come July we will be able to live again – in some kind of social form. Who knows what tomorrow brings – but without hope there is nothing – so say all my wonderful clients of this week who have made lots of bookings for July and August!

Please note that if you decide to book with us at Wild Atlantic Wanderer, a €100 deposit secures your dates with the balance due 4 weeks before arrival. If travel restrictions are in place – we will assist you with a change of dates. Our main priority is that you all stay safe!

Sending you all love and hope – be it near, far or across the miles. We are all in this together and we have got this!!!

**FOOTNOTE**

Aside from my grumps and groans I want to stress that my heart is breaking for everyone that’s suffered the loss of a wonderful person during this time. When I think on the reality of what others are living, it just makes me sound awful – pining about home schooling, being cooped up, missing my friends and all that nonsense, which sounds so trivial when someone tells you that they are missing a loved one, that they will never talk to again. Unfortunately, I’ve learned myself, the hard way, that nothing replaces loss and you would suffer anything to bring that person back. There is a lockdown for that very reason…to protect each other and that’s the only thing that keeps me going…my heart and love go out to everyone suffering the reality of this awful pandemic.

From my Irish home to yours – whereever in the world you may be…God Speed Us All…there are brighter days ahead.