Lads! (Writer hushes and looks over her shoulder to make sure we have indeed made it). We’ve made it to mid-term. And though we are still in the middle of a colossal storm of utter crap, you or an adult near you may be that bit saner for having had the children back at school for a while. The junior section of our population has also been permitted to have some feeling of normality and craic as we head full tilt towards… well, who really knows. So. For the weekend that’s in it – after a week where my two had a lovely time at school and playschool making Halloween crafty thingy-majigs, having parties and dressing up – I’m going to list some of the good and also quite funny things to come out of the dreaded Covid.

It ain’t pretty. There’s a very thin line at the moment between things that will make you laugh your socks off and things that will make you collapse into a sobbing heap. And much of this list is evocative of when you get the giggles at a funeral – the backdrop is horrendous and yet you can’t help but laugh. But then again, it might also make you cry. Maybe it’s the ridiculousness of the whole situation we’re currently in? Whatever it is, if it gives me a chuckle I’m here for it. If it’s raining, I’m looking for the rainbow.

Here are some of the weird things that have at least made me smile:

1. The Memes. God bless them. I noticed they ramped back up this week as we faced down the barrel of another lock-down here in Ireland. Some days they are the only thing keeping my thumbs up.
2. Brendan O’Connor speaking to an ‘illegal’ hairdresser on his Saturday morning show. The hairdresser’s voice was disguised, for fear of an outing and he went under a fake name in order to tell the nation about how he was sneaking into houses to do haircuts, dye-jobs, extensions – you name it! It was a serious interview that had me in knots. What had we come to?
3. Being freaked out seeing people in close proximity to each other in magazines or on television. I remember seeing Neven McGuire do a TV interview with a chef in a food truck and thinking; ‘Seriously Neven. Back OFF’.
4. Socially distant photos with friends where ye are in a park, standing two metres apart and one of you takes the selfie for the group. Both miserable and hilarious at the same time. This, my friends, is a true souvenir.
5. Ross O’Carroll Kelly’s Irish Times Magazine piece on Banana Bread. Genius. Read it.
6. Geroge Lee. Everyone’s favourite Science Correspondent. The excitement, the glee, the fear of God he brings to all his reports – you have to admit he’s entertaining.
7. Appreciating what’s just beyond your given 5km range all the more. Now that I’m not allowed to go to Ennis anymore, the only place I want to go to is Ennis!
8. Making plans – to go to a concert or away for a weekend or out to dinner. Between the hopping around amid various levels and not being able to ask anyone to babysit, it’s just not going to happen. Accept it. Put your energy into banana bread.
9. My favourite thing I said out loud to my family on a zoom call in April to mark my lovely sister Jennifer’s birthday; ‘If we’re still doing birthday zoom calls in August for my birthday, shoot me.’ Hardy har har sob sob…
10. Bank Holidays – I mean, OK. Some people get a break from their day-job. Some. Apart from that they’ve become a non-event. I mean, isn’t it hilarious that it’s currently the Monday evening of a bank holiday weekend and I feel zero bank holiday vibes? Hilarious!

No – you’re crying!