Infection rate now our badge of dishonour

Knowing our Covid figures are officially the “worst in the world”, having applauded ourselves for most of 2020, is no badge of honour.

Didn’t we all experience a little schadenfreude when we saw, month after month, the Brits getting it so wrong.

In Northern Ireland they couldn’t seem to organise a proverbial piss-up in a brewery so busy were politicians in-fighting.

And as for America, well they’ve had more than enough to contend with on top of out-of-control Covid cases.

But none of us get to smirk now. And while Tony Holohan is back to the daily grind of issuing horrific facts, he’s obviously horribly disappointed with us and irritated that his advice to Government wasn’t heeded over Christmas.

But it is us now, not our leaders – some of whom have been flapping about, preferring the blame game to collective messaging – who have to grasp this by the nettle.

It always was.

It is us, individually, who are the only ones who can do this by staying at home.

We can’t wish each other a happy new year and we only have one resolution: to get those numbers down.

I always knew wine and cheese are good for you

I have no intention of doing Dry January or, horror, Veganuary. Life is hard enough at the moment without all that nonsense.

Having eaten and drunk practically everything that was put in front of me for the last few weeks my plan for 2021 is to… well, not do that.

However, I’m buoyed by new research from a study at Iowa State University which claims that of all the foods we should be eating to slow cognitive decline, cheese and wine score the highest. Indeed, daily consumption of both was recommended.

This is what I have long believed.

For those who might be impertinent enough to suggest if you spend long enough on the internet you can find anything you want to support whatever hypothesis you wish, I’d retort it only took several weeks wading through other research telling me to give up alcohol and lose weight, to locate a report holding up my theory. So there.

That said, it will be made all the more difficult by having to open a swing barrier with my trolley, being unable to veer automatically toward the buy-six-get-one-free promotion and not slap down my loyalty card to pay for it. Bah!

Wedding day the perfect end to exhausting year

I managed to blag a longer-than-usual Christmas break by virtue of getting married.

Almost everything that had been carefully planned ended up being unpicked, obviously.

Most of 2020 was spent date flipping, chopping down the guest list and re-organising venues for 100, 50, 25, six and back to 25 guests. It wasn’t until 48 hours before the big day we were finally given permission by the Taoiseach to go ahead.

Being restricted to six people would have entailed ditching our least favourite child.

The foreign honeymoon was abandoned, another booked in its place and then ditched also. The promised ‘sun, sea and sand’ ended up on the beach 5km from our house.

Exhausting, chaotic and stressful.

And, in the end, absolutely perfect.