Marty

The "Sigh" at the beginning of that comment makes me think you might be talking about a different meaning of the term 'getting jabbed'...

I agree with you, Gary! Good afternoon, to you.

That's not good news at all, clo. Figures for Ireland yesterday was 539 new cases (population of 5 million). At the start of the year, when there were as many as 8,000 or more new daily cases, the government said they wouldn't reopen society until the number went back below 100 per day. The new variants seem to be keeping the daily average around the 500 mark. But hospital numbers are manageable now, which, along with the vaccination of the vast majority of the vulnerable in society, means that we are no longer in the precarious situation we were at the start of the year. We're not out of the woods yet. But we're getting there. Fingers crossed things improve in other countries, as well.

Great news, bro! So are you getting it in the arm, or the car (like Albert did)?

Happy Tuesday, all! The Cabinet are meeting today to discuss possible easing of Covid-19 restrictions here in Ireland from 6th April (a week today). This follows on from a meeting yesterday between the Government and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), at which NPHET made its recommendations. We're expecting the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) to be making a public announcement around 6:00pm today, in which he will give the decision by Cabinet. The general suspicion is that not a great deal will change on 6th April. Among the measures under consideration are an easing of the 5km from home exercise limit, permissions on outdoor sports and the possibility of larger groups meeting outdoors. It is believed that not all the measures will kick in on the same date, with the government instead opting for a phased basis approach. All remaining second level students will return to in-school learning on 12 April, the final stage in the phased reopening of all schools which began with the return of younger primary school and older second level students on 1st March. It is also expected that non-essential retail may be able to re-start their "click-and-collect" service which was suspended at the start of January. Non-essential construction work may also be permitted again, under a phased approach. But it may be May or June before a greater easing of restrictions will be made. Hopefully, as the vaccine roll out continues to pick up pace, we'll begin to see some sort of return to normality as the summer progresses.

Reminds me of my optometrist around 20 years or so back telling me I had the eyes of a 30 year old. I squinted at him and asked: "How's the 30 year old getting on without his eyes?"

I just assumed you thought what you had said was that brilliant that it deserved to be at the bottom of page 2020 and at the top of this one.

Or 60.8 million ounces. (Or even 1,723,651,006 grammes )

Left?

I'm just glad that the Ever Given has been refloated and has entered the Great Bitter Lake area of the Suez Canal. A prolonged closure of the canal could have had a serious effect on prices here in Europe.

Happy Monday to you as well, Gary. (And it's always good to have a willing pair of hands to help with the chores. )

Hi there, Gary.

Part of the William Lawrence collection (hence the" W. L." in the legend). A copy of the original black and white photograph can be seen here: http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000324818 On the 20th March 1865, at the age of 24, William Mervin Lawrence opened a photographic studio opposite the G.P.O. at Sackville Street, Dublin. Over the years the studio successfully photographed the length and breadth of Ireland, from Howth Head (Co. Dublin) in the East, to Achill Head (Co. Mayo) in the West, and on to Malin Head (Co. Donegal) in the North, and finally to Mizen Head (Co. Cork) in the South. The collection consists of 40,000 glass plates mainly from the period 1880-1915. William Lawrence was not himself a photographer, but an early entrepreneur. He opened his studio in his mother’s toy and fancy-goods shop, opposite the G.P.O. (Sackville Street was renamed O'Connell Street after Irish independence, in honour of Irish patriot Daniel O'Connell.) At that time there was great interest in studio portraits. After losing an arm, William then employed an Assistant photographer. His brother, John Fortune Lawrence, was interested in stereo photographs and William took over the sales of the Stereo photographs, which were very popular at the time. And that was the start of the “Lawrence Collection”. In 1880, when the dry plate process came in, William Lawrence employed a team of printers and artists (colourists and retouchers). Around that time Robert French joined the Lawrence Studio, and he worked his way up as printer, artist and then chief photographer. He took over 30,000 photographs of the “Lawrence Collection” glass plates.

Greetings, young Albert!

Brilliant! I love the "old-fashioned" large plate photography technique.

You too, bro!

I suppose it could be worse. It could be hurting pretty bad.

Hey, Gary. All good in Garyville?

Hopefully not too sore.

Greetings, young Albert!

It warms my heart to read that there is at least some semblance of normality returning, @dughlas! I hope you and Mum have a great celebratory meal.

Happy Sunday, everyone! Today is the shortest day of the year here in Ireland. That's because at 2:00am this morning the clocks were moved forward an hour for the start of Summer Time. So today is only 23 hours long. It's often called British Summer Time, but here in Ireland we usually drop the "British" part for some reason and just call it Summer Time. In fact a good number of Irish people refer to it as New Time - a hang over from when it was first introduced back in 1916. I've not changed my wall clock yet, or the clock in my car, but of course my electronic equipment (smartphone, laptop, and desktop) did it for me behind my back. I'm just happy that the change means I'll be getting an extra hour of light in the evenings. Whereas it was 7:01pm that the sun set yesterday, it will be 8:03pm that it sets this evening (the extra two minutes are the natural increase this time of the year).

1:00am. Off to bed. Good night all! I'll leave you with another song about Derry/Londonderry, sung by Dublin man Luke Kelly (with The Dubliners), but written by Phil Coulter from Derry. [...] Now the army's installed By the old gas yard wall And the damned barbed wire Gets higher and higher. With their tanks and their guns Oh my God what have they done To the town I loved so well? Now the music's gone but they carry on For their spirit's been bruised, never broken They will not forget but their hearts are set On tomorrow and peace once again. [...]

Written in memory of the events of Sunday, January 30th, 1972, when members of the British Army opened fire on a group of unarmed civil rights protesters in the Northern Irish town of Derry/Londonderry, killing 14 civilians. Apparently Bono started writing this with political lyrics condemning the Irish Republican Army (the IRA), a militant group dedicated to getting British troops out of Northern Ireland, but changed them to point out the atrocities of war without taking sides.

Thanks for the memory, Albert! I first saw those when trekking in the Simien Mountains in the Ethiopian Highlands, back in 2012. My guide at the time told me that they are only found at altitudes of over 4,000 metres (about 13,000 feet). They can grow as high as 10 metres (33 feet), and my guide also told me that, before the introduction of eucalyptus to Ethiopia, the stems were often used in the construction of the traditional dwelling houses. I saw them again the following year, when I summited Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. And they are apparently also found on Mount Kenya, in neighbouring Kenya. Although the Tanzanian and Kenyan giant lobelia belong to the same species (Lobelia deckenii), the Ethiopian one is a different species (Lobelia rhyncopetalum). I certainly have photographs of the Ethiopian variety, and think I also have some from Kilimanjaro. Unfortunately, my main photo archive is on a hard drive that I am unable to access just at the moment.