More than a touch of deja vu about the stockpiling of toilet roll, toothpaste, dog food and bottled water

IT’S been quite the week hasn’t it? Weird vibes all round for sure. I was a few steps behind what was happening with the national fuel protests and casually pulled into my local filling station mid-afternoon last Thursday to fill up, as the orange light had been on for a day and a half and I figured I was pushing my luck. So I cruised into a vacant spot in the forecourt, not a care in the world – so far, so normal. But by the time I had paid and come back out, it was like stepping into another universe.

A decent queue had formed and people were looking a teensy bit tetchy if you didn’t vacate your spot sharpish.

After getting up to speed with the situation, I did what I did when Leo announced the first lockdown – I headed straight to the supermarket and panic bought loo roll, toothpaste, dog food and bottled water.

It was a knee-jerk reaction to calm my inner jitters in case the world was going to shut down, and it made me feel a little better. It made the dogs feel an awful lot better too when they saw me lugging in the bags of nuts, which in hindsight was more than a bit nuts.
I mean if I was going to buy anything I should have got pasta, crisps and wine right?

To be honest I had blown the budget earlier on the petrol so I was pretty curtailed in my spending. There you go.

I’d be lying if the somewhat unprecedented situation didn’t appeal just a little bit to my inner survivalist.

When I say ‘inner survivalist,’  I don’t actively prepare for an end of world scenario, and can’t even wire a plug, I just think about it more than most people.

So while some people might desire a sun room or a guest suite I’d love an atomic bomb proof bunker. One that’s fully plumbed and wired with good feng shui right in case we end up holed up down there for a while.
I blame all the dodgy apocalypse films I’ve watched on Netflix because with not a zombie in sight this week, what would be far more useful would be something like an electric car. Households with at-home fast chargers certainly found themselves in demand this past week. At the very least I need to get myself a bike. How else will I keep on top of the loo roll supplies if this happens again?

All jokes aside the protest mainly made me feel very disappointed. Disappointed that genuine working men and women, farmers and food producers, all felt they had no other option but to go to such extreme measures to get their voices heard; disappointed that the government’s response was to call in the army before talking to them; disappointed that there seems to be such a disconnect between our leaders and the rest of ‘us’.

It’s easy to lead when things are going well. True leadership emerges when things get messy, and I think the government showed its colours on this. Just saying.

What also got messy in our house at the weekend was the fact that we’ve just got the one TV. It normally does the job fine, but ‘the golf’ was on and my husband is a big fan.

He caught on pretty fast that if he left the room or left the remote control unguarded the golf would be no more… so he didn’t. For the whole weekend pretty much. I was impressed by his commitment but it meant the rest of us non-golf fanatics developed an irrational dislike for Shane and Rory. Nothing personal obviously.

He has a work tablet which we begged to use but he claimed he’ll be fired if it’s used for anything unofficial.

Myself and my side kick were pretty sure this was an empty threat but we weren’t prepared to risk it. If he was home all day he’d find out how much TV we really watch!

Anyway I’ve a bone to pick with Condé Nast Traveller magazine.  Its only gone and included the Beara Peninsula on its list of ‘seven wonders of Ireland for 2026’. 

Sure everyone will know about this piece of heaven now like! It will be total gridlock! I jest. Kind of. Describing the Beara Peninsula as ‘relatively hush-hush’, the British travel magazine proposed the route as an alternative to the increasingly popular Ring of Kerry.

Also included is Waterford’s Greenway and Copper Coast, Fermanagh’s Lakelands, northwest Donegal and Tory Island and the Burren.

Food for thought for anyone thinking of staycationing this summer, or if you just fancy a weekend away in any of the glorious beauty spots on our door step. 

In the meantime it’s back to routine and that’s alright too for the final school term of the year. How did that happen so fast? I’m mind blown.

But my main priority this week is not to crack my neck and fall over the stack of toilet paper in my utility room. You know where to come if you run out. I’ll cut you a good deal – I’m saving for a second TV.