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| San Francisco 2019 |
It is hard to fathom that more than 1 million people in the United States alone are confirmed to have died due to Covid, more than the population of San Francisco. Globally, the figure of confirmed victims is 6.7 million but the WHO estimates more like 15 million.
The last couple of months has been pretty wild for Alex and me and our families. On 24 February, when Russia invaded Ukraine, I started helping settle Ukrainian families in Ireland. Ireland opened its doors to Ukrainians without visas or connections here and more than 30,000 have now arrived. The communities in Newport, Westport and Rosmoney got behind the effort and people offered their homes, clothing, food and moral support. I was, and am, very grateful to the Irish for their kindness and generosity.
Then Alex's mom, Meike, who had just moved to Kirstin's house a month before, had a second stroke -- a massive one from which she did not recover. But she lingered fighting for a week. It was awful to see her spirit slowly depart from the body. We had a funeral service in the Protestant Church with a packed crowd, followed by a Cremation in Cavan. That night we all stayed at Miriam's house in Monaghan and spent the night telling stories about Meike. She will be sorely missed.
Alex and I then made the decision to stick with our planned US trip for the first week of April. We had the OCC AGM and Awards weekend in Annapolis to take part in, and then we were to visit Alexis and Andrew. We hadn't seen their family in 3 years and Alex had never met baby Miles. We looked forward to that immensely. I also had to renew my driving license, and we had bank accounts to straighten out, so it was rather an important mission. We bit the bullet and made the trip. I left my car to the Kisorets family out in Rosmoney while we were gone, but I figured they would end up keeping it longer term, and they have.
I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that travel has taken on a new dimension post-Covid. It was a really enjoyable trip. The day we got home, we started experiencing clear symptoms of Covid. Fever and chills alternating with sweats, cough, etc. Two days later, we tested very positive by lateral flow test. Exactly ten days later was Meike's burial on the island. Alex had organised Peter's boat to take all who wanted to come over to Inishdaff. Fortunately, Alex tested negative though he still had symptoms -- cough, shortness of breath and exhaustion. I still tested positive for 2 more days. Masked and distanced, I attended both the service and the reception at Ross House afterwards which was crammed with people. I have not heard of any cases as a result, so I remain hopeful that I was no longer infectious.
I continue helping my Ukrainians. We had lunch with about 40 of them in Newport the day of the re-enactment of Newport 300. It was amazing to finally meet Anna and Julia and so many others who all wanted to talk to me.
It's been a whirlwind. This week, Alex and I went to look at cars. I wanted electric (originally the Tesla) and we tested and liked the Hyundai Kona, but it won't be available until July at the earliest and the cost of electricity has skyrocketed. I was worried about buying that at this time. And I can't take Mickey away from the Kisorets. It has changed their lives.
Then we stopped in at Cosgraves in Castlebar and looked at two sedans, a Mercedes and a BMW. Both were nice but not 'right'. But at Cosgraves in Westport we spotted a 2019 Ford Focus. We liked the test drive and I bought it on the spot. €22K. I have never done anything so radical in my life. It felt weird, I second-guessed, but I think I made the right decision. Between Brexit and the war in Ukraine, buying good cars has become a challenge. New ones are not available because the chips are made in Ukraine. Used cars are not available because Brexit has made import difficult. I was concerned this one would not last, it was that clean with 34K miles. We can always trade it in when EVs become more widely available.
Meet Finn McCool...Ford Focus Finn. The first American car (built in Germany for the UK market with right-hand drive) I have ever bought. And Finn has Dublin plates...pshaw!
How America Lost One Million People NYT 15 May 2022
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