Heroic young woman puts mettle to the pedal... while I mop up my dirt (and vino)
THE pandemic has brought us acts of everyday heroism. One such hero is Orla Platten, a wheelchair user who turned 21 last week. She got a specially adapted tricycle and learned how to use it and, over the course of three weeks, cycled 21km to raise funds for the Irish Wheelchair Association.
She set her sights on €5,000 but at the time of writing has actually received €12,285 in donations. I heard of her because she’s the niece of my old friend Mike Hanrahan of Stockton’s Wing, who naturally is bursting with pride at her great achievement.
Orla detailed her journeys every day on Facebook, and was cheered on by her neighbours. ‘I was scared when I started cycling the first week but I am getting better at cycling and Dad said I am much more confident now,’ she wrote after completing the first twothirds of the challenge. ‘I didn’t feel tired at all this week and I am definitely getting faster.’
She is an absolute superstar and if you want to give her a little boost, search Orla’s IWA Birthday Fundraiser on gofundme.com.
▪ MANY people have reported having more vivid dreams since the pandemic began. The weirdest one I had yet was waking and sitting bolt upright twice in the same night over the weekend, because I thought I was late for lunch with a friend. What’s so weird about that, you ask? Well, the fact I thought it was possible to meet anyone for lunch in the first place!
▪ VERY few people enjoy household chores but they have to be done. I dedicated all day Saturday to a deep clean of the house and, honestly, if I never see a mop again, it will be too soon.
All the floors in my house are either tiled or wooden, so I can’t just hoover and be done with it. And, given that when I say deep clean, I mean it, I actually wetmopped them first to get the superficial layer of dirt off, then went round the entire house again with the steam mop. There are days you feel you’ve really earned that glass of wine – on Saturday night, I drank the whole bottle!
▪ NOW that the weather has warmed up, there’s no need to turn on the central heating, which means relying on the immersion for hot water. Mine doesn’t have a timer, so I have to remember to switch it back off. As we all know, nothing strikes more fear into the average Irish heart than the thought of leaving the immersion on, but I did – for a whole day. It’s a sad state of affairs but I now add a reminder to my phone when I switch on the immersion, and two hours later, it beeps to remind me to switch it off. If I’d had a smartphone as a child, I could have avoided quite a few clips around the ear, I reckon.
▪ TALKING of the weather, I had almost every window in the house open yesterday and it still was 23C indoors. I was sweltering, but I’m not going to complain.
We still have a long way to go in this lockdown, and if the gods decide to bless us with a great summer, I say bring it on.
That said, the best place to enjoy it still will be in your garden or on your balcony – we have a long way to go yet.