Will Leahy reflects on life in County Clare these days and feeling like a holiday camp activities coordinator between radio programmes.
"We have two young children so a lot of our life has been centred around home for a few years now. As a society, we spend so much money each month on our mortgages, yet we yearn to spend so much time away from our abode!
"I am up early to head into RTÉ Limerick for the RTÉ Gold Breakfast Show. It's a funny thing, but RTÉ Gold has become a haven for people who are just looking for nostalgia and a break from ‘it’.
"We noticed a 400% increase in text/WhatsApp to the station in the first week of the restrictions. It's lovely to broadcast the show every day and have dozens of messages from overseas from listeners that just want a small connection to home.
"I tag-team with my wife who goes to work when I get back and then it's a non-stop programme of kids' stuff. The RTÉ School Hub has been an amazing resource and has put some structure on our eight- year- old's school day. Between the Hub and homework from school, it fills her whole morning with a form of education. Our son is four and he is even watching the Hub, pretending to understand the Gaelige.
"We are very fortunate to live in the countryside so the 2km limit still involves nice walks with hills and farm animals. The good weather has also helped with long-forgotten garden toys getting a run out. If it's possible to say something positive about the crisis, it must be that the change in season has really helped. I can't imagine facing into months of isolation if it was during the cruel winter we have just put down.
"I had all sorts of plans to read a month ago and went to a few bookshops to stock up on the new Liz Nugent and Lucy Foley before the restrictions came in but it's almost impossible to read when you've got to be a holiday camp activities coordinator. The same with movie plans, but I picked up the DVD (yes, they still make those) of Knives Out to watch at some stage.
"Exercise is also quite manageable but you find yourself mentally keeping tabs on the 2km limit. I had never measured my usual run up our hill before, but I now find myself turning for home at the 2km mark. I have a recurring dream that the government will start monitoring the data in the GPS bit of our phone and that mine will squeal on me. Then I'll be watching Dr Tony doing his briefing and saying that there is one guy in Clare who ran over the 2km mark."
"On weekend evenings, we have been having FaceTime drinks with friends. We've even had a table quiz involving eight different houses on Houseparty which was great craic and highly recommended.
"RTÉ Gold is also on RTÉ Radio One at the weekends which sends me back into work for a few hours. We've had an incredible reaction from the Radio One audience and it's clear that music has a way of changing your mood instantly. It's quite a privilege to be invited into people's houses to help them to have a little bop or a sing-song.
"Now, I just have to decide if I'm brave enough to let the kids cut my hair."
Gold Breakfast with Will Leahy - Weekdays from 7-10 a.m; RTÉ Gold is on Saturday and Sunday afternoons on RTÉ Radio One
