Hot House Flower and RTÉ Radio 1 broadcaster Fiachna Ó Braonáin is at home and the band's gigs are on hold, while he longs for a return to the simple things we took for granted...
"The Ó Braonáin household in its young and wild entirety (myself obviously excluded!) has been doing its utmost to remain a positive and active household during this period where the simple things we took for granted to punctuate our existence, like going for a walk in the woods, a trip into town or a visit to the grandparents are now no longer possible.
"The weekdays start, as they always must, by getting everybody up and dressed and then like most households with school-going children we take ourselves into a couple of hours of homeschooling. Remarkably it has been working quite well. One-on-one attention has got to be good, right?
"However the individual needs of a beautiful little five-year-old who attends an all Irish-speaking school and a wonderfully energetic eight-year-old with high-functioning autism requires a highly structured education routine. And high structure is not my forte. Thank goodness for my infinitely better half.
"At the start of every week we also have the grand plans of music lessons with Múinteoir Daidí, baking workshops with mum, online workouts and dance classes. But actually, at the end of the day, succeeding in having a couple of games of Snap or Crazy Eights with no fighting is a huge success!
"And throughout all this unprecedented time, there is huge comfort to be gained from witnessing the glory of nature rising above all of us, in louder birdsong, clearer skies and cleaner seas. We've truly been blessed by the weather these past few weeks and a huge part of me believes this is really no accident.
"We are blessed to live within a short stroll of the beach and to cast our family eyes across the shimmer of the Irish Sea - most days - keeps body and soul alive and well. There is sanity to be found in nature, and it is revealing itself ever more…
"Like all other musicians my touring schedule with Hothouse Flowers has been cancelled for the rest of the year. Nobody really knows what is going to happen, but there is a sense that any gatherings, including gigs, will be on a smaller, more physically-distanced scale whenever we start to dip our toes into those uncharted waters once again.
"However, I am fortunate to have my studio at home, where I can sit, sing, strum and listen… whenever Múinteoir Daidí gets a break as these days the studio also doubles up as a seomra ranga/classroom.That said… we are blessed as a family to have that space and the garden around it.
"The other huge blessing in my life at the moment is the ability to travel from home into the RTÉ Radio Centre to immerse myself in the music and conversation of my Late Date radio programmes.
"The RTÉ Radio Centre was a quiet and solitary place whenever I went in to do my late night broadcasts and it is even more so now. However it feels to me like the dial is turned up slightly more than usual. The chat via text, email and social media is honest, emotional, engaging and rich, and the music seems to resonate with a unifying sound as the listeners gather in from all corners of the globe. It’s a privilege for which I am ever grateful.
"Then I get to go home in the perfect stillness of the night and think about doing it all over again the following day…..
