"As the New Year bells were ringing who would believe that this year would not have a Paddy's day, an Easter, schools would close for six months and no foreign holidays?"
"In September 2019 I wrote a play called An Peadar Deirneach. It was set in 2119 and the opening scene started with Peadar Mór coming in with his son after the funeral of his wife.
Son: There was a big crowd at the funeral.
Peadar Mór: Big crowd my ass. There were only nine in the chapel.
Son: But there were over 500 following it on Facebook.
"Little did we think at the time that within six months that would be the norm. Indeed as the new year bells were ringing who would believe that this year would not have a Paddy's day, an Easter, schools would close for six months, there would be no foreign holidays and that Sinn Féin would cause uproar for attending a funeral 'without' wearing masks?
"The Ros na Rún filming season had ended about three weeks before the lockdown came, so I was in paradise when everything came to a standstill. West Donegal, paradise, there is no difference. Anyway who is going to correct me on that one.
"Staying within two kilometres of my home was a tough one to follow. I used to walk the beach in Carrickfinn, which, as the crow flies, is about two kilometres away. But to get there by road it is over five kilometres.
"The first Sunday of the lockdown I decided to go there. The beach was deserted except for a few locals and while they didn’t say anything, it didn’t feel right. I think I kind of stuck out, a bit like an Eskimo on a nudist beach. I didn’t go back until the restrictions were lifted.
"Everyone here decided to paint their houses, all at the same time. Panic buying of exterior paint started the first sunny day of spring and it soon became as scarce as hens’ teeth. But I did secure some and started to paint the house with a twelve-inch roller. Hindsight is a great thing. I should have used a ½ inch brush because it was all painted in a few days.
"Next up was my boat. A lick of blue and white paint and I launched it. To test out the recently serviced engine I decided to go out to sea for a spin, even though the islands were closed.
"But the engine hum was soon overtaken by a much louder noise. Where was it coming from? It was becoming deafening and there was nothing but the sea surrounding me. I eased my hand on the throttle and realized the noise was coming from above. Oh, a nice helicopter was hovering above me.
"Funny it was the same colour as my boat, blue and white. And what is that belly button underneath? Could it be a camera on a garda helicopter? The Gardaí have only three of them and I’m unfortunate enough to be looking into the lens of one of them.
"The eeriest and nicest thing about the lockdown was going outside the house at night. Complete and total silence. No cars or aeroplanes or even the lonely cry of a single curlew. The dogs seem to think it is impolite to even bark, and the roar of the sea has faded completely, so much so that on a dark night you would have to question does it even exist. I have never heard such deafening silence in all my life.
"Sometime in March, my mobile phone got Covid-19. It stuttered for a while and then it went dead. I foolishly phoned the service provider to order a new one. No, sorry, that is not true. I tried to phone them.
"How many times can a person listen to 'Your call is important to us' before you hang up. I decided to get thick even though some people would say I hadn't far to go anyway. With the speaker on, I phoned them and when I was cut off I would phone again and again and again.
"Surely a company that is all about telecommunication could not, and should not be this hard to contact. After a few days I did what they want us to do. I gave up. I ordered a phone from another company and it would be delivered in a month.
"The first week was awful. It felt as though my right arm had been amputated. Then I got used to life without a mobile phone and I have to say I started to enjoy it. It made me realize how dependent I had become on my mobile and it was not the end of the world to do without one for a while. Indeed I was a little sad to see the new phone arrive one day by parcel post.
"Now, I eagerly wait for my contract to be up next February and when they phone me to renew it, I will gladly tell them how important their call is to me and how all operators are busy and how they should change 'customer care' to 'customer don’t care'.
"Right, that’s the rant over for now but it felt good, no it felt great. And if you think I’ve gone too far or said too much, blame it on the coronavirus. Everyone is blaming everything that goes wrong on Covid-19, so why shouldn’t I?
Niall Mac Eachmharcaigh is an actor and writer from the Donegal Gaeltacht Village of Ranafast. He plays John Joe Daly in the TG4 drama series Ros Na Rún which is currently in its 25th season.
