Not the droids

My party line is "Thanks, I've had a pretty good pandemic" obviously with a ". . . so far" addendum.  One of my 50-something office mates copped a dose of The 'Rona at the end of August from his teenage children. It wasn't fun, but they weathered it in time for him to be back teaching when the students returned in late September. Dau.II came home for the w/e as covid-cases started to creep up . . . to look after her aged parents. You could make the case that her aged parents are well able to look after themselves: they only meet the age criterion for vulnerability: only one of the following apply:

• (over 60 years of age) ✓
• learning disability
• lung condition (such as asthma, COPD, emphysema or bronchitis)
• heart disease (such as heart failure)
• high blood pressure
• diabetes
• chronic kidney disease
• hepatitis
• cancer
• clinically stable cystic fibrosis
• (immunosuppressed
• cerebrovascular disease
• neurological issue (Parkinson's, motor neurone disease, MS,  cerebral palsy)
• splenectomy
• infection susceptibility (HIV, lupus, scleroderma)
• on steroids
• obesity
• in nursing home

Then again, take nothing for granted and take help when offered; you may miss it when you can't get it. By the time she needed to get home to  Cork  the goal-posts had shifted again and Garda lockdown checkpoints were out on the roads. We were stopped at the Cork-Waterford border:

Garda: Where are you heading?

Self:  Cork City 
Garda: What is your business?

Self: Taking carers home.

Garda: Very good.

It's much harder to find a parking spot near Dau.II's city centre apartment.  They've given 60-80m of curbside into pavement café space and the road worker's break-hut is parked in another potential spot. I impressed my self by getting my nifty Yaris allllmost into the narrow gap between the hut and the next car [see Top]. Good enough, I decided, and went upstairs for a quick pee, tea and scone stop before heading for the hills again.

I was stopped at the same place 2 hours later and turned those answers into the past tense. I was stopped again between Waterford and New Ross. When quizzed about my destination, I said "Home" [with a little slump of the shoulders, it had been a long day] and that was good enough. Quite possibly, the fresh-faced Garda subconsciously recognised that I'd get tetchy and patrician if delayed once more that evening. Worked for Phil "Big" Hogan in August.