Quarantine Diary #6

Exiled for the good of the realm 
Day 25

Today is a beautiful day! The sun is shining and the fridge is full. Caramel slice is on the horizon and freshly baked bread rolls are cooling on the bench.

Today is a beautiful day.

While I was baking, Jared and I listened to a Freakonomics Radio podcast about how to successfully navigate living in close quarters with people. They had some good advice about how to avoid pissing people off, and also what to do if you have, and how to avoid being pissed off yourself, and if familiarity really does breed contempt. Spoiler: only sometimes.

They spoke of the Gottman Institute and how they have a philosophy called the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - about communication styles that will lead to your relationship's untimely demise.

Always one for a dramatic title, I was hooked and I had to find out more! So we listened to this:

I love people and relationships and communication, so I had to know more! Then we found this:

A mathematical equation for love?!?!? There's a formula for happily ever after? Pythagoras my hypotenuse baby, and maybe I'll show you my parabolic curves. 🤭🥰  Let's do this.

These researchers have a 90% accuracy rate for predicting whether or not you will be be happy together, or whether you'll divorce! Pretty happy with my honey here, not gonna lie. We are definitely two happy bunnies chilling on the beach. I've only been married for nearly 3 years - this is how it should be, right? I'll keep you posted after 10.

Listening to this reminded me of another insightful speaker that we've listened to - David Riddell. A counsellor from Nelson, who has a bunch of wisdom he enjoys splicing with Dad jokes. Here's a link to some of his pearls about how to make your relationship even better - or to find out who the 'crazymaker' is in your relationship, and what you can do about them. If you can cope with the odd Bible verse thrown in here and there, it's very very interesting listening.

Jared and I, we have had a jumpstart on most people in the whole isolation thing - it's not so dissimilar to a lot of what last year was like for us. We had no friends and no money for most of it, and the majority of nights were spent at home by ourselves. It can be quite hard to have your marriage under the microscope like that, as the sole focus of your time and attention. That's a lot of pressure on one person to try and fulfil all of your interpersonal needs. You are all up in each others' grills all the time, and it can get very same-samey, you don't wanna put in any effort, or where you start taking issue with the smallest details... kinda like this:

Lucky for us, that's not really how we roll. Jared is as cool as a cucumber and that I am by default also. 

I hope wherever you are isolating, it is with someone awesome - even if that awesome person is yo fine self! - and that you are finding inventive and interesting ways to while away the hours. I've yet to have my inaugural use of the houseparty app if anyone is keen to try it out with me...

In other news, I go through major nature withdrawal being in the middle of the city. Thankfully we have a small fenced off gem of a green close to us. These photos are from a place just up the road called Mountjoy Square.

You'll be pleased to know that spring is finally springing. 

Every entrance at every park throughout Dublin now has cheery social distancing reminders

This is a really lovely place to people-watch and feel vaguely connected to nature

Just imagine that the sign on the side of the bus says Mountjoy Square.

We also discovered that this place has an outdoor table tennis table!

So now we can practise on a proper table for the next Brooking Christmas gathering!

On Saturday afternoon, I ventured out to Bull Island. It is basically a sand bar that has been created by having sea walls either side of Dublin Port for over 200 years. It's beautiful! It's one of my favourite places in all of Dublin, so far. There's two bridges that go out to it - one North and one South, and the southern one leads to a golf course and sea wall which you can bike along for a bit.

I actually forgot my phone, so you'll just have to imagine the cool wind whipping off the water, the towering three-pronged statue at the end of the path with the Virgin Mary high atop it, the sand that stretches on for about a kilometre north towards Howth. Looking back over the industrial inkblot of cranes and containers, tankers and factories towards Dublin speaks to the construction boom that is/was. The low tide exposes clumps of seaweed and waves fight pitifully to make it back to shore against the retreating tide. Gulls swoop and scream overhead, heralding each gust as the wind assaults the coast from the East, and nearly topples my bike.

It was wild, and breath-taking, a certain remedy for my cooped up soul.

One day when you come to visit, I'll take you there.

Take care, stay positive. I have 45 hours a week that I'm trying to fill with non-pesting-Jared things, so please do let me know if you wanna be a part of helping out with that. Keep in touch!

Finally, I leave you with these gems who are a reminder of how hope is as contagious as fear, and there's so much still to be thankful for and to look forward to after all of this is over.