HERE WE GO AGAIN... ANOTHER LOCKDOWN! BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©

HERE WE GO AGAIN... ANOTHER LOCKDOWN!

OPINION PIECE BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©

Today was the most depressed I've felt in a while, and this has been by anyone's standards a pretty depressing year. It's because tomorrow Ireland goes back into national lockdown for six weeks, courtesy once more of our friend the global pandemic, caused by COVID-19, alias the coronavirus, the only international killer that's not wanted in countries all over the world. I came up with that last bit of witticism myself, so don't you journalists out there go stealing it, now.

Anyway, even though we've been living with certain restrictions for months now and have adapted to them somewhat, it's going to be a real wrench watching our favourite shops and restaurants having to close again till December.

They'll be losing some of the biggest weeks of the year, shopping-wise-and-footfall-wise, and the three and a half weeks they'll be allowed to open in December probably won't be enough to help them recoup the money they'll have lost by then. It's all such a mess. We need our shops, businesses and services, but some of them sadly may not survive a second lockdown.

Today, the last day before this national shutdown, has a very strange feel to it. It feels to me like Christmas Eve (bear with me here, lol), right, and the shops are going to pull down their shutters early so we all have to rush round madly and buy as much stuff as we can before everything closes, but tomorrow there won't be any nice presents and a lovely roast dinner.

Unless we cook it ourselves, of course, and if I'd wanted to cook for myself, I wouldn't have spent a fortune over the years on eating out, so there you have it. Christmas Eve, but with nothing nice coming tomorrow, only more lockdown...

This morning, my son and I did a circuit of our local shopping district (I always shop local; shopping anywhere else means you have to leave the area!) and bid a tearful farewell to various places and people. I mean that literally; several people were close to tears as they said ta-ra to some of their favourite shops and shopkeepers for six weeks. (Most people secretly believe it'll be for longer.)

First, we dropped some stuff off at the charity shop, our last chance to palm our rubbish- sorry, I mean treasured possessions- off on someone else for several weeks, then we said goodbye to our local bookshop.

This was hard. I love that shop. It's run by a very nice man and his dog, and the books stand around in teetering piles where they're not on shelves. That's so my scene. I bought a couple of books before I left, just in case I manage to get through the thousands still in my to-read pile before the six weeks are up...

Then we panic-shopped in our local knicky-knacky homewares shop, grabbing everything from teabags to toothpaste, from loo roll to bin bags. (For some reason, you get through a million rubbish bags during a lockdown. Must be all that food we're obliged to cook for ourselves...) I threw in a few Viscount biscuits too for good measure. Well, you've got to have something to soak up all that tea...

Then, outdoor dining for the last time in six weeks (couldn't they at least have left us that, for crying out loud? Who exactly are we infecting, sitting out in the rain and wind with a chicken sandwich and a can of Fanta?), at our favourite local family-run caff, which, from tomorrow, moves into takeaway only, but only if it's financially viable, which it might not be. As so many businesses in the area are being forced to close, there may not be anyone left in the area to feed.

Tesco wasn't too emotional, as Tesco will still be there tomorrow, thank God, then a quick trip to my favourite little sandwich place, which is only staying open till the end of the week, depending on how business goes. If there's no-one in the area left to feed, then there's not much point in their staying open. I see that, but I'm still sad about it for myself, and gutted for them.

Home again now, to put away my panic-shopping and wonder how we're all going to get through the next few weeks without tearing our collective hair out in frustration and boredom.

Some of us have no appetite for this second national lockdown, so it'll be very hard to knuckle down and get on with it, like we did last time. Still, it's in the national interest, so we're told, so what choice do we have?

We'll grow accustomed to it, I'm sure, as the days fly by, but that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it. And all that extra time on our hands will be great for when it comes to writing a nice long letter to Santa about what we want for Christmas this year. Oh wait. I forgot...

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.

Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, poet, short story writer and film and book blogger. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, women's fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO

Her debut romantic fiction novel, 'THIRTEEN STOPS,' is out now from Poolbeg Books.

https://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Stops-Sandra-Harris-ebook/dp/B089DJMH64