Intro: 15 August
Yesterday was my 29th birthday. As many have noted, ageing during Covid 19 - a period where it seems like our collective concept of time is under siege - sucks. It especially sucks to be reminded that you are approaching thirty when your life has been adversely affected by the current situation, say, more than others. Like, say that you lose your job, and no one is hiring because of the pandemic, and they keep not hiring because of the attendant economic recession, and your ability to remain in the country you’ve dedicated your life to living in for the past 9 years expires.
Unrelatedly, here is a list of some things I did not have when I turned 29 yesterday:
A job
A home
A partner, or even the ability to date freely without feeling guilty
Good sleep hygiene
Depending on the way you look at it, a country
However, here is a list of things I did have:
6 bottles of Prosecco
5 old friends
3 kilos of prawns
2 dozen oysters
The use of one airy and stylish second home nestled into a private cove in West Cork
For the next few months, while I sort out my visa situation, I’m going to be traveling around so as to spread the burden of housing me between as many friends as is possible, and safe, during the pandemic. Being able to travel without guilt, and not being legally able to work, is going to be a great and terrible privilege, that I feel is exemplified by these two lists. Sure, it feels like my life is falling apart, and there is a good chance that everything might go south and I might end up getting shunted back to a country that I haven’t lived in for the last ten years and which is rapidly declining into a totalitarian regime, but in the meantime I will be swanning around Europe like displaced aristocracy, and that suits my self-image just fine right now.
I guess it all depends on how you spin it - I’m not exactly sure what this blog is going to be like in terms of form and content, but I know that I want it to be an attempt at spinning this thing that is happening to me in a positive light. Hopefully, it will also be a good way of keeping in contact with you, and maybe it will even be interesting, and/or funny.