Unlocking Ireland - thread uimhir a seacht!

[LifeInAHamsterWheel]

A shiny new thread for us all to talk pure shite whilst we wait for lockdown to end

@Apileofballyhoo

It might be a bit slower for some people but I'm kind of glad for DM it was just her own GP and familiarity. I think she might have been anxious going to a vaccination centre. She's started to get anxious about driving on a long journey or motorway now that she hasn't done it for a year.

Mine would be the same, Apile. She is waiting for the call from her GP. She is almost 72, Cork City.

Oh so under 70s turn is only, what, a few weeks away? That's great if so.

My parents are getting their 1st one on Thursday. We were trying to figure out how the GP was doing it, we thought if might be alphabetical but no it isnt. They are both over 70 just about in my mums case.

Anyone else wake up to snow on the ground? Lovely day, sun shining, sky blue and snow. It seems so odd.
It's melting now though.

My aunt in her early 70s got hers last week at her GP. My step mother is similar age, and was told by GP (different surgery/town) a few weeks ago that they hoped to get to her cohort this week. My folks are both in their 60s, but they are probably healthier than a lot of people in their 30s and 40s, so neither of them are anxiously waiting for it for health reasons (although they can't wait to get it, for the bigger picture of restrictions lifting etc)

hello all! bloody freezing this morning! I couldn't understand why my car was beeping, thought something was up but it was just warning me that it was 3 degrees!! It was lovely and sunny though. Please god this cold spell will be quickly followed by the heatwave we had last April!

My inlaws are over 75 and one got their first jab last week, the others are still waiting (registered with different GPs) so I think the roll out is still quite slow in some parts. I'm really hoping that they can ramp it up and we can get back to normal this summer.

Can't remember who was watching Its a Sin but I presume by now you've finished it and are blubbering mess!! I bawled so much at it. Colin DH and I started watching The Flight Attendant on Sky and it's quite good. And of course, Line of Duty is back but it's on BBC so we can't binge it. Streamed telly has us spoiled rotten

I'm wondering how the teachers vaccine row will play out this week. I can see both sides of the argument, I'd hate to have to make the decision on it...

That was me. It traumatised me, I'm still upset over it more so the fact that it happened. I mean the story was fiction but that was the reality for many gay men in the 80s. So many young lives lost needlessly and my understanding is they did withhold medicine until it started effecting heterosexual people too. This is according to my cousin who is older than me and gay so I dont know if it's true or not. I was only a young child then but he was an older teen.

Beautiful but cold crisp morning, but it was fine once we wrapped up.

Bit drizzly now but I can't run out to the line as I'm trapped under a napping toddler. I don't really mind

Aww I remember those days. I used to love lazy days.
I'm still on hols but I decided to a little bit of emailing and stuff because I am bored. Not feeling great today so taking it easy.

Is anyone watching the George Floyd trial? They are filming the whole thing. All the videos are on youtube if anyone wants to see it. It has been very interesting.I personally want and think that the police officer will be found guilty, but his defense lawyer is a very interesting man to listen to. I think they will present as good a defense as they can, they are arguing that he resisted arrest, he had drugs in his system, and that police are allowed to useforce if some one is resisting arrest, but he will still definitely be found guilty. They have just had the police chief of minneapolis on, saying that the police man used excessive force. I absolutely think that he will be found guilty, but I love listening to all the intelligent arguments from both sides.

I really hope he will be, I think it'll be a huge turning point if he is. We all know Mr Floyd wasnt an innocent man but we all saw that he wasn't resisting arrest when the officer knelt on him.

I watched a children's film last night a disney musical thing. White kid stole a cop car and his choices were juvenile detention centre or bible summer camp for a week.
For America that wasnt very realistic anyway.

When the cops were chasing him I was thinking if he were black he'd be dead.

Thanks for the tag @IwishIwasontheN17. We have spent the day on the phone to Irish estate agents. Apparently we will neither be able to buy nor rent a house until we can come and view in person 🙄. Well that most likely won't be before July/August, when all short term accommodation is booked up. We have a stable life here, quite excited about the prospect of moving to Ireland but not when it involves being nomads with 3 small DC. Might have to bring the smallest and leave the two bigger ones here with DH for a while at the start of the school year.

I remember my Mam saying last year, that she thought house prices would come down because of Covid, I just looked - house prices are definitely the same as they were early last year in Ireland

@FraterculaArctica I was actually looking at buying a house in Ireland last year. I asked one estate agent could she send me a video of the house, as it was nearly impossible to go and see it at time during Covid.

She acted like it was a really strange thing for me to ask. I remember her saying to me "can you not get one of your family members to come and look at the house for you". Me, "no because they are not allowed to go beyond 5km, and my mother, who lived nearer the house, is elderly and shielding etc"

Just put videos of the houses onine! I see a few more estate agents are starting to do that this year.But not enough. And I wonder do they still ask for you to go in person before you can rent/buy

We bought this time last year. It was a nightmare at the time, and we had a wobble in case we were making a mistake/should we wait to see how Covid impacts the market. We are glad that we stuck with it and went ahead. It is true to say that there is never a perfect time to buy!

@Sarahtrue11 I have emailed several estate agents and they all seem to be completely unbothered about actually selling their houses! I asked of one house if there was a floor plan, that ended the conversation. In the UK estate agents are desperate (in the British English sense of "desperate") to sell you houses! And Irish estate agents all assume we're Irish and moving "home" - the idea of Brits emigrating to Ireland is obviously a new one.

@FraterculaArctica

I have looked at buying houses in the UK and in Ireland. It is definitely a bit more easier to view houses in the UK, as they have bigger Estate Agensts there. A lot of the estate agents outside the big cities in Ireland, are small family run businesses.

But the good thing about the Irish Estate agents, is that once you choose a house to buy, the process is a lot easier and swifter.

Honestly, the estate agents in the UK were some of the most stressful people I ever dealt with. I felt like they dealt with me like a criminal, and that I was lucky if they let me buy a house with them. I had inherited some money, and they wanted me to provide four different types of proof to show it was an inheritance. It was crazy! and proof for this, that and the other, They were so rude. And they were so slow.

I nearly bought a house in Ireland, last year, and when I said I had money from an inheritance, she just asked me for one bank statement, and that was it. I had everything approved quickly.It was just personal reasons that made me pull out that time.

@FraterculaArctica are you trying to move to Ireland now? I know it is so hard to do anything right now. Everything is twenty times more difficult

@AnnieJ1985 well done on buying a house at such a difficult time!
what county did you buy in?

@sarahtrue11 we bought in Dublin. It was so stressful at the time, and we will be doing DIY until the end of time, but we are happily settling in.

Totally off topic but I'm made up with myself! .... I got Irish telly! Watching the RTÉ news! Can't wait for Ireland am in the morning! Phil and holly can do one now!!

Phil and Holly are on after Ireland AM, so you can have the full breakfast tv experience!

I was planning on coming back to Ireland, but after talking to my parents, I decided to wait until my parents had been vaccinated, as we felt it would be better for their safety. You know as they are elderly and I am coming from abroad. They still haven't got vaccinated and I was waiting patiently. Now they just put the country I am in on the mandatory hotel quarantine list for Ireland. I had a little cry today. Everything is so difficult to do. It is so hard to go anywhere. I know it is hard for everyone, but I just felt so sad today.

[quote FraterculaArctica]@Sarahtrue11 I have emailed several estate agents and they all seem to be completely unbothered about actually selling their houses! I asked of one house if there was a floor plan, that ended the conversation. In the UK estate agents are desperate (in the British English sense of "desperate") to sell you houses! And Irish estate agents all assume we're Irish and moving "home" - the idea of Brits emigrating to Ireland is obviously a new one.[/quote]
Brits migrating to Ireland really isn’t new, though. Where I spent the first lockdown, I had neighbours from Birmingham, Portsmouth, Newcastle, London, Devon, Norfolk, and somewhere near Glasgow — and they’d mostly been in Ireland for years. I have several sets of English friends based here longterm. And I swear I know eight or more academics who’ve moved over to Irish institutions in the last couple of years.

I agree buying a house is more complex in Ireland, based on our experience on buying in the autumn of 2020 — we’re returning Irish people, but I’m not sure that helped. We’d only ever owned houses in the UK, and those purchases were faster and more straightforward. We’d never had to do a medical for mortgage insurance before. I assume some of the extra hurdles are post-crash?

My baby sister is trying to buy her first home, and although she’s on the spot, she says lots are going sale agreed to people who’ve never seen inside.

[quote AnnieJ1985]@sarahtrue11 we bought in Dublin. It was so stressful at the time, and we will be doing DIY until the end of time, but we are happily settling in.[/quote]
Snap. And not just DIY in our vase, but major renovations!