Like most of the country, I’m hunkered down inside my home with the heat on full blast, waiting for the dreaded 4 o’clock snowmageddon expected to descend on Ireland. Actually, I have my camera gear at the ready and hope to venture out to get some decent snaps and a few video clips later. So far the weather has been pretty uneventful. Well, it would be if this was the middle of December or January, not the start of the second month in spring (for confused overseas’ readers, the Irish season traditionally begins with Lá ‘le Bríde at the start of February, not on a date at the end of March as in much of the rest of non-Celtic Europe).
Fortunately I’m off work for the duration of the unseasonable conditions, thanks to a late night decision by my employer to end all operations due to the hazardous weather warnings issued by the Government. That was communicated by an email to my business mobile, followed an hour later by a phone call from my departmental manager, as promised in the message, ensuring that I had received the notification and knew not to travel into the job until Monday of next week. In contrast, my sister, who is employed by a major retail chain in Ireland, was told by her manager to check the company’s Facebook Page to find out whether or not to drive into work today. She duly arrived there this morning after a not uneventful car journey, only to be told two hours later, and a few minutes before the store was due to close, that she should leave the premises immediately. Talk about a mickey-mouse operation!
In any case, whatever you’re up to, I hope you can stay safe and sound for the next forty-eight hours. With a bit of luck, the worse predictions will fail to materialise for those regions of the island most likely to be effected.
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
Bí cúramach! Fan sábháilte.
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No doubt the storm is dangerous but I think the lockdown is also due to insurance policies that are not responsible for anything that happens during an “Act of God”!
Where I am the “Act of God” is being manifest in heavy rain! So we are all indoors anyway but not on lockdown!
Anyway best of luck Sèamas – don’t get too bored indoors and beware of the onset of the dreaded “cabin fever”!
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Ah yeah, my company definitely had an eye on its duty of care commitments to its employees and the potential for liability. That said, they came through. I won’t name the shop my sis works for, but telling staff to take instructions via postings on Facebook is a disgrace. What sort of local HR branch dept have they got? And this company employs hundreds of people – mostly women – around the country. Wankers.
The weather is ok where I am now, LOTS of snow but no blizzards. That was the one scaring people. I was out and about earlier, heading out again for a midnight ramble with the madra.
Ah, I’m used to being stuck indoors from business trips and anodyne hotel rooms. At least this time I’m on my own in my own house 🙂
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Just finished a quarter marathon. Bragging rights.
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