Irish Census Time-Capsule

The 2022 Irish Census Form had a new 'Time-Capsule' question. If we chose to, we could write what our life was like in 2022. No-one would read these essay pages of the Census; they would all be put in a time-capsule, opened in one hundred years time, and then be made available to the public. (The Irish Census Form is anonymous, with only the address to identify it, but I reckon other records could be used to cross-reference and find the name of the inhabitants of an address.)

God I love this country!

The following is what I wrote on my Census 2022 form.

. . . .

I love my house and garden and I love life. No-one has been able to come inside, though, for 2 years, cos of Covid-a9. The first year of Covid, the only cuddles I had was from bumblebees! I think they sensed my need for contact. Then I asked the universe for a cat to come live in my shed and have kittens, and next door's cat did! She had one kitten and he lives in the shed and does a good job, and lets me cuddle him, his heart to mine.

My days are typical. I wake early with the light and birds, and make filter coffee with filtered water, and porridge with raisins. I feed the cat biscuits at the back door, and feed the small birds sunflower seeds out the front in the bird bower that I made from brush so the cats can't get them.

Because I have Chronic Fatigue/ME, I spend 80% of my time in my bed. I bring my coffee and porridge, turn the mobile phone to volume and check my security cameras. I got 3 because of the malicious male chauvinist neighbour who hates independent women. Ireland is not alone in having plenty misogynist thugs.

I read stuff on my phone--the new, topics that interest me, e-mails. I do killer sudoku puzzles, or play patience games, or read novels on my Kindle, or crochet Mobius twists, what I call Noble Shapes. I talk to family and friends for free-Postfone plan costs 25 euro per month, it's great!!

When I'm not resting in my bed, I sweep the greenhouse of spiders so they do not kill the precious bees, who love the cherry, peach, raspberry, passionfruit and nasturtium blossoms. I check the pond, hoping to catch sight of a frog or two. I lay stick with the cat all around the garden, work on my eco barrels, which is my solution to the terrible problem of plastic waste. Ireland still does not recycle, but burns plastic or puts it in land fill, even the washed and dried 'recycle' bin plastics., it is scandalous. Instead I stuff it into cartons, and lock it up in barrels I make from paper mulch clay. The barrels are stools, inside and outside.

Recently I got an electric bicycle and so my mobility has improved 1,000 percent! But cos of Covid I still don't venture far--only to the shops every two weeks, or o the shore to ge seaweed for the garden I'm a piper, if I'm able, I play, but I miss playing with friends at a big old session. sometimes I spend hours down a rabbit hole on a DNA Ancestry site, researching ancestors and cousins, and I would LOVE it if my 2x great-grandmothers had written something similar to this epistle for me to read, one hundred years later. I hope that in 2122 there is still life on Earth and civilised people who have the leisure to be interested in people who lived here 100 years ago.