2020, the Year that Was

So, we’re in the last days of this already-infamous year.  When we were young, twenty-twenty sounded like a year that science-fiction writers would have set cool futuristic novels to, but instead it became a year to get through, to weather, to comfort our friends who have lost family, to look out for the many people we know who have been sick (some long covid sufferers), to keep working, to devour the news, and to try to ignore the background worry that this thing circulating could be nothing, but equally could be nasty, debilitating, or even fatal.

And yet, if you were lucky enough not to get ill, not to have close family get ill, not to lose your job, and you could put the covid anxiety aside, it has been a year with many positives.  Thankfully for us, this was our 2020.  Our jobs are interesting and busy, working from home is nothing new to us, and the lack of business travel, while frustrating, as also meant more time to appreciate our family, our house, our garden, our village, and our many neighbours and friends.

Our three teenagers became three almost adults this year: Oscar turned 18, finished lycée, and got a place in the brilliant international biology course in the University Grenoble Alps faculty, which he’s loving.  Covid and lockdowns also persuaded him that living at home for a year longer wasn’t so awful when compared to lockdown in a small apartment in Grenoble, and to be honest we’ve really enjoyed his company and chats about his coursework.  The fridge also appreciates its daily cleanouts and is never empty as he burns giga-calories on his daily workouts on our deck.

Fergus changed lycée to pursue the new baccalaureate subject of IT and programming, which he’s loving.  He’s frequently first up at 6.15 each morning, off on a 6.50 bus to get him into school before 8.  All good there.  Sienna is no slouch in the mornings either, up at 6.30 for her breakfast and early bus.  But having turned 13 she has shown us her true teenage colours and happily sleeps beyond noon whenever she has no school.  A forgotten luxury which our aged backs wouldn’t let us enjoy even if we had the opportunity!!!

Truth be told though, lockdowns meant school disruptions, fights over how many computers could do video calls in parallel, and a never-ending routine of buying food, planning meals, cooking, eating, and cleaning up again.  Fibre finally arrived, after several failed attempts to install, and while the fights over the washing up continue, we’re basking in parallel video bliss.  We’ve become great fans of rural broadband.

So, all in all, it’s been a year with lots of family time, lots of cooking, not as much TV as we expected, but lots of hours in front of computer and phone screens.

 

2020 as it Happened here in our Alpine Home

It started with some travel!  In early February I was lucky enough to time a business trip to Ireland to coincide with my Mum’s birthday, so unlike many it’s not yet a year since I’ve seen family.  Then in late February, when the kids were on mid-term, Linda and I took off to St Rémy en Provence with our bikes and spent a wonderful weekend cycling in the forests and hills on the magnificent GR6 over the Crete des Alpilles to Les Baux-de-Provence.

Mounting biking in Provence

Little did we know that would be our last trip for months, and that our travel radius would shrink to 1km as lockdown started here on March 17^th.  But lockdown meant walks, and we used our 1hr1km limit per day to explore the many forest trails around us here, getting fitter and meeting neighbours doing the same.  The attestation you had to fill in to show police if stopped was detestable, but at least it was easy to get away from roads and buildings, and we appreciated we had it lucky compared to those locked down in city-centre apartments with no view, little light, little space.  Never have we been so grateful to live in countryside.

Lockdown skies

In between lockdowns we managed a quick camping trip to the Chartreuse with our friends the Vocales, and then we risked planning a family holiday, two weeks in the Dordogne in a beautiful gîte even more rural than our home village.  We lapped up great food, a lovely pool, dark starry nights, card games with the kids, and drives around the region (including a long-overdue day at the ocean).  The only shame was the hoards of flies that spoiled our attempts to cycle or walk in the forests, but that made us appreciate our own mountains and forests even more.

The Atlantic!

September brought the delayed Tour de France through our village, where we hiked to a less populated hillside to cheer the Irish riders, and in particular Sam Bennett who was in the Green Jersey.  He didn’t see us, but friends in Ireland did as we waved a giant tricolour for the passing riders.  Great fun!

Go Nicolas, go Dan, go Sam!

 

Then came Autumn, time to test our new solar heating system (which we’re loving) and getting the kids back into the rhythm of school.  Oscar was almost in Lille when he got a last-minute place in Grenoble, for which we’re all grateful.  And more travel: to celebrate 20 years of marriage Linda and I took a weekend in Italy (Claviere is only 100m over the border in the Southern Alps), where we hiked, enjoyed the food, and made the most of feeling abroad while talk of another lockdown started.

Linda’s in France, I’m in Italy.

A quick work trip to Monaco (if you’re going to travel in 2020, make it nice!!!) before November lockdown came, and with it the dreaded attestations and limited walks, which we turned into a photo-sharing fest with the @Irish-in-France Twitter group, with #1km1hr photos.  And what an Autumn, warm, colourful, and even though our region was the French epicentre of covid this time, we continued to enjoy lunch on the patio, lots of sunshine, and a riot of orange leaves as the forests put on their seasonal colours.

Sunday afternoon walk

And tastes.  We missed the best of the mushrooms this year, but our walnut tree gave us the benefits of the warm year with bags of crunchy oily goodness.  We’ll have walnuts in our salads for a year, well worth the hard work of shelling them.  Lots of other Autumn flavours too: chestnuts burnt on a hot pan, the taste, like coffee, never quite living up to the smell; pumpkins roasted, wrapped in salty dried ham slices; soups with parsnips, carrots and pumpkins blending into the forest colours; and the first homemade pizzas in the outdoor wood-burning oven, warming our chilly Friday nights.

Mmm, wood fired pizza.

And now, Christmas shopping done, the tree up, the food all organised, the restaurants and bars still closed, and rumours of a third lockdown ahead, we’re looking forward to the fêtes de fin d’année which will be different this year: no cousins visiting or trips to Ireland, no parties with neighbours or friends, curfew every night at 8pm, but lots of food, fires, TV, books, and family time just the five of us.

Winter already!

End of a bizarre year, a terrible year for many, but thankfully a good year for us personally.

 

Highlights of our Year

Home, the fireplace, music, books, films, and zoom/WhatsApp/FaceTime calls with family.

 

Favourite lists

TV series and movies:

• The Trial of the Chicago Seven
• The Queen’s Gambit
• The Spy
• Rocketman
• Parasite
• Call Me by My Name
• The Irishman
• Knives Out
• The Gentlemen
• The Great Gatsby
• Unorthodox

Books:

• Apeirogon by Colm McCann.  Complex story of Israel/Palestine personal trauma and peace efforts
• Reality is Not What it Seems, by Carlo Rovelli.  Quantum Gravity explained, and why time does not exist.
• Ball Lightning, and all other books by Liu Cixin.  Stunning science fiction.  Start with his Three Body Problem trilogy if you don’t know him

 

Musical Joys in 2020

• Celeste: sublime new voice
• Other Voices: online festival of new voices and music from Ireland
• John Prine (RIP 2020)
• Til Brönner
• GoGo Penguin Live in Abbey Road Studios (nearest thing we got to a concert)
• Moloko
• Jools Holland’s interviews

 

 

Other content

• Dan Carlin’s Hard Core History podcasts.  Long, detailed, graphic history to lose yourself in.
• The Two Johnnies podcast: irreverent but sometimes hilarious goings on from Cahir.
• Tom Crean: Antartic Exporer,  play in the Everyman, online (just about, despite broken audio links.

 

Activities

• Walking in our nearby forests (Eoin and Linda)
• Mountain biking most weekends (Eoin)
• Trail Running (Oscar)

 

 

Plans for 2021

• Get vaccinated!
• Travel to Ireland to see family
• Italy holiday in Tuscany with many of our friends.
• Getting back to live concerts.  Sitting on postponed tickets for Billie Eilish, Caravan Palace, Seasick Steve.
• Parties, dinners, barbecues.

 

Wishing you all good fortune, good health, the company of friends and family, and lots of travel in 2021 so we can share good times face-to-face, laughs, good food and drink, and, above all, hugs!