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Making Plans is Back on the Agenda
At the start of lockdown, we were joined in our escape to the small patch of patio outside our apartment by a never-ending corridor of marching ants. Endlessly busy, this line of small antlered insects streamed around the perimeters of our shared space in an ordered march constantly, providing us with a welcome visual spectacle to while away the hours in the evening while we waited for yet another news update.
Where have all the ants gone?
Of late, the ants have long since departed. Much like the sun. Or perhaps, bound for a brighter future elsewhere. And just like our former neighbours, as time marches on, we’ve started feeling our way into life beyond the boundaries of our patch of space in urban Dublin.
Thinking of the future again, and all the imagined possibilities of what that may bring — good and bad — has been a welcome respite from our constant focus on the present. And that should come as no surprise. For even as recent months have shown how little control we each exercise on the overall scheme of things — turns out, there’s nothing like a global pandemic to illustrate this point very clearly — the prospect of making plans helps us to reclaim some sense of active participation in shaping our daily lives.