Joyce Fegan: Am I the only one staying put this summer?

While my friends worry about queues at Dublin Airport on their way to sunnier climes, I'm off checking Met Éireann's rainfall radar ahead of a day at Strandhill. It's as if the pandemic has taken the spontaneous adventurer out of me, writes Joyce Fegan

The sun doesn't always shine during an Irish summer but it's easier — and safer — than going abroad for some of us.

Several years ago a man I knew was recovering from surgery. He noted his joie de vivre was lacking post-op — for months on end. He described it as the surgeon having taken "the drinker" out of him. 

Not that the man was a drinker, but what he meant was that the spontaneous, fun-loving part of him who met with friends old and young to swap stories and who sought out adventure without even thinking about it, was gone.