Lá Bealtaine shona daoibh go leir!
Spring on Campus
As well as being International Workers Day, today, 1st May, is Beltane (Bealtaine in Irish) is an old Celtic festival. The month of May is called Bealtaine in Irish and May Day is called Lá Bealtaine, which is one of the so-called Cross-Quarter Days that lie (roughly) halfway between the equinoxes and solstices, in this case the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. The upshot of all this is that today is a Bank Holiday, so I have the day off.
If the weather holds I shall spend a bit of time in the garden. Yesterday was quite warm but very showery. I tried three times to hang out my washing to dry in broad sunshine only to have to bring it in again when a torrential downpour arrived. Eventually I gave up.
On the corresponding days last year, the year before and the year before that I was wondering about how the pandemic would pan out. Back on May 1st 2020 I didn’t think it would last until May 2021 and back in 2021 I did not forecast that we would still have over a thousand new infections every day in May 2022. Fortunately the pandemic seems to be dying down, though the consequences will be with us for some time.
After toady’s holiday we have four days left of teaching term at Maynooth University, then there’s a study week for the students and then the exams begin. I’ve more-or-less managed to keep on track so my remaining classes will be mainly revision. It will be quite a busy week though. Friday 5th May is the deadline for this year’s Computational Physics projects, so I’m anticipating last-minute queries all week. As well as this, and revision lectures and tutorials, I will be attending the annual Dean’s Lecture on Wednesday and attending a concert performance by members of Irish National Opera in the Aula Maxima on campus on Thursday as part of the Arts and Minds Festival.
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