Despite photographs of long queues on social media, the reality of Dublin's Grafton Street on the first Saturday of reopening painted a different picture.
I crossed over to the other side last week. Rather than cycle to work, I called a taxi. I opened the passenger door and noticed hand sanitiser on the back seat and a Perspex shield separating the driver. The taxi driver tapped the screen with pride. The cleanest taxi in all of Dublin, he said.
An estimated one fifth of motorists stopped at a garda checkpoint on the Border were suspected of improperly claiming the Government's €350 pandemic payment.
When Leo Varadkar dusted off his stethoscope and volunteered for medical service during the Covid-19 pandemic, one of his most striking encounters was not in the efficiently prepared hospitals or impressive testing centres that rolled out ahead of the expected surge.
The matriarch of Ballymaloe House, Myrtle Allen, left more than €1m in her will.
This week, I'm talking to a pair of hotshot bakers, an egg-producing clan, a Canny restaurateur and the latest link in Seaview's family chain.
Fianna Fail negotiators were a visible presence last week around the coffee dock of LH2000, the modern annexe of the Leinster House complex.
