Official or not, signs that the recession is lifting at least temporarily are definitely coming more to the fore these days as the buzz of summer and holiday living affects many towns. As we get used to having to contend with crowded pathways and more people and cars on our roads and streets, the revival of consumer-driven activity makes a welcome return. At the same time, such a rapid reversal to our old habits of feeding whims and indulgences through materialism gives rise to a certain sense of unease, begging the question, have we learned anything from the hard times and will the gap between the haves and the have-nots ever lessen at all?
Perhaps the real problem is we are simply unable to identify new ways to express ourselves, other than by splashing cash around and acquiring yet more possessions. No harm to make a note therefore that the passing of one particular quirk of the good times that saw impatience and rudeness grow rife among the general population, has certainly not been missed in recent times of more humane social interaction and civilised citizenry. Whatever does transpire for Irish society down the line therefore, hopefully we can at least continue to remember our manners.
Of course the spending that is happening today differs radically from that of our earlier boom times given that property acquisition is the last thing on most people's minds. Despite the looming bankruptcy of the country’s exchequer, luxury spending is definitely on the increase once more as are outlays on partying and having a good time. Ask anyone how things are going these days and chances are you won't have to wait long to hear about some great nights out at concerts, festivals, political shindigs, race events, and sporting and family get-togethers. In actual fact it feels a bit like Christmas in some quarters, the sense of holiday is so pronounced, and thank goodness too. It's not as though we don't need it. Hence every good dose of sunshine that comes along and gets us all happy and in the mood for spending and revelling again must surely be hailed as life-enhancing.
Still, it's not all sweetness and light by any means, as so many unfortunate business people and private homeowners who were washed out in recent flash floods know only too well. The damage being done through the extreme weather conditions now characterising our climate continues to take us by surprise. Even unsuspecting shoppers with trolley loads of goods were forced to drop anchor and run from the centre of the county town last week when the skies opened and emptied river loads of rain in mere minutes. Similarly a number of local hotels and hostelries around Mayo were forced to pack up their closed doors with sandbags in order to prevent irreparable water damage.
This doesn’t augur well for the many parts of the country so seriously flooded out during last winter’s deluges where damage limitation work is still very much temporary and unstable. Now is the time for proper drainage channels to be dug in order to minimise the floods which are all but guaranteed in high-risk areas, but will the warnings be heeded in time this time — or are we looking at the prospect of even more dramatic landslides and dam bursts in the upcoming autumn season that could easily be avoided through the application of some serious elbow-grease right now? Hopefully the powers-that-be, in applying their wisdom to regenerative cutbacks, will simultaneously roll up their sleeves on getting this flood-threat situation sorted well in advance.
