We return to work this week, only to find that no, we have not returned to work at all. People are still on holidays, for goodness sake, on top of all the time off — served up with lashings of extras — over Christmas.
Ringing around looking for news is clearly a waste of time as answerphones and voicemails click in to report that nobody is home — and most likely will not be for another week at least. Hopefully the extended break will prove refreshing and restorative. Meanwhile, for the chosen few already back to the grindstone this week, we bid you well and hope to find you hale and hearty after the Christmas holiday. May the New Year of 2011 prove to be one of your happiest and successful yet — to heck with the world collapsing all round.
One definite New Year resolution here at the Mayo Advertiser is to keep readers informed of all things new and entertaining — apart from just the state of the roads, water shortages, and the weather. Honestly, how much longer can the media be expected to give priority coverage to plummeting temperatures, poor utility services, and pathetic infrastructure? With a general election looming, the expeditious handling of such issues as they arise must as a matter of course be taken in hand. Get Ireland Working — in every sense — should be the political slogan for all parties right now. Once we are working, then maybe we can finally return to the business of living and actually doing different things again. New things.
There indeed is the nub of it. We need change — and lots of it. We are suffocating from the effects of 2010 which saw us frozen with fear and unwilling to take the initiative. During the halycon Celtic Tiger days we were a different people. We saw potential in everything and went after every possibility with gusto. It was not just a race against time but against ourselves. We could not keep up with each other, never mind The Joneses. If neighbour to the left had decking installed and neighbour to the right upped the ante with a new conservatory, we simply called in the builders and put an entirely new storey on our house. It was one-upmanship at its most extreme and while on one level it appeared infantile, it also made for some fantastic fun.
We were excited to be alive back then. We had great hopes, marvellous imaginings, and the ambition to better ourselves beyond our wildest dreams. Anything we wanted to achieve we could. Nothing was impossible. We believed 100 per cent in ourselves as we blazed a trail for the world to follow; and then tragically, it all went wallop, destroying our self-confidence and leaving us with the sense that the magic bubble that had burst had spewed its sticky contents right onto our faces for all the world to see.
Well now it is a new year and time to really start putting all the knock-backs behind us. Times may still be tough with even more difficult days ahead, but spring will also soon be arriving; people are out and about again walking and trying to get fit for success; the cycles of nature are delivering new blooms ahead of time and the days are getting longer and brighter.
Perhaps Mother Nature cannot be depended on to generate economic success for all of us, but at the same time agriculture and its associated industries are tipped as major growth areas for Ireland right now while job creation is also expected to soar, regardless of emigration/unemployment/voluntary redundancy issues.
As a commercial entity the Mayo Advertiser depends on its clients to keep the public informed of all opportunities and matters new that can help enhance our lifestyles, generate work, and restore confidence. For the forthcoming year of 2011 as it now begins, we welcome our advertisers back into the fold again this week and look forward to sharing their stories with one and all. Expect lots of excitement and can-do attitude. Above all, be prepared for lots of change and things new.
