Vernon , 16

My life during lockdown was both good and bad.

The good thing about being in lockdown was that I could spend quality time with my family every day. We could go on walks and we could play games like football, Gaelic and basketball.

Another good thing about lockdown is that I can wear my own comfy warm clothes instead of wearing the dreaded school uniforms.

Another advantage about l is that I can go outside and play football, basketball by myself whenever I want.

I have also learned new hobbies such as cooking, gardening and painting. I have learned how to bake stuff like cakes, muffins and croissants. I have also planted daffodils and roses. I have made multiple bird boxes with my dad out of recycled materials like wood from old furniture and plastic from old pipes. I have painted a couple of pictures as well.

The worst thing about being in lockdown is that I cannot visit my Nana who lives by herself in Derry. I also can’t visit my Granny who lives in Greencastle because she has just had a big operation at the hospital so this means I can’t visit her in case she gets Covid-19.

Another bad thing about being in lockdown is that I am very bored because I cannot visit any of my friends and I can’t hang out with them and play stuff like football and GAA. Another negative aspect is that I cannot go to school and interact with my friends and teachers. I do miss going to school because I believe that I learn better in school than I do at my house. I also miss playing football at break time with my friends. But I am now excited to be going back to school on April 12.

Another thing that is bad about being in lockdown is that my football and Gaelic training have been cancelled and therefore there is nothing for me to do during the week. Another thing that is a disadvantage about having no training is that my fitness level has gone down a lot.

In conclusion, I hope Covid will continue to fade and that everyone’s lives will go back to normal and I also hope that my life will go back to normal so I can finish experiencing my childhood before I go into adulthood.

I also hope I can visit my Nana and my Granny who are isolating in their houses by themselves. I also hope when I go back to school next year we won’t have to wear masks in classes and we will be allowed to mix with one another.

I just hope that everyone will listen to the guidelines that have been given by the government and we will get through these tough times in our lives.

Leon, 16

If you asked me, in December 2019, to guess what would happen over the next year, I can guarantee you I would not have gotten a single thing right.

I was due to take the Junior Cert exams in June, go on holiday abroad in August, and overall enjoy another very average year.

As we all know, a certain little thing intervened and none of those happened. Schools closed down and lockdown began in March, lasting well through the rest of the school year.

At the time I joked about it, glad that I didn’t need to go through the stress of counting the dreadful days until the examinations started, and later the wait for my results.

Instead we got predicted grades, based on our mock exam results and other, in-school tests — for me, truly a blessing.

That was the first lockdown. Thankfully, schools reopened in September, and all was well until Christmas when the entire country decided to pretend Christmas spirit made you immune to disease, and plunged us into another one.

The first lockdown wasn’t too bad. The status quo was still an interesting novelty, one worth discussing, speculating and joking about all the time. But by this lockdown, it has gotten very, very, old.

Optimism has given way to despair, to the realisation that most people are stupid, selfish brutes who care about nobody other than themselves and are incapable of following simple instructions for the simple reason that they couldn’t be bothered to unless threatened with the iron fist of the law.

Eagerness to grow up and see the exciting future has given way to an overwhelming fear of what dire times are to come, fear of the environmental and economic collapse that lies further down the road. Hopefulness that change for the better awaits has given way to outrage at the sight of how the rich become richer as the average person loses everything. But hey, everything will be just fine, because that’s how it always ends up in the stories, right?

I’m tired of watching the world ready itself for collapse, I can’t even pretend that all is well from the safety and comfort of my home. Everywhere I go on the internet, every day of online school, I am reminded of the pandemic. Everything we do or are told to do is in some way related to this mess, from writing this very piece to being given tips every week on how to cope and having to walk/jog 50 miles this month for PE.

I envy previous Transition Year students because they got a full year of plentiful activities, but, most importantly, because the things they did in school were related to normal, everyday life. I understand that our teachers have honest, good intentions and genuinely wish to keep us sane during these times and I appreciate it, but it is getting very tiring, especially since I do significantly more schoolwork now than when schools were open and have less free time.

I cannot wait to return to school. I cannot wait to get vaccinated and for this pandemic to be over. But I don’t think things will ever be as good as they were.

Since 2008, things have only gotten progressively worse, and I feel that this trend will continue throughout our lives. Our generation is, for lack of a better word, doomed, and this is only the first sign we are old enough to see.