HANDS up if you are tired of hearing about that funeral? Michelle O'Neill must surely be regretting her attendance, though I'm not sure if republican funerals are something you can RSVP with a "no thanks."
These events are usually about a lot more than sympathy with the bereaved. They show a movement which can still muster a massive display of public support and that's a clear message to the dissidents about who is really in charge.
The white shirts and black ties were a nod to a military past most of us would prefer to forget, though a big improvement on balaclavas. And at least there was no traditional volley of shots. But was it worth the hassle and more than a week of this single story dominating the headlines?
It's always hard to assess how such events really play in the republican heartland as the Sinn Féin base remains loyal and Michelle O'Neill will surely not be blamed for observing the honours expected for someone of Bobby Storey's stature in the movement.
But some people would say it smacks of arrogance and elitism. And those who face sanctions for taking part in the Black Lives Matter protest recently certainly have cause for complaint.
If she hadn't turned up in person, she would still be facing flak and calls for her to condemn her party colleagues for their attendance. And the motion supported by the other four parties at the Assembly on Tuesday, condemning O'Neill and Conor Murphy for taking part, was little more than a sham fight which everyone knows produced only sound and fury, signifying nothing.
However, had she taken the diplomatic route, stayed away and left attendance to other party members, it would have made it easier for her to continue to stand beside Arlene Foster to announce any changes to Covid restrictions or indeed, their re-introduction if there is a further surge in the autumn.
It looks like Stormont is going to have to adopt the Downing Street style of using other ministers or public health officials to front up the briefings instead. That's a pity, because it was good to have the two first ministers, side by side, apparently in tune on the unprecedented health and economic crisis facing us. Even if it was an optical illusion.
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THERE was another funeral a few weeks ago. Paddy Cassidy, who had severe spinal injuries after being shot in a loyalist attack in 1971, died without getting the pension for which he and other victims have been campaigning for many years. He went to his grave without ever receiving the support he was due from the state. Now that is a scandal.
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SO, THE further easing of lockdown allowed me to re-engage with my hidden shallows. I wasn't rushing for the pub but I did go on a coffee shop crawl the first day they re-opened. And I'm also typing this with lovely red nails and no grey roots.
The hairdressers' was a bit strange. The visor-wearing stylists looked like they were planning to do a bit of welding on the side, though mine was polite about my DIY fringe looking as if it had been cut with a knife and fork.
The wearing of masks combined with the noise of hairdryers doesn't allow for much in the way of conversation though. There was no coffee and no gossip magazines so I will be mercifully unaware of the latest news from the Kardashians – apart from Kim's husband, Kanye West running for president, of course. Krikey.
But sure, why not? Aren't we well used to egomaniacs in the White House?
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I WAS delivering leaflets in the neighbourhood about a proposal to close the Ormeau Road to traffic for a few weekends to allow cafes and shops to spread out onto the pavements to help increase business. I learned two things:
1. People who have vertical letterboxes have never, ever worked delivering newspapers or the Christmas post and those who put theirs at the bottom of their door don't deserve any mail.
2: While many have beautifully cultivated front gardens, very few keep their brass door furniture polished. My late auntie Margaret would be appalled. She tended to judge her neighbours' domestic standards by their brasses. "Look at the state of those knockers," she would say, as we tittered childishly.
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ACTRESS Jamie Lee Curtis has tweeted that, just when you thought 2020 couldn't get any worse, the American Merriam Webster dictionary has officially recognised 'irregardless' as a word. There is truly no hope for that country.
