MY P7 son's last day at school was Thursday March 19 and the following day he solemnly presented us with a list titled 'Things I would like to achieve by the time schools re-open'.
It was scrawled on the back of a scrap piece of paper with an earnest sincerity and simple ambition entirely appropriate for a boy on the eve of his 11th birthday.
There were just three items on the list:
1. Plenty of exercise each day.
2. Do loads of guitar and cello ('loads' is underlined, lest anyone be in doubt that this means 'loads and loads and loads...').
3. Do plenty of reading.
For good measure, though it could be he just wanted to fill the page, there's a second version of the list directly beneath this first.
On it, 'plenty of exercise' has morphed into 'get super fit' and there are several uses of the word 'awesome', as in 'get awesome at reading'.
Since then it has been on our kitchen notice board, where it hangs alongside photographs of family we've not seen for months and another list he wrote as his world closed in around him.
This is the 'things to pray for' list, and you can tell it's important because a different colour of felt tip has been used for each item -'my grandparents'; 'people with coronavirus and their friends and family'; 'people who work in the hospital'; 'the scientists', and so on.
Work on the 'what I want to achieve' list has progressed with admirable commitment during lockdown.
There has undoubtedly been loads of cello and guitar practice, often at the same time as far as I can tell, and the Harry Potter canon is getting an awesome amount of re-reading.
However, number one on the list - 'get super fit' - encountered difficulty this week.
Up to now, it has been pursued with energy and creativity, including filming a series of Joe Wicks-style workout videos for his cousins.
Rugby is his sport, though it's an obvious casualty of coronavirus - social distancing doesn't really apply in a game that features scrums and rucks.
The pandemic brought an abrupt end to the domestic rugby season and also meant my son's team's much anticipated first tour - to Cork during the Easter holidays - was cancelled, along with everything else.
The Bronco is a gruelling shuttle run, with cones placed at 20 metres, 40 metres and 60 metres, with the sprints repeated five times for a total distance of 1,200 metres. Beauden Barrett, one of world rugby's flying machines, turned up for training this week after two months of lockdown and promptly set a personal best Bronco time of four minutes and 12 seconds
So it was good news in our house when we heard that top-flight rugby is soon to return, albeit on the other side of the world in New Zealand.
Thanks to that country's notable success in tackling Covid-19, a new competition - Super Rugby Aotearoa - is due to begin on June 13.
This development led to renewed interest in how rugby players train, including something called the Bronco.
This is a gruelling shuttle run, with cones placed at 20 metres, 40 metres and 60 metres, with the sprints repeated five times for a total distance of 1,200 metres.
Beauden Barrett, one of world rugby's flying machines, turned up for training this week after two months of lockdown and promptly set a personal best Bronco time of four minutes and 12 seconds.
However, Barrett's time and the Bronco won't be under threat from this part of Ireland this summer.
While running at the weekend, my son 'went over' on his foot and, immediately before he collapsed, heard a loud snap... a trip to A&E revealed a fractured metatarsal and he is now wearing a fetching orthopaedic boot and whizzing around on crutches - less 'beat the Bronco', more 'lockdown limp'...
The boy's training regime has obviously been substantially altered by this unforeseen development, though if the last two months has taught us anything it is to be adaptable and resilient.
So he has drawn up a new list: 'TV shows I want to watch every episode of before school starts'.
1. Father Ted.
2. Outnumbered.
3. Ninja Warrior.
What could possibly go wrong?
