Visiting family, seeing the sites and being able to head off in the car.
They’re among the priorities for some KCLR listeners as restrictions ease a little further today.
You can now travel outside of your county while public transport increases to 50% capacity though those seeking to avail of such transport are asked to try and do so during off-peak hours.
Hair & Beauty
Hairdressers and barbers are reopening, including D&M hair and beauty in Ballinkillen Co Carlow. It’s run by cousins Daphne and Mandy Williams and they’re very excited to welcome back their customers.
Speaking to KCLR news Daphne said “Myself and Mandy my co-owner of the business are so excited to open, we’re both nervous as well after being closed for so long, but so excited to get back to normal, I think everyone is so excited to get back to some sort of normality, just back into a routine and just getting to talk to everyone has been amazing again .
Daphne adds that she and Mandy took a leap of faith during the pandemic and opened their hair and beauty salon and, while the road’s been rocky it has certainly being a successful venture so far, noting “That was very nervewracking, obviously not knowing whether we’re going to be staying open or whether we’re going to close again, unfortunately, we didn’t get long, we got six weeks at the start and then we were closed again and then we got just four weeks, the month of December, it was crazy, we were so overwhelmed that it was so busy, especially for a new business and we’re just hoping that everything will go well now once we’re back open again and it stays going that way”.
Shopping
Click and collect retail returns with the chance to visit shops by appointment.
Colin Rea of Reas Stores in Bagenalstown has been telling KCLR News that he and his crew are looking forward to seeing customers again and says”We’ve all our plans in place, obviously this is our third time to kind of organise ourselves for reopening, obviously the 17th is the big one, but people can ring us up on our phone number 059 9721297 and they can make an appointment to come in or they can contact us via Facebook or email us either, we’ll be there between 9 and 6″.
He adds “I suppose the biggest thing is you’d have to change to adapt with our social, we always did social media but if anything it’s become more important because you’re trying to stay in the heads of customers and if you’re doing the videos you’re trying to nearly get the product as close as you can to the camera to show them what the quality is and the feel and I think that’s the big thing when people are back out shopping it’ll be to come in and feel the clothes, feel the hurling grip and the hurl”.
Sport
Up to 15 can also take part in outdoor gatherings or for training outdoors.
AXA Bike Rides in Kilkenny are back too, leader Helena Kelly Maye is a leader with the group based in Thomastown and she says “It’s an initiative that came about which was an amalgamation or a coming together or Cycling Ireland along with the AXA insurance group and it was to encourage and promote having more people out cycling in, you know, cycling for leisure”.
“I’m based in Thomastown but I can do my cycles anywhere around the county and then we have three more leaders in Kilkenny, in the city as well, so Kilkenny is very well looked after in relation to AXA community bike rides”.
While JP Treacy of Patric Fitness in Bagenalstown Co Carlow is very excited to see people back for his outdoor training area.
He says “We’re going to be doing outside classes, we have the marquee set up from last Summer time, we’ve laid down flooring as astroturf in the marquee as well to keep it nice and soft underfoot and we’re going to start off with just spin classes outdoor today, so it’s going to have one spin class in the morning and one spin class in the evening, for the first week we’re going to take it nice and light so we’re going to have seven or eight classes for the whole week and we’re going to limit them to ten people on the bikes first, just to ease people back into it, see how they feel with ten people see how it looks with ten people and go from there then”.
Other
Also from today galleries, museums and other cultural attractions are open.
50 mourners can attend a funeral service while up to the same amount can also attend a wedding ceremony, though that reduces to six for the reception if indoors and 15 if outdoors.
You can have a maximum of three households to your garden, or six people from any number of households.
Full roadmap here
