My first draft of this week’s column was consigned to the bin. Feedback received was “that’s a bit of a whinge fest”. That was a fair reflection, I admit on re-reading.

My frustration resulted from a three-county search, over two days, to find football boots for the girls where nothing turned out to be actually “as advertised”.

I am all for personal responsibility so I accept that the weekend before the commencement of Cúl Camp was not the weekend to be looking to buy football boots.

And granted, the last year has been exceptionally difficult for many retailers which has led to more competitive marketing, but false promotion is a bug bear of mine.

While in shop number five on day two, at the register, I sensed my child’s anxiousness as I debated the fact that I was not getting the advertised deal

Aside from the fact that my whinging was not well received, a few other things happened that sent me back to the drawing board and reminded me that it really wasn’t worth getting wound up about.

While in shop number five on day two, at the register, I sensed my child’s anxiousness as I debated the fact that I was not getting the advertised deal. I don’t want her memories of Cúl Camp to be tarnished over the few euro that I was losing out on. Furthermore, the lady on the till was most likely not in any way responsible for the error on the coding on the label causing the issue.

A little patience will hopefully see retailers, restaurants and pubs back at full tilt very soon

People are returning to their jobs this week in the hospitality service in their thousands. Many employers are finding it hard to get staff and so are under-resourced, adding to the pressure on existing staff. A little patience will hopefully see retailers, restaurants and pubs back at full tilt very soon.

Other articles in this week’s edition also served as a “don’t be whinging” reminder. On the way into Carlow (county three) on Sunday I spotted a big poster wishing luck to the county’s Olympians. There is no mistaking that this Olympics is not what they dreamed of, with COVID-19 robbing both athletes and supporters of much of the pomp and ceremony. That does not, however, take away from the achievement of those who earned the right to participate. According to our sports columnist, Denis Hurley, the number of humans to achieve this is only 0.0013% of the population. It also does not take away from the efforts of those that just missed out. For this week’s cover feature, Anne spoke with boxer Christina Desmond about how she is managing that particular disappointment and planning for 2024.

We continue our holidaying at home travel series which is in east Clare and the Burren this week. In doing this, I had the pleasure of meeting Áine and Brendan Sweeney for our Making Our Family Farms Work series.

Brendan and Aine Sweeney with their children Padraig and Aoife relaxing outside the Deer pod. \ Odhran Ducie

They have, despite the challenges of the pandemic moved into tourism in east Clare, erecting two glamping pods on their beef farm. It was the email that I received from Áine on my return from Carlow, explaining that her own mental health was a factor in this change of enterprise that made me reflect again on my whine. We have printed her email, in her own words.

Dia and Raine McKeever in the Cúl Camp gear (in advance of the football boot purchase) in Co Clare at Kilbane Glamping.

This series aims to show the struggles associated with making a business viable. I want to thank Áine for her honesty in adding these additional details.

I collected the girls after Cúl Camp on Monday. Dia came running over and stood straight down on my flip-flopped foot with the brand new football boots. That’s what I get for whinging – karma.

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Are there more buzzards about or was I just oblivious to what’s around me?

Not all children or mothers are born equal