Hi there,

Been a while :-)

I’ve been living with Long Covid since March 2021. I have to say it’s been a bit of a rough ol’ ride. I’ve decided to speak a bit about what it has meant for me. You are very welcome to listen x

⚠️ Contains strong language
⛔ Probably not suitable for little ears
(NB I accidentally cut off the first half of the first word, which, for those of you who were wondering, was “hello”)


RECOMMENDED READING & LISTENING

Long Covid Resources

👀 What is Long Covid? (by Long Covid Physio Video Series):
https://longcovid.physio/long-covid-video-series/what-is-long-covid 
🎧 The Long Covid Sessions Podcast, with Noreen Jameel & Emily Kate Stephens:
https://www.tlcsessions.net 
📚 The Long Covid Handbook, by Gez Medinger & Prof. Danny Altmann:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/453380/the-long-covid-handbook-by-altmann-gez-medinger-and-professor-danny/9781529900125
🎧 The Long Covid Podcast, with Jackie Baxter
https://www.longcovidpodcast.com
🎧 Living with Long Covid Podcast, with Julie Taylor
https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/living-with-long-covid/id1609854872

ME/CFS

🔗 What is ME/CFS?
- https://www.actionforme.org.uk/get-information/what-is-me/what-does-me-feel-like/
- https://meassociation.org.uk/what-is-me-cfs/
✍️ History of ME?CFS: "It’s the greatest medical scandal of the 21st century" by George Monbiot:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/12/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-me-treatments-social-services 
👀 Brief history of ME/CFS in video, by Broken Battery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=AbIRPD_3JtY
👀 “UNREST”, a beautiful documentary about ME/CFS by Jennifer Brea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=XOpyLTyVxco

DYSAUTONOMIA & POTS

👀 What is POTS?
http://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/page.php?ID=30
How POTS discolouration can present on different skin colours:
https://twitter.com/PutrinoLab/status/1691027746829324293

✍️ Ed Yong (2023). Fatigue Can Shatter a Person, The Atlantic. (Free version here!):
https://archive.li/2023.07.27-111449/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2023/07/chronic-fatigue-long-covid-symptoms/674834/#selection-1225.1-1225.261
✍️ Davis, H.E., McCorkell, L., Vogel, J.M. et al. Long Covid: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations. Nat Rev Microbiol 21, 133–146 (2023):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2
✍️  Al-Aly, Z. & Topol, E., Solving the Puzzle of Long Covid. Science 383, 830–832 (2024):
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl0867

On Living with Long Covid

9. Love Song To A Bicycle

[based on Flann O’Brien: The Third Policeman (1967). Originally commissioned by Orlagh Kelly, The Reading Room Bookshop, Carrick on Shannon]

It was late one early afternoon, still bright, if a little dark, still night, if a little day, it was dawn, it was dusk, I was dead, that’s all I knew for sure. I wandered aimlessly along an old country road, aimlessly I wandered, aiming my aim at nothing, and I continued in this fashion until I was fashionably late in the early afternoon at dawn, at dusk, for nothing.

I was confused. How could anyone not be? It was a confusing situation. But then, suddenly, in the corner of my eye, something caught my attention which didn’t entirely displease me. It was a lady. No. It was a bicycle. 

I moved in for a closer look, and was immediately struck by the singular beauty of her silhouette as she leant awkwardly, lonelily, I thought, against the rusted iron gate. Oh I loved her then, I love her still, I will love her yesterday as I did tomorrow and the day after the week before: “I love you” I shouted to her, from the internal rooftops of my mind, for I had not yet found the courage to speak those sacred words aloud. And so internally I continued, and I continued as follows:

What do you say, babe? You and me, me and you, you and me, me and you? 
What do you say, babe? Would you be my love?

At this stage in the race, an element of doubt began to creep into my weary, weary bones. I was dead after all, she was a bicycle after all, it was unlikely, after all, that this.. was going to.. work. But who knows? Like Montague and Capulet, animate and inanimate, who knows? And why not? In any case, being dead, I wasn’t entirely animate anyway - inadequately animate at best. And though it’s true she was entirely adequately inanimate, an object, she was hardly. “I would never objectify you, our love is pure, our love is true”, I shouted to her from the internal rooftops of my mind, and I continued as follows:

What do you say, babe? You and me, me and you, you and me, me and you? 
What do you say, babe? Would you be my love?

At this point in the proceedings, it came to my attention that while my internal monologue passionately raged, for all my love knew, for all my new love knew, I had some sort of medical staring issues. I panicked: “Oh Christ, how long had I been there? Oh Christ, what was I at? Oh Christ, what if she thinks I’m a weirdo?”. But no, my love she looked at me, my love she looked at me, she looked, her eyes, absent, from not having any, but still she looked at me, she looked at me and said: “Come, come, come, come”. So I moved a little closer and this is what she said: I think this is what she said:

What do you say, babe? You and me, me and you, you and me, me and you? 
What do you say, babe? Would you be my love?

And I said: “consider it done”.
__________________________________________
Ailie Blunnie: Piano, Vocal, Electric Guitar
Daragh Dukes: Percussion
Aideen Rickard: Backing Vocals, Trombone
Vyvienne Long: Cello
Neville Lloyd: Double Bass

Music & Lyrics by Ailie Blunnie
Produced by Daragh Dukes, Limerick
Mastered by Richard Dowling at Wav Mastering, Limerick

Love Song To A Bicycle

Ailie Blunnie

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