“It’s Been A Tough Year, It’s Just Great To Be Back Jumping On Cars & Setting Bins On Fire”

AS PART of the ‘WWN Voices’ series we offer a platform to people we really shouldn’t. This week is the turn of Jack Fannell, one of handful of teenagers who is wondering why the gardaí had to be so heavy handed when trying to stop him doing the things he enjoys doing with friends such as throwing bottles, beating people up and jumping on cars.

“Finally, I feel a sense that normality, so long denied from us all, has returned. I can’t quite put into words the unadulterated joy myself and the lads felt at the weekend, but we shared a wordless look between one another when we were trying to cave him the bonnet of a taxi, a look that said ‘the dark days are behind us’.

Much like anyone my age, Covid lockdowns has deprived us of so much. So many experiences older generations took for granted were completely interrupted by a global pandemic for me. But now, I feel each bright new day we all take a step closer to a post-Covid world, and we can grasp happiness and normality.

Well, that’s certainly what I felt when I tried kicking that lad in the head while he was on the ground. I honestly thought these days would never return.

I can’t tell how good it is to see restaurants and pubs open again, it seems bizarre in a way, doesn’t it? I never thought I’d be able to pick up outdoor seating and fuck it at shop windows again but finally after all the suffering, stress and worry, my life is able to regain some semblance of freedom and routine.

Lighting a bin on fire, encouraged by my mates, it was as if the lockdowns had never happened. I wasn’t just lighting a bin on fire, I was light the lockdowns of the past on fire. It was cathartic.

And just as the council had specially laid on these extra bins as a response to increased outdoor socialising, I specially laid on a bottle to the head for approaching gardaí as a response to having one too many alco-pops.

When I took my top off and shouting ‘I fucking dare you, you cunt’ to a pub owner trying to stop me starting fights outside his re-opened business, I privately shed a tear. Everything stolen from us thanks to Covid, had been returned”.