evidence: It was also a time to discover my own local area. I had been living in south Belfast on and off since 1996 and moved to my current home in 2013. But I hadn’t really done much local exploring. In the past I was drawn more to the uplands and coast. Apart from the local highlights, I had overlooked many nice little hidden gems that were easily walkable from my own front door. One big local discovery, for me at least, was Ned’s Meadow, part of the National Trust’s Minnowburn property. I visited it one day when the field was a spectacular display of giant daisies. [...] Apart from a week-long holiday in Galway in mid-August, my family and I had stayed exclusively in Northern Ireland, mostly south Antrim and north Down. Even during times of eased restrictions, we chose to live in near-lockdown conditions, staying within south Belfast for more than 95% of the time. Just because you CAN do something or go somewhere, doesn’t mean that you MUST. While others pushed all the way to their permitted boundaries, we kept our movements to the absolute minimum.