Well, what else were you supposed to be doing to pass time..?

It seems many of us opted to pass the time during the lockdown in bed – at least, we did if the predictions by the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street are to be believed. According to the Dublin-based maternity hospital, there has been an increase in the number of women contacting them to register pregnancies, with the hospital now predicting a 10 percent rise in births early next year. Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast this week, Mary Brosnan, the director of midwifery and nursing at Holles Street, spoke about what they're expecting early next year. "If you compare last January to 2021 coming... it looks certainly we will be up 10 percent on that month. But I wouldn't say 10 percent for the full year." She continued: "I don't know if you can entirely say [it's down to COVID]. It's very much an interesting phenomenon... any time there's any big event, people kind of predict nine months later... and think whether that'll be related. "But certainly from March and April [this year]... we will be expecting next January and February to be quite busy." It looks like Brosnan and her colleagues will have little time to relax in the early new year.