“Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes, how do you measure, measure a year?”

So go the opening lines of the opening song in the musical Rent.

Seasons of Love was one of the songs that went viral this year, as people recorded versions on Zoom.

We in Ireland are approaching the 525,600-minute mark since the first lockdown.

It’s difficult to measure the year gone by. Sociologists will spend decades unpicking what we’ve just lived through.

The three lockdowns have tested us in countless ways, and have changed everyday life forever in ways we won’t understand for some time.

For whenever we re-emerge into normal activity, it will be a new normal.

For farming and rural people, lockdown has been about isolation. We may not have to cope with the cramped and claustrophobic circumstances of many urban dwellers, but a new appreciation of space and fresh air has developed, particularly during the glorious early summer weather of the first lockdown.

Loneliness

Against that, loneliness has been a growing problem across the countryside in recent years, with many people working and/or living alone.

This has been heightened during the pandemic.

The simple act of going to school, church, pitch or pub has been taken away from people. Zoom calls can only go so far in filling the void.

Of course, there have been profound changes to working life as well. For many farmers, their work is their life, and much of their social interaction comes through work. For them, the loss of the mart has been a hammer blow.

The local merchant or co-op see little chit-chat, and what little takes place is through masks at distance, a pale imitation of pre-coronavirus convention.

Online marts have been a huge success. Even when rings are packed with people, an online dimension to sales will continue.

The same is true of farmer meetings and seminars.

Seasons of Love was written in the shadow of the AIDS epidemic in New York.

While we in Ireland have lost much through the lockdowns, in the US, one person has died for every one of those 525,600 minutes. Whatever we’ve had to do, it’s been worth it to save lives. And we will have to keep on doing it until the vaccine has protected us as a society.

Meanwhile, we could do worse than to think of the person near us most in need of a chat, and call around, even if it’s only across a gate and with masks on.

Time isn’t the only thing that can be measured in different ways. Small acts of kindness can be priceless, even lifesaving.