Ireland day 1257. Saturday 08 March 2025- Househusbanding

Today’s summary	Had a quick video call with Val first thing, then spent the rest of the morning doing yet more washing, hoovering, freezing (of the casserole I made yesterday) and shopping. After lunch (the last of the salmon), I did some more tidying up and finally managed to escape for a walk at about 3:30. Once back, I changed the sheets on the beds, had some casserole for dinner, watched some more Vancouver films and finished off with another call to Val before bed.
Today’s weather	Dry and bright with some sun. Light easterly wind. Appx 11c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Third time this week

Commentary

I feel to have been quite busy lately, without having much to show for my efforts. The nine loads of washing I’ve done over the last three days have been dried, folded and put away. The sheets have been changed on the beds but they look just the same as they did before. And OK I hoovered the flat today but unless you are an aficionado of floors, you’d never notice any difference.

So I resolved to try and make today the last day of major chores, so I could do something a bit more worthwhile with the coming week. That resolution did entail finishing off the last couple of loads of washing, and then dividing up and freezing the casserole I’d made yesterday. But I did set the day off on the right foot with an early morning call to Val which we enjoyed over our geographically separate cups of tea.

I had to go to the shops a couple of times to buy all the things I’d forgotten yesterday. But they say if you want something done, give it to a busy person. So I fitted it in, between the hoovering and the tidying up.

For lunch, I finished off the salmon I bought a couple of days ago, along with the last couple of the crispbreads. They have been a surprisingly successful combination, actually. I also had some of the papaya I’d been ripening for the last few days. It was delicious (but sadly the one I had for dinner, which I’d bought at the same time, was nowhere near as good).

By the time I’d had lunch, and fitted in some general tidying-up, it was almost 4pm and I was in danger of going stir-crazy. So I escaped for an all-too-brief while to do my favourite hill and coast circuit (showing a distinct lack of imagination as it’s the third time this week). It was an uneventful yet comfortably familiar walk – the most memorable feature was the giant earthworm that slithered across the track in front of me. It was so huge, I almost tripped over it(!)

I was back by about 5:30 so just had time to change the sheets on the beds before getting dinner ready. I had some of the casserole I made yesterday, along with a mountain of potatoes that I’d peeled, boiled and mashed before the rest of the chores started this morning. At this point I should just remark that I don’t know how Val managed to do all this stuff back in the day, while bringing up a family and holding down a high-powered job. Incredible. There’s no way I could do it now.

Well that just about rounded off my day. I spent the evening in much the same way as many others lately. A couple of videos from the Vancouver film festival, a bit more of my book and another call to Val before bed. It’s quite satisfying to have achieved a reasonable amount, but I’m definitely looking forward to having a more productive day tomorrow.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Lunch. NB if you were wondering what the jammy stuff on the oatcakes to the right is – it’s beer jelly (the yellowy spread) and red wine jelly (the red one) which I got at the Spanish shop in Capel Street on Monday. It’s very expensive, but delicious.	One of Portmarnock’s hidden grassy areas. This is the one just off Ashley Rise. I guess it’s not quite so well hidden now.

Toots trundling off on his travels	Dinner! Lamb casserole with mashed potatoes and peas. And a large cup of tea.



A tale of two papayas. They are two halves of two different fruit. The one on the right was lovely – soft, ripe and fragrant. The one on the left wasn’t – it was hard and woody. Not so nice at all!