Ireland day 1531. Sunday 07 December 2025- Masked

Today’s summary	Spent the morning cleaning and tidying the flat ready for Val’s return later this afternoon. Went on a short walk (with face mask) round the Demesne in the afternoon. Dinner with Val later on once she got back. We had the beef casserole I froze a few days ago. Light TV in the evening.
Today’s weather	Heavy rain and cloud until mid afternoon when it brightened up a bit. Strong westerly wind. Appx 10c

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): Masked flu recovery walk

Commentary

Well the main event today is Val’s return after a couple of weeks away on her travels. So, as I was feeling a little better this morning – though still tired and coughing quite a lot – I thought I better tidy the flat up a bit. I don’t want her to think I’ve been living in total squalor while she’s been away.

So I tidied, got rid of all the rubbish, hoovered everywhere, and opened the windows to let some fresh air in. It looks much more habitable now. I felt by this stage that I deserved a treat, so I made myself a cup of coffee, which I enjoyed with some biscuits and a small pot of jelly. Mmm, nice. Then I realised that I had a couple of hours before Val got back, and also that I was feeling very cooped up and lacking in fresh air. So I pulled on my waterproofs, donned a Covid-era facemask, and headed out into the rain.

I just decided to go on a short easy walk round one of our favourite circuits of the Demesne. I took it slowly as I still don’t have a lot of energy, but I enjoyed the feeling of being outside again. Although the facemask was an uncomfortable reminder of just how unpleasant the whole pandemic was. What a long time ago that seems! There were very few people about, presumably because of the rain, so maybe I needn’t have bothered with the mask. Anyway better to be safe I suppose.

When I got back, I was of course soaked – the overtrousers were, as expected, fairly useless and I really must get myself some new ones soon. Anyway I got out of the wet gear and had a hot shower straight away, before I could get cold. Then one final check round the flat and Val will be back by about 5 pm. I’ve got some of the beef casserole I made a few days ago out of the freezer, so we’re planning to have that with mashed potatoes and frozen peas for dinner. Comfort food!

It will be nice to have her here again so life can resume its normal pattern. But I’m glad she’s managed to escape the worst of my miserable coughing and spluttering, and hope she stays well for the rest of the winter.

PS I watched “Glass Onion” last night and it was OK. Probably not quite as good as “Knives Out” so I’d give it a firm 6 out of 10. But the Lucas T Jahn travel video on Montenegro was superb. Definitely a 9.5. If you haven’t checked out his YouTube channel and are an armchair travel junkie, it’s well worth a look

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Battling the wind and rain	Water, water, everywhere!

I was wrong to say in my blog the other day that I didn’t think the tree-ferns had been winterised. Clearly, they have been, as you can tell from the fleece covering the crown



Candlesnuff fungus (Xylaria hypoxylon) growing on a fallen tree trunk alongside the path. The incessant rain and lack of frost will certainly be helping it to grow – and accelerating the consequent decay of the tree. The cycle of life, again