Ireland day 0008. Wednesday 06 October 2021- Busy

Ireland day 0008. Wednesday 06 October 2021- Busy
Today’s summary Started off intending to take the train and have a stroll around Malahide; ended up having to make hasty dash into Dublin to pick up papers
Today’s weather Grey in the morning, drizzly rain on and off all afternoon, a glimpse of sun in the evening.   About 15C
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Today’s overview location
(the red cross in a circle shows where Val and I are at the moment)
Close-up location
Commentary

Quite a tiring day today, actually.

We had already spent the morning on the phone to accountants and estate agents, trying to sort out the various hurdles to finding a more permanent place to live here.   It’s hard work and everything seems to depend in a sort of circular way on having a permanent address.   The contortions of the process have certainly given me a good deal more sympathy for anyone who is trying to do all this in a less welcoming country, and probably also in a foreign language.

So after a morning of bureaucracy we decided to give ourselves a suitable reward.   In this case we agreed a train ride from near(ish)-by Balbriggan down the coast to Malahide, on the outskirts of Dublin, would be appropriate.   We duly made the journey in record time and had just settled down with a cup of coffee in Malahide when we got a call from our accountant saying he had some papers we needed to pick up from his office in Dublin.   So we hot-footed it back to the station and managed to flag down a train that was just about to pull out – well Val banged so hard on the train door that the driver couldn’t help but stop  and open the doors to let us in.   An impressive performance all round.

A quick whiz round Dublin on the tram saw us successfully collect the papers, then we dashed straight back to the station and out to Malahide again (we weren’t in a city-type of mood so didn’t linger in Dublin).   We finished off our interrupted coffee and then had a good look around Malahide, and en route stumbled across the remarkably incongruous Irish model railway museum.   There is doubtless a fascinating story behind this curiosity, which we will have to explore some other day.

We took the train back at the end of our visit feeling we had accomplished a lot, and quietly impressed with Malahide.   It will definitely merit a follow up visit in the near future.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

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Our train from Balbriggan to Malahide this morning The world famous hosiery factory in Balbriggan.   Smyth & Co. made underwear for the Tsarina of Russia and Queen Victoria, apparently.   
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LUAS tram speeding us to our hasty appointment in Dublin Back in Malahide visiting Ireland’s most famous model railway museum!
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A real DART train at Malahide station Downdown Malahide sporting an almost Mediterranean feel this evening
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At Dublin Connolly station on our way back to Malahide.   I think I am beginning to detect a bit of a railway theme here
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