Ireland day 0118. Monday 24 January 2022- Aerobic

Today’s summary	Decided that I needed to get a bit more aerobic exercise so went on a run first thing. Spent rest of the day shopping and cooking and then failed to go to the airport to meet Val
Today’s weather	Another dry and bright day. Bright sun in morning., some cloud in afternoon. About 7C

Today’s overview location (the red cross in a circle shows where Val and I are at the moment)		Close-up location (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom): First run in Ireland

Commentary

When you move to a new country, there’s a lot of adjusting to do. Quite apart from all the bureaucracy you have to deal with, you have to make a big effort to meet people and to fit in. And to get used to living in a new place. It’s all a bit like your first day at school and although it’s a fantastic, enriching, experience and I’d recommend it to anyone, it can sometimes be a bit stressful.

I don’t know what readers of this blog normally do when they are feeling a bit under pressure, but if you are anything like me you tend to eat chocolate biscuits and crisps (not necessarily in that order). This is generally not a good thing because it makes you fat. And I have discovered to my alarm that this is happening to me. By prodding my stomach I have scientifically estimated that I have put on exactly a stone (14 lb / 6 kg) since we arrived in Ireland and today I decided that I needed to do something about it.

Up until the middle of last year, I was doing quite a lot of running, and very much enjoying it. I had set myself the goal of doing a half marathon in under 2 hrs – which I duly accomplished in June. Unfortunately since then my running has declined to almost zero. Partly because I had achieved my goal so didn’t have anything to work for, partly because I got paranoid about injuring my hips and knees (the last hip I had repaired cost £14,000 and I don’t really want to have to do that again), and partly because I got lazy. Anyway today I decided to get back on the road and try and elevate my heart rate – which has been languishing below 100 most of the time we have been here – and burn off some of that lard.

I really couldn’t think of any reason not to get out there and start straight away, as it was a bright sunny dry day, not too cool and just right for fresh air and exercise. Plus the fact that the Malahide Castle demesne offers a perfect grassy 4km course which was just what I needed – not too long and easy on the joints (sorry to sound like an old person here but I have to think about my bank balance). So I pulled on my running shoes, donned my shorts, and set off.

I surprised myself by really enjoyed the run – I took it slowly and it really wasn’t too painful. I have to say that I didn’t feel too bad afterwards, so I will probably give it another go in a day or two. And my scientific weight measurement test revealed that I had lost about 0.001g so I rewarded myself with a cup of coffee and a doughnut when I got back.

With my aerobic duties discharged, I could turn to the next important task of the day: Preparing Dinner. Val had said she’d like dinner ready when she got back this evening but had failed to specify exactly what she wanted. I had asked what she would thought she might like and she had come up with that bone-chilling phrase “oooh just something nice…” .

That didn’t really give me too much to go on so I thought I had better cover all possibilities and come up with a menu selection. I found a few bits of edible things in the fridge so decided they would probably be OK if I put some curry paste on them and added some chopped tomatoes (the critical ingredient for most things I make actually). That would make a reasonable main option but I also thought that, if like me Val was also contemplating introducing a healthy phase into her lifestyle, I needed to have something more vegetabley. That necessitated a trip to Supervalu to pick up the key ingredients (i.e. green coloured). So with lettuce in hand, as the curry was bubbling away, I assembled the components into a healthy option that even a rabbit wouldn’t turn its nose up at.

With all that completed, I thought I would just have time to catch the 102 bus over to the airport and be ready and waiting to meet Val off the plane. Unfortunately things didn’t quite work out that way. Remarkably her flight was 40 minutes early and simultaneously as that good news was received, my 102 sailed past the stop where I was waiting with “Out of Service” triumphantly displayed on its destination indicator. The next one wasn’t for half an hour which meant that Val would be hanging around for an hour at the airport for me to show up, and then another wait for the 102 bus, then 45 minutes on the bus itself. So we agreed to cut our losses and I will just meet her at the bus stop here in Malahide instead. If only we had a car..

And on the matter of the car, I know many readers are on the edge of their seats waiting for news of the fabled Yaris. I can report a little progress in that direction. It turns out that the office which issues replacement registration documents reopens for the first time in two years on Wednesday. So the online process the garage has been going through to replace the missing documents can be abandoned in favour of talking to a real person. So maybe later this week, we will have some positive news on this. But I’m not holding my breath.

So now it’s time to return to the bus stop to await Val’s arrival – and to learn what her all-important menu choice is to be. I just hope it’s not pizza.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Not looking my most rugged, I have to admit. But it was my first time out running for seven months so cut me a bit of slack!	This is where all good things in Malahide start – Supervalu. Extensive cruising the aisles was required to select all the ingredients for tonight’s menu (and I still managed to forget half of them so had to go back)

Menu option 1. Beef curry. Perfect for those who don’t like rabbit food	Menu option 2. Salad. Perfect for those of us who treat our bodies like temples

Curry in preparation. How Instagram is this?	Disaster! My bus to Dublin Airport was taken out of service! That meant I wasn’t there in time to meet Val. That’s the second time the 102 has been cancelled so I must remember ALWAYS to get one earlier than I actually need to. Annoyance and disappointment all round

Here’s a bit of a departure from the norm. You probably know that I am interested in all things geological (which is why living so close to a lead-zinc mine is so exciting!). For any readers who are a bit less familiar with the rocks and minerals beneath our feet, I thought the attached might be a handy reference guide for you.