Ireland day 0259. Tuesday 14 June 2022- Killers
Today’s summary | Admin tasks all day then attended a Zoom lecture on the geology of Oman and finished off with an evening walk round the castle demesne to listen in on the Killers concert | ||||
Today’s weather | Mostly dry, with some sunny intervals. Still feeling unseasonably cold. No wind. About 15C | ||||
Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route) |
Close-up location (The green line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Killers Malahide castle demesne walk |
Commentary
It’s really quite amazing how many interesting things you can do for free, if you happen to be in the right place at the right time. And fortuitously today was a day when a couple of those opportunities presented themselves. I say fortuitously because Val and I had spent the best part of nine hours ploughing through a pile of paperwork and admin tasks so by the time 7pm came around, we were badly in need of some light relief.
Luckily, Zoom once again came to our rescue, in the form of a lecture on the geology of Oman, laid on by the alumni association of my old university. I even persuaded Val to join the audience so we spent an enjoyable hour learning about the Semali ophiolite beds, isotropic gabbros, and dunites with chromite pods. And there were even a couple of rudist formations thrown in for good measure. What more could you ask for. Even though I perhaps understood one word in a hundred, I really enjoyed it.
The main take-away for me from the lecture was that the geology was exceptionally well exposed in Oman (there’s hardly any vegetation cover and not much soil, because it’s so dry) but also extraordinarily complex. It has been well mapped and interpreted by the oil companies, for obvious reasons, and by Shell in particular. If nothing else, the photos of the mountains and coasts of Oman were spectacular. About as different from Ireland as you could possibly get. One day we will visit, I’m sure. Though we will have to do some concerted saving first, I’m afraid
Leaving Oman after an hour, we transported ourselves in short order from the sublime to the ridiculous, which was in full swing just paces from our front door. The cause of the commotion was a concert by the Killers, going on tonight and tomorrow, in the castle grounds across the road from our flat. By the time the lecture had finished, we could clearly hear that the warm-up act was finishing so we thought we’d nip over the road to see if we could get a glimpse of the rock gods in action, without actually having to pay.
As you might imagine, the demesne was heaving with excited concertgoers. The Malahide demesne is a popular venue for big name bands to make a summer appearance, and the castle crew have clearly got a well oiled operation as they efficiently and quickly deploy fencing, screening, crowd control measures and even a couple of temporary mobile phone masts. We walked right round the perimeter and got as close as we could to the stage, to see if we could catch what was going on.
In the end we finished up on “Paupers’ Hill” – a small grassy mound near where the main entrance gates to the venue are situated. From the top, you and all the other cheapskates like you who were too tight-fisted to pay €75 each for a ticket jostle together, necks craning, to spy the stage. Actually, the view isn’t too bad, if you use your imagination, and the sound is good too. Tonight it was quite a decent evening, but still feeling cold so we stayed for a couple of numbers then returned to the flat for a late dinner.
So now I’m writing this as the dying strains of Mr Brightside come floating in through our sitting room window and the buses outside line up to take the revellers home. Tomorrow, it’s a repeat performance and then later in June there are at least another six gigs taking place in the castle. I shall be a seasoned rock aficionado by the end of the summer, I am sure. Though whether I will enjoy it all or not is still open to debate, I think.
(By the way, if you want my one word critique of the Killers’ performance tonight I’d say “perfunctory”. To my ears, it sounded like they were going through a very standard set, and with somewhat low energy. They didn’t seem to be working the crowd engagement very hard – but then again I wasn’t properly at the venue, so it’s hard to judge how it was actually received inside).
Today’s photos (click to enlarge)
Interactive map
(Elevations corrected at GPS Visualizer: Assign DEM elevation data to coordinates )
Max elevation: 27 m
Min elevation: 4 m
Total climbing: 109 m
Total descent: -109 m
Total time: 01:59:35