Ireland day 0269. Friday 24 June 2022- PSLC

Today’s summary	Walked down to Portmarnock leisure centre for a swim then walked back up the coast. Spent the afternoon dealing with admin matters then out to Lucan in evening for dinner with a college friend
Today’s weather	Overcast and cool. Threatened to rain all day but never actually did. Strong southerly wind. Appx 16C

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The green 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): Walk to and from Portmarnock Leisure Centre swim Click here to download TCX file of swim: Portmarnock Leisure Centre swim TCX file

Commentary

Apart from not drowning, the two hardest things to do in the swimming pool are – firstly – stopping your goggles leaking and – secondly – trying to remember how many lengths you have done. Today I had a problem with the first point, which cascaded into a problem with the second.

The day had started well enough, with a video call back to a friend in the UK. We were finished by 10 am and I thought that rather than attempt any more epic walks today, I would retreat onto more familiar territory with a swim down at the Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Club (hence the PSLC in the title to this blog). So once I had done the hoovering and yet another load of washing, I got my stuff together and pottered off down the road to the pool.

It was a nice sunny day when I left and I think in an obtuse sort of way that contributed to my problems in the pool. I always have problems with leaky goggles and the best solution I have been able to find lately has been to use a pair of extremely unflattering things that look more like ski goggles than something you would normally see in a pool – but at least their wrap around type design (you can see them pictured below) usually seems to render them waterproof. Except that today they weren’t. By the time I had done just one length it was like swimming with an aquarium pressed against my eyeball, so I stopped, adjusted the goggles and did another length. The same thing happened again.

By the time I had done four or five lengths, I decided a more full scale re-evaluation of the situation was called for. Eventually I figured out that probably the cause was the sun cream that I had put on before I came out, which despite having had a shower before getting in the pool, was covering my face in a thin film of grease (I hate sun cream – its really slimy stuff and grossly over-rated in my view). So I rubbed my face vigorously in horrible chlorinated pool water to see if I could get it off. I did eventually manage to reduce the leak to a manageable level, but only after I had tightened the goggles so much that I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out.

Of course by this stage I had completely lost track of how many lengths I had done – which I find hard enough to do at the best of times, even without these leaky interruptions. So I guessed where I thought I was up to, subtracted a couple for good measure and started counting again.

Eventually I reached my target of 40 lengths (which could actually have been 39 – or 41, or 42 for that matter) and stopped so I could remove the goggles before they could do any permanent damage. I got out looking rather like a panda that had had an argument in a bar, got changed and consoled myself with a cup of coffee and an almond croissant.

Once I had completed my hydronautical gymnastics in the pool, I walked back up the coast to Malahide to spend the rest of the afternoon trying to unlock the digital certificate which allows me access to the Irish online tax system. Needless to say this took eighteen times as long as it should have, but eventually I triumphed and called it a day at 6pm.

Except that the day wasn’t quite done yet. This evening, I did have a treat lined up for myself – dinner with a college friend who was visiting Ireland, and staying tonight over in Lucan. I’m just back from dinner now (though the return wasn’t entirely straightforward for reasons I’ll explain in a minute) after a really enjoyable evening. I hadn’t seen my friend for over a year, and I must admit I really enjoyed catching up and seeing a familiar face. I think he enjoyed seeing me, too, though I did notice he eyes glazing over a bit when I started trying to explain the convolutions of the Battle of Clontarf. If I’m not careful, I could become a history bore, which would be a serious concern.

And the evening’s sting in the tale? Well, Malahide Castle is doing its concert thing again and tonight was playing host to Dermot Kennedy. Sadly – or maybe not, depending on your point of view – I missed eavesdropping on his gig as I was out in Lucan while he was playing. But when I got back, about 20,000 people were all simultaneously decant themselves out of the castle demesne and onto Malahide railway station so as a consequence the Gardai had closed off all the roads in the area.

The upshot of all this commotion was that I couldn’t drive back to the flat and I had to park the car in a nearby side-street and then walk the last few hundred meters back. So now it’s just gone midnight and I can hear the crowds still heading for the station. I’m hoping that once the last train goes in a few minutes, the roads will reopen so I can go and collect the car. I really don’t want to leave it there all night as it’s on a double yellow line and the traffic wardens are pretty diligent around here.

You’ll just have to tune in tomorrow to find out what happened next!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


A pleasant bright and breezy morning in summery Malahide when I set off	En route to the swimming pool at the Leisure Centre. This signpost keeps reminding me that I need to write something about the fascinating history of the GAA, at some point

Yes I know they look hideous but these are my swimming goggles. Usually they don’t leak but today they did. Really annoying and took precious milliseconds from my record beating pace in the pool	A sound response to the cost-of-living crisis, I thought – metal detecting on the beach. Probably more in hope of finding lost euros that have fallen out of people’s pockets while swimming than a hoard of buried treasure, but you never know.

Tide well out today, exposing the bedding planes of the Lower Carboniferous limestones very nicely	The narrow channel across the Broadmeadow outlet at the end of Malahide estuary, looking across to the Donabate peninsula

Here’s the PSLC – Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Centre – in all its glory.