Ireland day 0694. Wednesday 23 August 2023- Airport Gym and Cricket *

Ireland day 0694. Wednesday 23 August 2023- Airport Gym and Cricket

Today’s summary	Took Val to the airport first thing then went to the gym. Spent a couple of hours sorting out some email account issues then went for a walk through the demesne and along the coast. Cricket abandoned because of rain
Today’s weather	Bright and sunny in the morning, overcast dull and wet in the afternoon, sunny again in the evening. Light southerly wind. Appx 18C

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The orange 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): Demesne and coast after the rain

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Val has a few personal commitments to deal with in the UK over the next few days, so my first job this morning was to deliver her to the airport. Fortunately this time there was no power cut, so the gates worked and we got there with plenty of time.

Once I got back I started doing a bit of work continuing to sort out the various email accounts that I have accumulated, and half of which don’t work properly. Its tedious and time consuming stuff but incrementally making progress, I think. It’s not as stressful as doing tax returns, thank goodness!

Eventually I had had enough of computer-y stuff and decided to go to the gym for a bit of exercise. I thoroughly enjoyed it but by the time I came out at about 1:30pm, the weather had changed completely – after the fine sunny dry start, it had clouded over and was now raining steadily. So I rushed back to the flat, had a late lunch and then did a bit more work on my email accounts.

Finally I had done as much as I could, and it looked like it had stopped raining, so I logged off the computer, got my waterproof jacket, and headed over to the demesne to see what was happening with the cricket match over there. Sadly, the answer was “not a lot”. There was a big crowd milling about but no sign of activity on the pitch. I could see officials desperately trying to dry the grass in the middle, but it must have been to no avail because a few minutes later, I heard the loudspeakers announce that play had been abandoned for the day. What a shame.

Anyway I walked on past the rapidly evacuating cricket ground and down through the demesne to the Dublin Road exit. From there I headed on down through the Seabury estate, along to the coast and then back in a rapidly clearing evening, to the flat.

Now it’s time for tea – some very nice salmon and sushi rice that Val made before she left, and then perhaps I’ll watch a bit of Netflix. The time seems to be flying by!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


*Impressive Arum maculatum* fruiting body in the Casino grounds. The bit with berries is about 10cm high**	Malahide was looking beautiful this morning. The sunshine didn’t last, however

Disconsolate security guards outside the cricket were telling everyone that play was about to start in ten minutes	The match officials appeared to be valiantly trying to hoover the grass dry. Evidently they didn’t succeed though as about five minutes later, despite the guards’ assurances, the Tannoy announced that play had been abandoned for the day

Stunning floral display outside the Milford estate, as usual	Lambay island still enshrouded in rainy mist, looming behind the railway causeway

Magnificent heron on the shore of the Broadmeadow lagoon, looking frozen in time