Ireland day 1076. Sunday 08 September 2024- Shingles Stasis

Today’s summary	Leisurely start to the day with some admin in the morning then poached eggs in toast for lunch. We walked out to Centra in the afternoon and had tea overlooking the lagoon. Leftovers for dinner then final episodes of “Boomers” and “The Hour” in the evening. Shingles not much different from yesterday but no painkillers for 36 hours.
Today’s weather	Overcast, cool and grey with a brief shower in the morning. Moderate to strong north westerly wind. Appx 17c.

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange 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): Coast and Shingles stasis

Commentary

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

It’s funny how much the weather can affect how you feel. Whereas yesterday we were bright and sunny, just like the weather, today’s cold grey outlook definitely had a slightly depressive impact on the mood of both of us. Also, my shingles doesn’t seem to have changed much from yesterday – the spots have faded a bit more perhaps, but my left shoulder still hurts. Still, I’ve managed 36 hours without painkillers, so I’m taking that as a good sign.

Anyway, once we had eventually extracted ourselves from the seductive luxury of tea in bed, we got down to business. Once again, I had some admin to attend to this morning, while Val got on with some household chores. Then, as we were enjoying a late morning cup of coffee, we spotted a couple of bluetits hopping around on the new bird feeder I installed on our balcony last week. It’s taken them quite a few days to find it, but hopefully they will become regular visitors.

After lunch of poached eggs on toast, we decided to venture out and make the best of the rather grey day. We dithered for a while about where to go, but eventually settled on our go-to demesne and lagoon walk. We paused, of course, for tea (and Maltesers) from Centra while we admired the view.

After our refreshments, we quickly returned to the flat as it was getting quite cool for those of us (i.e. me) wearing shorts and the weather looked like it might rain. In the end, it stayed dry and actually brightened up a little, but we were quite glad to get in from the chill nevertheless.

I guess that because I didn’t take my daily dose of paracetamol yesterday, I didn’t sleep so well last night. Whatever the reason, I felt quite tired when we got back so I actually put my feet up for a few minutes and even briefly fell asleep! Val, meanwhile, watched some TV then we had a quick supper-y type dinner of all the leftover edible things we could find in the fridge.

The evening was rounded off with the final episodes of “Boomers” and “The Hour”. We have enjoyed them both even though they are over ten years old now. Highly recommended.

Let’s hope for sunshine tomorrow and sound sleep tonight!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Slowly improving, I think. The last dose of antivirals is tomorrow morning, then it’s all down to my antibodies!	*Lords-and-Ladies (Arum maculatum) looking magnificent in the hedgerow outside the Casino*

The main span of the new greenway viaduct over the lagoon appears to be finished. I guess the focus will be on connecting it up to cycleways on either coast now	*Old Ban’s Beard (Clematis vit-alba) in the making. A bit late in the season, I’d have thought, but I haven’t researched the life-cycle closely*



The new tenants of our balcony. Hoping many more join them