Ireland day 1144. Friday 15 November 2024- UK Guests Day 6

Today’s summary	Our guests were concluding their genealogical investigations in Dublin today, so another early start was needed so they could get the 8am train. Once they had gone, Val and I had brunch and Val got ready to go to work. Once she was off, I went on my usual hill and coast walk. Our guests returned to Malahide about 4:30 and after some casserole for dinner, I took them to the airport. Catching up on the laundry in the evening
Today’s weather	Occasional bright spells and some drizzle. Very light south westerly wind. Appx 13c

Today’s overview location (The green 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): The Usual Hill And Coast Walk

Commentary

The primary purpose of our guests’ visit to Ireland since last Sunday, has been to investigate some Irish family ancestry, which interestingly is linked both to a former senior employee at Guinness, and also to a well known Irish artist. Today was the last day of their research, which was mainly at one of the Art Galleries in Dublin. So another 7am start was called for, to make breakfasts in time for them to catch the 8am train. Though I have to say we were partly awake anyway at 7, because the fire alarm went off noisily at 4:30 am and we all struggled to get back to sleep again afterwards.

Anyway, once they were safely on their way, Val and I relaxed a little and had a brunch type late breakfast. It was soon time for Val to head off to Wonderlights for the weekend shift, so once she was also safely on her way, I headed off too, and did my usual “hill and coast” walk. It’s a decent length, and combines hillscapes with seascapes, so it works well for me.

It was just starting to think about getting dark when I returned, so I used the fading light to make a start on this week’s Spanish homework. But I soon decided that it was too difficult for now, so I put it to one side for a bit. Shortly afterwards, our friends returned from Dublin, so we had a cup of tea and a quick catch up on the day’s developments. Then for dinner we finished off some more pork casserole followed by yogurt, ice cream and strawberries for dessert. This has actually been our friends’ third – and longest – visit to us and they remarked that they had probably taken their genealogical work as far as they reasonably could now.

Eventually, the clock ticked past 7pm so we piled into the lift, down to the garage and off in the Trusty Yaris once more to the airport in plenty of time for them to catch at 9:50pm flight. On return to the flat, I spent a couple of hours doing the washing, changing the sheets and so on, then, once Val returned, we rounded off the evening with a couple of beers and a good catch up with family in Canada.

Phew!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


The hedge which was full of hypericums still in flower last week, has been enthusiastically trimmed. Which is a bit of a shame as they were quite pretty	But the salvia just round the corner was still going strong, and looking cheerful

Heliotropes are back in flower! Our fourth heliotrope season in Ireland	A general election has been called in Ireland for Friday 29 November. A mercifully short campaign and so far at least it seems to be happily free from the acrimony and noise of elections of some recent elections in other countries. Posters started appearing on lamp-posts and billboards all around the town at the beginning of the week



The converted Martello tower on the coast road at the north end of Portmarnock beach – catching some late afternoon sunshine