Ireland day 1165. Friday 06 December 2024- Before Darragh

Today’s summary	We woke up tired because of overnight tree surgery along the nearby main road. So felt sub par all day. Passed most of the day indoors avoiding the poor weather outside though I did manage to fit in a short walk in a gap between the showers. Spent the evening watching TV
Today’s weather	Overcast, windy and wet. Moderate south westerly wind. Appx 11c

Today’s overview location (The grey 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): Lagoon loop before Storm Darragh

Commentary

I was feeling tired and a bit battered yesterday, after my sojourn in the hospital. So what I needed – and what Val certainly really needed after her recent tooth episode – was a good night’s sleep to speed the recovery process. Sadly, though, that was not to be.

A series of main electricity cables are strung up along the side of the road which runs past the Casino, where we live. In recent years, the nearby trees have grown up and some of the overhanging branches are now threatening to damage the power lines. So last night the electricity company decided it would be a good idea to try and prune the branches back before they could do any really serious damage.

Unfortunately for us, the work didn’t start until 11pm and the sawing continued unabated until about 8am this morning. I think we both managed to sleep for a couple of hours around 3am, though for me even that was somewhat fitful as the wound on my back was feeling quite sore.

The corollary of all this was that several cups of tea were needed to get us going, and even once we we finally emerged from bed, we felt pretty groggy all day. The weather outside – grey and wet for much of the time – didn’t really inspire us to get out and about much, either. So we resigned ourselves to having a very quiet day in and around the flat, which is pretty much what I think we needed anyway, as we both recover from our recent medical interventions.

We had a smoked salmon lunch, which was tasty and nutritious (and healthy – though I spoiled the effect rather by buying and eating a bag of mini fudge bars afterwards). After a cup of coffee I went out for a short walk along the lagoon and then on to the shops, while Val continued her recovery in the flat.

The evening was spent having dinner (lamb casserole) and watching some TV. Meanwhile, outside, Storm Darragh – the latest major weather event of the autumn – wound himself up into a frenzy of wind and rain. I’m just hoping that the electricity company don’t take it upon themselves to start pruning the rest of the trees along the road this evening. We both really do need a few hours’ sleep tonight!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Overhead power lines on the Dublin Road. The electricity company spent all last night pruning the overhanging tree branches back – a factor which contributed to our lack of sleep and to my consequent gritty mood today	*Looking down the rather wet Dicksonia* (tree-fern) avenue in the castle demesne**

Primulas seem to bravely flower away all through the cold dark months – these in the middle of the Killeen estate were particularly colourful today	Shades of grey and green – with Lambay Island hanging over the lagoon in the distance.

Puddles splashing about in the rain	After dropping into the shops at the end of my walk, I took a look at the curious marine craft that I saw in the Marina the other night. It does seem that a couple of outrigger-type boats have appeared, along with a small flotilla of kayaks. Perhaps some sort of outdoor challenge is in the offing?

Storm Darragh is making his way across Ireland today from the west. Red weather warnings are actually quite rare