Ireland day 1177. Wednesday 18 December 2024- Nuisance

Today’s summary	Spent the morning on a video call with a friend in London, and then on some paperwork. After lunch, I did some shopping and got a haircut then was despatched out to go on a walk as I was getting under Val’s feet as she was trying to cook. I think I was becoming a bit of a nuisance. Had a Kerrigan’s for dinner and watched some TV
Today’s weather	Overcast but not too gloomy, and some light rain. Light westerly wind. Appx 9c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The red 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): Robswall evening walk Locus

Commentary

We had a day in Malahide today which is always a good thing when we are both busy. But if one of us isn’t, there is always the possibility that a nuisance situation might develop. I am sorry to have to say that this slightly happened today.

Anyway, the day started uncontroversially enough, as Val went off on a run around the demesne while I had a very enjoyable video catch up with a friend in London. Then, once we had reconvened after our various activities, there was some paperwork to do, which kept us us both busy for an unexpectedly long time. But eventually, we finished and were ready for lunch.

Then it was time for me to go and get my hair cut and do some shopping. When I got back to the flat, Val’s cookery extravaganza was in full swing, which is when things started to get sticky. I started offering useful hints and tips, and then helpfully offered to empty the dishwasher. Neither went down terribly well, I am afraid to admit. The latter not least because the dishwasher is right underneath the very small work-surface where Val was doing her preparations, inviting all sorts of irritation possibilities which in hindsight it might have been better to avoid.

I think Val finally came to the conclusion at around this point that it might actually be better if I wasn’t there. So she selflessly suggested that I might like to go out on a walk to test my new phone and mapping app. I could read the writing on the wall so I decided to cut my losses and slope off before I became branded a nuisance.

Anyway, it was a very enjoyable stroll, through the demesne and a couple of nearby housing estates, just as the evening was drawing in. It feels like it has been dark pretty much all day today, but it’s only three days till the longest night, so that will be some cause for celebration. The phone and app worked well, though it did reveal that my pace, at 12m20s/km, is far far slower than I want – and to be honest I thought I was making quite good time. Anyway, there’s lots of room for improvement.

Once back after my walk, the first stage of the cooking was complete and I was able carefully to secrete myself away in the spare room while the second reached its natural conclusion. On top of all this, Val also managed to find time to cook a delicious stir fry from from Kerrigan’s, which we are about to enjoy right now, while we search for something suitably light to round off the day on Netflix. Phew! I think, given the circumstances, we both survived the challenges of the day pretty well and actually came through with flying colours!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Super new Christmas haircut. Very aerodynamic but my walk was still very slow	At last! managed to find some after yesterday’s frustration. Donnybrook Fair had it

Festoon lighting showing the way in the demesne	The cut through from the Jameson Orchard estate to the Rpobswall estate is a rather inglorious mud path concealed behind this electricity sub-station

Looming Lambay in the murk	Down on the beach. Not a lot to see, actually

Christmas jollity on the Bawn Grove