Ireland day 1197. Tuesday 07 January 2025- Cold Bright Day

Today’s summary	Got a wardrobe in the flat fixed first thing then did some laundry and cleaning and video call to Val in London. Walked over the hill and back along the coast early afternoon and salad lunch on return. Video call with friend in Houston in the afternoon. Short walk round the Marina and to shops once it got dark then soup for dinner and watched “La Palma” mini-series later. Dreadful!
Today’s weather	Bright and dry all day with lots of sun. Light westerly wind. Appx 3c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The blue 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): Hill and Coast on cold sunny day

Commentary

Several weeks ago, the rail in one of our bedroom wardrobes collapsed and almost simultaneously the door hinge broke. The great thing about living in rented accommodation is that we don’t have to arrange – or pay for – repair of things that get broken. It’s a bit like having an NHS for flats. The disadvantage is that the repair service is sometimes a bit slow

Anyway, our wardrobe problem must eventually have made it to the top of someone’s workflow and the repairman came this morning to fix it. After no more than five minutes of drilling and banging, it was mended and we now have a fully functional wardrobe.

Once that excitement was out of the way, I had breakfast, put yet another load of washing on, and had a video chat with Val in London. It was great to catch up on all her news.

By this stage it was almost noon, the sun was shining, and the outdoors beckoned. I managed to slot in a quick but exhilarating plod up the hill and back on the coast, before returning to the flat in time for lunch (salad) and a video call with my friend in Houston. As ever, it was refreshing to share our various life experiences and to think about the future.

By the time we had finished, it was fully dark and the last load of washing was finished and dry, and needed putting away. Eventually, this last chore for the day was done and dusted and I started to think about what to have for dinner. In the end I settled on minestrone so ventured out once again, this time to the shops to buy my can of soup. On the way I tacked on a short diversion via the marina, to admire the vessels clattering in the light swell.

After soup had been polished off, I settled down to watch a mini-series on Netflix called “La Palma”. It’s about an eruption and subsequent landslide and tsunami on this Canary Island. It’s truly dreadful but strangely compelling- I started it yesterday and finished it today. There’s some good photography of the island – we have been there a couple of times and really liked it.

Anyway that’s enough for today. Onwards and upwards!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Breakfast! With a delicious cup of coffee from the new Nespresso machine Val got me for Christmas (and in a new mug Val also got me – what brilliant presents!)	Lunch..

This new wall at the entrance to the new estate on Seamount is going to have to be demolished…	…it didn’t have planning permission!

Exploring a slightly new route from Limetree Avenue through to the coast at Portmarnock beach	White-ling man hard at work on the Paddy’s Hill playing fields. I wonder how he knows where to go? It must be so frustrating to see your handiwork disappear every time someone cuts the grass

The Casino by moonlight. You can even see the Pleiades if you zoom in