Ireland day 1231. Monday 10 February 2025- Empacando

Today’s summary	A relatively quiet day generally pottering about in Malahide and packing for a forthcoming overseas trip.   Tried to get a haircut but the queue was too long.   Val went on a walk/run round the demesne.   Had fish and chips for lunch and then soup with beans on toast for dinner.   Watched second part of “Brian and Maggie” on the TV in the evening
Today’s weather	Overcast and mostly dry but with light rain in the evening.   Moderate to strong north easterly wind.   Appx 5c
Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)			Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

Not content with rushing off to Norway / Switzerland a couple of weeks ago, we are setting off on our travels again tomorrow.   So today was spent printing off key documents, doing some last minute shopping, and cramming everything into our bags.   As usual, we are going hand baggage-only, so every item that gets packed has to be thought about carefully.

While I was out and about in town buying travel-size tubes of toothpaste, I decided to go and get a haircut – it’s not strictly in need of cutting yet, but it’s much easier to manage when it’s short.  Anyway, when I got to the barber’s there were seven people already in there waiting, and only one person cutting.   Even if each trim only took ten minutes, I reckoned that I’d be in there well over an hour so I abandoned the idea.   Instead, as the barber is almost next door to Beshoff’s, I made a spur of the minute decision to get a box of haddock and chips – which Val and I shared (and very much enjoyed) for lunch.

After lunch, Val went out to the demesne for one of her walk/run workouts – but only stayed out for an hour or so as it was getting dark and it was cold.   I, meanwhile, finished off the packing and sorted out the myriad plugs, wires and adapters you need to keep your electronic world alive up when you’re out and about.

The rest of the evening was passed enjoying TV while we dined on soup with beans on toast.  We rounded the day off by watching the concluding episode of the  Channel 4 docu-drama about the Brian Walden – Maggie Thatcher interview in 1989.   It stars Steve Coogan (him again!!) and Harriet Walter and, a bit like “Dr Strangelove” it’s OK but probably no better than 3/5 on my scoring scale.   We watched part 1 yesterday.

Time to retire shortly and see what tomorrow has to offer!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

Malahide New Street.   Not many about today – a cold grey damp day seemed to have kept most people indoors.   But a massive queue nevertheless for the barber’s.  Maybe it – along with the fish and chip shop – was the only warm place in town.	Managed a short walk (in the rain) round the Marina once the days jobs were done
Lunch.   Haddock and chips x1 was plenty for x2!

Interactive map

(No map today)

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