Ireland day 1345. Wednesday 04 June 2025- Hawksmoor

Today’s summary	A slightly unusual day. Had to get a blood sample taken first thing in advance of a hip check in the UK in a couple of weeks’ time. Then took Dart and Lúas to Sandyford to take the sample to professional labs for testing. Returned to Dublin and met Val and our son Rob at College Green for lunch at Hawksmoor. Train back to Malahide afterwards for drinks and cake at the flat. Drove Rob to the airport later for a 7:45pm flight.
Today’s weather	Bright and breezy with plenty of sun in the morning. Rain in the afternoon. Strong westerly wind. Appx 15c

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

Well today has certainly been a bit different. We awoke quite early but not quite as ridiculously early as immediately after we returned from Japan. But with plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast before I had to go down to the doctor’s surgery at 9am. I had to get a blood sample taken in advance of my annual hip check up in the UK in a couple of weeks time. It saves time by getting the test done in advance here in Ireland.

Unfortunately the test I need (for metals) is not standard, so once the samples had been taken, I had to carry them myself to the testing labs – at Sandyford, right on the other side of Dublin. Fortunately the nurse put the samples in an envelope so I didn’t look like some kind of bloodthirsty vampire as I travelled on the Dart and Lúas across town bearing my slightly macabre baggage.

It took quite a while to get to the Luas stop at Stillorgan, but eventually the samples were safely dropped off and I caught a Lúas again, back to College Green to start enjoying the second unusual aspect of the day.

Our younger son, Rob, is over from Canada and in Europe for a few days at the moment, for a wedding. As he has a birthday coming up soon, he decided to come over to Dublin briefly to join Val and me for lunch today. Val took the 102 out to the airport to meet him, while I was faffing around with the medics. They caught the express bus into Dublin and I met them in the restaurant.

We had booked lunch for the three of us at “Hawksmoor” in College Green. As I arrived early I got a coffee and watched the cricket in Trinity college. Then I went to the Cervantes Institute, which is conveniently just round the corner, to find out what the results of my phone Spanish level assessment yesterday were (they confirmed that I came out at A.2.3, which I was pleased about). Finally I walked over to Hawksmoor and got a drink at the bar while I waited for the other to arrive.

They got into Dublin soon after I arrived in the restaurant – the bus from the airport was quick and efficient – and we started our meal. Of course, it was great to see Rob again, even though it was only a month or so since we were last together in Vancouver.

The meal was heavily steak-focused, which was nice as a treat as neither of us normally eat much beef. Needless to say it was delicious. We took our time over it, and used the opportunity to catch up in all the news. The restaurant was pretty quiet, so we were under no pressure to move.

Once we’d finished, we walked across to Tara Street and were fortunate to be able to catch a Drogheda diesel after only a few minutes’ wait. Which was lucky as it was pouring by then and we had already got a drenching on the short walk over from College Green.

We were in Malahide quickly – probably only half an hour after leaving Hawksmoor – and repaired straight to the flat. We just had time for a slice of delicious chocolate birthday cake which Val had made, and a glass of fizz (only half a glass for me as I was driving) before having to leave once again to take Rob to the airport in time for his 19:45 flight back to Gatwick.

Once back in the flat, the rest of the evening was spent quietly. We skipped dinner as we had had so much protein for lunch that neither of us will probably have to eat again for a month. And of course, we slipped in a couple of episodes of “Mad Men” before crashing out and retiring to bed. What a great day!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Eurofins Biomnis. Specialist blood testing facility down at Stillorgan in Sandyford	Sandyford Business Park, where Eurofins is located. Some big corporations, like Jacobs engineering, have offices here. It’s a nice environment

Cricket on the lawn. All that’s missing is the warm beer	Cervantes Institute. I’m mulling over doing a five week (“semi-intensive”) Spanish course here over the summer

Birthday lunch!	Val’s home-made birthday cake back in the flat. Delicious!

Hawksmoor main dining room. It used to be a bank, I think