Ireland day 1361. Friday 20 June 2025- Tax and Centra

Today’s summary	Spent all morning and a good part of the evening working on our UK tax return. In-between, I fitted in a short walk out through the Demesne to Centra for refreshments, then back along the coast. Had the rest of the Kerrigan’s chicken for dinner then packed up stuff for hiking tomorrow, had a video call with Val who is still in London, and watched some TV before bed.
Today’s weather	Sunny and dry. Moderate south easterly breeze. Appx 21c

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): Warm walk to Centra

Commentary

Apart from fiddling with technology, there are actually some useful things that I can do when Val is away. One of them, which I hate but can’t escape, is tax. Although our Irish tax return is done and dusted, we still have to do a UK one. And of course because the Irish and UK tax years are different, and because one is in Euro and the other in Pounds, the returns are completely different too.

Anyway now the UK tax year has finished, I could put off making an start our tax return no longer. So I spent a tedious morning finding bits of paper, downloading files and entering data into spreadsheets. But by the end of the day – which also included a chunk of the evening, I felt I had taken it as far as I could without further input from Val. But because we have done so many of these now, it gets a bit easier every year.

Apart from the tax aspect, it was a really nice day here in Ireland today. The heatwave which seems to be affecting most of the rest of the northern hemisphere hasn’t quite reached the same proportions in Co. Dublin, but the temperature has touched 20c for two days now, which feels very comfortable.

So, once I’d had some leftover miso soup for lunch, and unable to resist the temptations of the sunshine any longer, I put the laptop to one side and headed out to enjoy the rays. As it was already getting late in the afternoon by the time I set off, I chose a short route – out west through the Demesne to the Swords Road, then on to the Yellow Walls Road Centra shop. Of course, I stopped off there to get some refreshments, which I enjoyed while taking in the sunny view across the Broadmeadow Lagoon to Seafield House.

The walk was in general uneventful but enjoyable, especially because it was warm and also because the stiff back which has been bothering me since Tuesday seemed to have eased up a bit. Eventually I made it back to Malahide where I continued on to get a packed lunch for tomorrow. From there I returned to the flat.

In the evening, I did the last bit of tax for today and then for dinner I had the rest of the chicken and vegetables left over from yesterday. Just as I was finishing off eating, Val called and we spent an agreeable half hour on video reviewing the day’s proceedings on either side of the Irish Sea. After that, I got together all the gear I’ll need for the hike tomorrow, so that I can make a speedy getaway in the morning. Maximising the time spent in bed is of paramount importance!

Finally, I put my feet up in front of the TV and caught up on a few more of those YouTube travel videos which I like so much. Bliss!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


More of those everlasting sweet peas! These ones were actually growing in a flower bed near our flats	Flags out all over the Castle Demesne, marking the concert season

*Curious bent-over tree in the Demesne. Google tells me it is a Portuguese Laurel (Prunus lusitanica). Not sure if the peculiar growth habit is unusual, or if they are all like this*	On the approach to Killeen Park – all looking very summery, which is fantastic!

Refreshments on the park bench near Estuary Road park. The tea was nice and I quite enjoyed Jo’s protein balls – though they were a bit indigestible	Caravans seem to like parking on the coast near the Malahide Yacht Club. These three were from Ireland, the UK and France. Very cosmopolitan

Arty shot of seed heads on the coastal path, looking across the lagoon in the general direction of Seafield House