Ireland day 1424. Friday 22 August 2025- Sorting Out

Today’s summary	A bit of a repeat of yesterday. Spent the morning doing Spanish homework then finished my packing for a trip over the weekend. Walked round to Centra in the afternoon then in the evening had a pop-pop beef pasta ready meal for dinner and watched another “Naked Gun” film. Fitted in a could of video calls with Val (who is now in Chester) between it all
Today’s weather	Mostly overcast but with occasional sun. Dry again. Very light westerly breeze. Appx 19c

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): Centra afternoon stroll

Commentary

Spanish, Spanish, Spanish.

You’d have thought that by now, after all years of lessons and all the effort that I have put in, I would be quite good at it by now. But really I’m not. I can remember more of the French that I learned in 2 years at the age of 16 than I can of the 4 years of Spanish I will have completed next month. It’s a stark reminder, I think, of the importance of learning as much as you can when you are young – it sinks to your memory and sticks there just so much more easily in your youth.

Anyway, in a rerun of yesterday, I started the day with a quick video call to Val who at that stage was still in Bristol, then got up, had a cup of tea, and started part 2 of this week’s deberes. It wasn’t too hard, though it did require some use (i.e. a lot) of Google Translate to help me work out where my subject and object pronouns should go.

Simple sentences like “You gave it to him”* are incredibly complicated in Spanish – not just because the pronouns go in a completely different order to English, but also because in Spanish there are four different words for “you” and three different past tenses. So even if you get the pronouns right, you can still get the conjugations wrong. I’m sure eventually some of it will sink in, but it’s a tedious process. Anyway finally I ploughed through it all and finished at about lunchtime – which for me today was an abstemious affair consisting of coffee and oatcakes.

After that, I spent a few moments sorting out some things to take with me on a trip over the weekend. I have travelled plenty of times in the past, but almost always seem to leave something vital behind. I really should make a list, rather than doing everything from first principles every time!

Once all that was out of the way, I decided to head out for my “daily” walk. It’s not always daily, but I do like to try and get out most days and get a bit of exercise.

Today it wasn’t anything too spectacular – just a stretch through the edge of the Demesne, then out along the Dublin Road as far as Seabury. Once I got there, I stopped in at Centra to get some refreshments (I am having a Kefir phase at the moment) which I enjoyed on the seat that overlooks the Broadmeadow lagoon. While I was admiring the view, Val called to update me on her progress – she is in Chester now – and it was nice to catch up again. Then, from my refreshment stop, rather than going straight back to the flat, I headed into Malahide town centre to get some dinner from Tesco for tonight.

Now I’m back in the flat and am going to heat up the pop-pop beef pasta I bought for my dinner. Unadorned, it looked a bit unhealthy, so I bought some salad and tomatoes to go with it, which should salve my conscience a bit. After than, I am going to look up another film in the “Naked Gun” series. The one I watched last night was easy viewing and fun, so I think a bit more light relief would be in order tonight. Then it will be early to bed, as I am setting off at the crack of dawn tomorrow and want to get at least a few hours sleep before I go.

*(By the way – one possible translation of the sentence above is “Tu se lo diste“. Another would be “Vosotros se lo habeis dado“. You have to interpret from the context which one you should use and it’s not always obvious).

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Up at the demesne – a clear sign that cricket is on its way. Maybe we will go this year?	The scaffolding has arrived – construction of the temporary stands will start soon. I really hope the weather is good for the matches!

I think this is a rather spectacular example of Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica) in flower alongside the Gaybrook tributary. As the names suggest, in days gone by it was put on fires and the smoke it generated was used to drive away fleas. And it was also used in the treatment of dysentery, apparently. How effective it was in either case, I have no idea	The steps in the footway from our flats to the Dublin Road appear to have been resurfaced and new kerbstones installed. A huge aesthetic and safety improvement



Haughty heron looks out unafraid, on the hunt for easy pickings in the Broadmeadow lagoon