Ireland day 1492. Wednesday 29 October 2025- ChatGPT

Today’s summary	A low-key day in Malahide, at last. Val did some sewing in the morning and I had a video call to a friend in France. Inspired by this conversation, I spent a couple of hours exploring AI (ChatGPT)’s image-drawing capabilities. Had left-over curry for lunch then in the afternoon, went shopping while Val went on a run. In the evening, Val made meatballs for dinner (delicious) and we watched some TV
Today’s weather	Bright with some sun and a couple of very light showers. Moderate to strong westerly wind. Appx 11c

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

We had an interesting and productive day today, despite never straying more than a few hundred meters from the flat. It was just what we needed, really, after a few busy days of travel, and no doubt with more to come.

I started off with a video call to a friend in France. While I was on the call, Val got on with some of her sewing.

My friend moved to France at about the same time as we came to Ireland, so we have lots of common experiences to share, in terms of coping with living in a foreign land, and in getting to grips with the bureaucracy. I have to say, France sounds far more challenging than Ireland.

One of the subjects we touched on in our chat was artificial intelligence, and he described how he was using AI to create animated cartoon stories. So once we had finished, I thought I would do some experimenting of my own. I tried using ChatGPT to produce a variety of objects and pride of place went to my Martello tower, complete with wheelie bins and Tesco chocolate biscuits (don’t ask). You can see my efforts at the top of this page. Pretty realistic, I’d say.

Once I’d finished exercising my artistic skills, it was time for lunch so we finished off the curry left over from last night’s dinner. Then after a cup of coffee, I went out to do the shopping and to take a pillow to the laundry, while Val went on a run round the Demesne. Very successful all-round.

As soon as we were back down to earth after our various activities, I made a cup of tea and while we were relaxing with our refreshments, Val announced that she would like to read me a short story that she’d just finished and enjoyed. You can see the details in the photo below. Needless to say, I don’t think anyone has read me a story for about sixty years, and it was very nice.

Finally, Val made some meatballs for dinner, with the shopping I’d got in the afternoon. Home made food is always a real treat, and this was no exception. After we’d finished and I had tidied up, we settled down and watched a couple of hours of TV.

(By the way I should add that last night we watched “House of Dynamite” on Netflix. It’s a rather alarming storyline but in my view brilliantly acted and portrayed. It gets very mixed review, but for me it was a ten out of ten production).

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Our local laundry – it’s very good actually, but (like everything) quite expensive. But it’s much cheaper to get pillows and duvets washed than to get new ones	Marina looking quite placid – but there was a stiff wind blowing, so it felt cold. Maybe the shorts were a mistake

“Japanese Ghost Stories” by Greco-Irish-Japanese author Lafcadio Hearn. Val has been reading this collection of short stories and greatly enjoying them. This afternoon she read one of them “The Gratitude of Samébito” to me. It was just like going back to my childhood again – very enjoyable, thanks Val!



Sadly the much-admired window boxes on the railings overlooking the station have been taken away now – the remains appear to be in these plastic bags. Hopefully this will be in preparation for re-planting with winter displays