Ireland day 1554. Tuesday 30 December 2025- Prioritising

Today’s summary	Spent most of the day in or around the flat. Did some shopping in the morning and then had tuna salad and trifle for lunch. In the afternoon, Val had a call with friends in Chester and I spoke by video with my friend in Houston. Afterwards we went on a quick walk round the demesne then did some work on January priorities. Then I started on our 2025 tax return before finally stopping for beans on toast and some “Chef’s Table” on Netflix
Today’s weather	Overcast but dry. Light easterly wind. Appx 6c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Quick Loop

Commentary

We’re trying to dial down the pace of life a bit at the moment. We have a busy January coming up and want to make sure we are fully ready to meet the challenges of the next few weeks.

So we had a pretty quiet morning. I’d hoped we could perhaps sample one of the candied orange slices I made yesterday along with our tea and toast. But despite a night on the drying rack, they remained stubbornly soggy this morning so had to be confined to a 50c oven for the majority of the day to try and desiccate them a bit. I’m dreading getting the electricity bill after all this thermal intervention – and now I can see why the ready made versions from Fallon & Byrne are so expensive.

Once we were up an about and the oranges dealt with, I headed into town to pick up a few things and to try and return a book to the library. Sadly it was closed but there are a few days left before we start racking up overdue fines so not too catastrophic.

By the time we had finished faffing around, it was lunchtime so I rustled up a tuna salad with cheese and biscuits, followed by sherry trifle. All very ex-Christmas but all very tasty.

After lunch, Val had a quick call with friends in Chester, UK and I had a video call with my friend in Houston, USA. It was good – and important – to keep these friendships alive despite our geographical difference.

By this stage, evening was already almost upon us and I was looking for an excuse not to start work on our 2025 tax return. So we pulled on our trainers and headed out to the Demesne for a quick anti-clockwise trundle round the perimeter path.

Once we were back, we spent half an hour or so doing some planning to January, then eventually I had to turn to the tax. I didn’t make much progress but at least I created the file and chose the colour scheme. Well it’s a start and these things are important, you know.

Next on the agenda is dinner, which tonight is going to be beans on toast. Possibly followed by ex-Christmas medjool dates for dessert. And our TV viewing is going to be “Chef’s Table”. It’s quite an old Netflix series which meets some of the world’s renowned chefs. I’m not the world’s best cook but I do appreciate the artistry and skill which goes into their culinary creations. It’s very lightweight and un-challenging viewing but do I like the insight into a life and a world which is so different from my own.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Sunset in the castle demesne	Festoon lights showing the way. They are a byproduct of “Wonderlights” but it would be quite nice if they could stay all year. They make the whole demesne feel a lot more welcoming.

My favourite Sequoia – standing tall over the cricket pitch. Long may it do so.	The path leading through the Casino to our flats actually looks quite festive in the winter evening light



My candied orange slices aren’t exactly a disaster but they haven’t dried out like they were supposed to. They are soft and soggy rather than firm and crunchy. So I’ve put them in the oven for a few hours on a low heat to see if that helps dry them out. Now I can see why they are so expensive to buy!