Dublin’s hard water has been wreaking havoc on my hands. They’ve been dry and cracking ever since I arrived. At first I just thought it might be from all the hand washing, constant use of sanitizer, or from doing the dishes. Then I read today that the minerals in hard water are the culprit. Thankfully the Burt Bees hand salve I ordered from Anazon.co.uk arrives this morning around 10:30am. I also have some old prescription steroid cream that I used to use when I get eczema. I slather some salve on generously and can already tell a big difference.

I don’t have any set plans today, so I decide to vacuum the apartment, wash the sheets, and tidy up a bit. I download the new solo album by Jonsi (who’s also the lead singer for the Icelandic band Sigur Ros) and listen to it on my headphones as I’m puttering around the house. It’s a nice day out, and I eventually get out of the apartment in the afternoon to stop by Dunnes, the closest grocery shop to me only a few blocks away. It’s not a full-size store but larger than a convenience store and decently priced. Dunnes is located in the George’s Street Arcade, an ornate Victorian-style red brick building that opened in 1881.

I’m planning on cooking soup tonight, but yesterday’s SuperValu grocery delivery was missing cauliflower. Surprisingly, Dunnes doesn’t have any either, but there are plenty of potatoes, leeks (which are hugely sized here), carrots, parsnips, broccoli, bell peppers, etc. I pick up a pre-made chicken wrap for lunch, some more Guinness and tumeric (another item missing from my SuperValu order) and head back home. 

After having a late lunch, I feel like getting out of the apartment again and decide to walk to St. Patrick’s Cathedral as a destination. It’s about a 15-20 minute walk. Almost all the shops are shuttered, and the only people out seem to be coming from or going to grocery stores or take-away restaurants. The side streets and alleyways are empty, as well as a small colourful public space with placards dedicated to important people from Irish history.

The clear blue sky is indicative of a cold front, so it’s nippy out, and I’m only wearing a hoodie over a dual layer of thin t-shirts. I prefer being a little cool over feeling overheated and sweaty. I notice lots of Halloween decorations on the houses and apartment buildings I pass along the way.

Adjacent to the cathedral is a quaint park that’s surrounded by a wrought iron fence. I enter at the far end, catty-corner from the cathedral itself. The cathedral dates back to 1191. The nave section is shrouded in scaffolding and tarps for what must be some restoration work. I remember witnessing a spectacular sunset here during a previous trip. The sky is almost completely clear and blue, except for some clouds in the background of the cathedral’s bell tower, so I decide to walk around a bit and hope that I’ll be obliged with a repeat performance.

At the center of the park is a fountain around which garden beds and walkways curve. All the benches are taken, so after my circumambulation, I choose a short stone column at the corner of the garden’s railings as a place to sit. On part of the garden’s lawn, two red haired kids kick a soccer ball back and forth with their dad. Another young child and father give chase to a rugby ball as it bounces across the grass. There’s a small puddle with leaves on the bricked walkway next to me. A couple of toddlers race over squealing with delight at the opportunity to jump in it. Their parents catch up and apologise, but I am just out of the splash zone so I say no worries. My patience is eventually rewarded with a satisfying composition of the tower against pink and orange clouds.

With the light fading, I head back towards the apartment with renewed determination to find some cauliflower. A Lidl’s grocery store has recently opened in the neighborhood, so I pop in to check it out, but as with Dunnes there is no sign of the cruciferous albino vegetable I seek. I meander through the streets, looking for a health food store I recall seeing somewhere around the area, but then I pass a high-end food market replete with all sorts of delicacies, so surely that will end my quest. And it does! And since I’m there, I browse for a few other treasures like cocktail cherries (for future Manhattans) and high-quality chicken stock.

Upon settling back in at the apartment, I turn on a streaming internet radio channel to listen to my new friend M’s segment that he DJs on Saturday nights. I text him to let him know I’m listening, and he gives a shout out to me on the air, which is sweet. It’s mostly throw-back music from the late 1980s and early 1990s, new wave and pop. I make a request, Breathe’s “Hands to Heaven,” which M queues up for me. With all the ingredients now collected, I can cook my first from-scratch meal — a soup with leeks, cauliflower, mushrooms, chicken stock, and blue cheese, topped off at the end with some bacon crumbles. The new hand blender purees everything together into a smooth consistency. I slice some Irish soda bread to go on the side.