The weather has turned grey although thankfully still dry with rain forecasted for later in the week. I’m caught up on my CMA studies and don’t have anything else pressing for the moment. Today in the early afternoon I have a coffee/walk meetup with a new friend, P, with whom I’ve been chatting online for awhile but we’ve never met in person. P works in the health care sector and so it’s been challenging to coordinate schedules. He’s the first person I’ve met here who is fully vaccinated.
We agree to meet up at a coffee shop in the Kilmainham area. I cross over the Liffey and hop on the Luas light rail for a few stops. I get off at Heuston Station, the largest train station in Dublin that serves destinations to the south, southwest and west.
Heuston Station:
A tree in full blossom:
Immediately facing the station to the east is the Guinness brewery at the St. James Distillery complex:
Across the street to the south is a prominent historical building, the Dr. Steevens’ Hospital, which dates back to the 1780s. It closed as a hospital in the 1980s and now serves the administrative offices of the Health Services Executive (HSE), Ireland’s Department of Health.
The coffee shop where I meet my friend P is located in Heuston South Quarter (HSQ), a mixed-use development consisting of modern residential, office and retail spaces:
After we get our coffees, we embark on a short walk to the Ireland Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) housed in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham buildings dating back to the 1600s with an adjacent formal garden:
Map for reference:
Ireland had another 700+ new COVID-19 cases reported yesterday, and today’s count is over 500. Government officials are acknowledging that the tight restrictions over the past few months have not brought the case numbers down as low as hoped and that Ireland could even see a new surge. Most transmissions are occurring in households with the more infectious B117 UK variant accounting for 90% of cases. Meanwhile, the booking system for Ireland’s mandatory hotel quarantine regime is due to go live within the next 48 hours. Also the EU is still considering imposing an export ban on vaccines produced within its borders, although Ireland’s Taoiseach/Prime Minister Micheál Martin strongly opposes such a move, arguing that it could disrupt supply chains and vaccine production.
Until next time….
