It’s a sunny day, with highs in the mid 50s F / low 10s C, and I make plans with a new friend C this afternoon for coffee and a walk. We meet up near Sprangers Yard then stroll over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral Park, which surprisingly C has never seen before; he’s from Co. Wexford and lives in the Dublin suburbs so doesn’t spend much time in the city centre. There are lots of people out enjoying the favourable weather. A long line extends out from the café at the corner of the park, but we’re in no rush… and the social distancing makes it seem longer than it actually is. It’s funny that many of the people I’ve met or chatted with here are not big fans of tea — coffee seems to be the go-to beverage of choice, at least when going out. As soon as we emerge with our drinks, a bench in the park magically opens up before us. At any rate, we enjoy chatting in the park for awhile and then decide to take a walk, heading back towards the city centre and over to the northside where C eventually catches a bus home. I meander through the Mary Street shopping district then back over the Grattan Bridge with its iconic seahorse (aka hippocampus) lampposts.
Close-ups of Grattan Bridge lampposts:
View from Grattan Bridge looking westward towards Ha’Penny Bridge, with lots of people out on the decks perched above the River Liffey:
I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast, and my blood sugar has gotten low after all the walking and post-coffee crash. Thankfully there’s a kebab restaurant in Temple Bar on the way home. I stop in to order some food for take away, although it’s busy and takes at least 20 minutes. I feel almost woozy waiting for my order to be ready. By the time I get back to the apartment, I’ve clocked in almost 9,500 steps for the day — more than I was expecting on an empty stomach! The kebab wrap is delicious, with freshly made flatbread and doner-style lamb meat with cabbage dressed in garlic sauce. With my hunger satisfied, I take a half-nap on the couch as dusk falls. I probably won’t need to make anything big for dinner. I settle in for a quiet evening of relaxation before another week of my CMA study programme, job applications, and other more productive activities. There’s a documentary that came out last month on RTÉ that I’ve been meaning to watch, “Let the Rest of the World Go By” — it’s about two older straight Irish men (in their late 50s / early 80s) who become best friends and marry for tax reasons.
Until next time….
