Frenetic Friday

 General Election day yesterday and I was up early to vote -  I headed over at about 9am where as they say "voting was brisk"

 

I then met Enid at the towncentre at 9.30am and we walked over to our friends house for a lovely breakfast.

 

How beautiful was Svetlana's table setting?!

 

Our hostess made the most beautiful pancakes.   I was watching for tips and noticed that she was using a much thinner batter than I would have thought possible and swirled it around the pan, plus cooked it at a lower temperature.  I guess more like a crepe.  I am going to try make them like this next time I cook pancakes.

 

We had a lovely morning chatting.  And then for reasons I know not we took some photos of ourselves and a large chimp teddy bear.  Lol :-)

 

I reckon a large chimp is the perfect accessory for making oneself look thin.  I need to carry this guy around all the time.

 

Afterwards Enid and I went into town where I called to the Irish Rail taxsaver office to get a replacement rail card because I have foolishly lost mine.  I am still so mad with myself.

 

We then headed out of the city on the train - we went to both Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire (and had something to eat in Dun Laoghaire).

 

This is the view from the footbridge over the tracks in Blackrock train station.  Down the left bottom hand of the photo is the old (19th century) Blackrock baths (outdoor public swimming pool) 

Ukelele Hooley

 What a day! 

 

Ok so firstly I woke up at 5am...not good...thankfully I fell back asleep until 9.17am precisely.  I think I was overtired from yesterday (staff charity abseil).

 

After a quick breakfast I headed into town to meet Enid.   Before meeting her I nipped off and checked a chore off my to do list - I scooted into the NCI for their open day and got some info on a course I am enrolling for in September.

 

I then met Enid!

The plan was to head out to Dun Laoghaire on the Dart to check out Ukulele Hooley.  Enid was saying that a lot of the events had been on that morning and then more on in the evening so there mightn't be much going on when we got out there.  We figured we'd go out anyway today just to enjoy the nice vibe that is Dun Laoghaire...and we'll go again tomorrow to the ukulele stuff.

 

 

"I hopped on the bus Dart to Dun Laoghaire, stopping off to pick up my guitar ukulele"

 

We pottered around Dun Laoghaire which is a really nice Victorian port town. Did a bit of shopping and watched some model/remote control boats and some real life sailing boats...that kind of thing. 

And then we went and visited the Lexicon which we've both wanted to see for a while.  It's pretty cool and while I would have said that I'm really not fond of its brutalist design, after seeing the inside I like it a lot better now. 

 

The weather was getting a bit rainy and windy and we were ready for (late) lunch so we headed back into town on the Dart. 

First we went to a music shop where Enid bought a really cool bag for her ukulele.

And then we went to lunch .  We went to Pitt Bros, I hadn't been for ages so really enjoyed it (as usual).

 

 It was announced during the week that Brown Thomas had opened their Christmas shop... as Enid just loooooooooooves Christmas we couldn't be in town without going there.

She was in her element!

 

She bought these two beautiful decorations - the one on the right for her, the one on the left for me.  Thank you Enid :-)

Seriously have you ever seen such a happy head as this!

 

We did a huge amount of walking!!!  We were wrecked.  So rather than going straight home I went with Enid to hers and we got in the hot tub.  I got a bus home at about 9pm this eve.

More fun stuff tomorrow with Ukulele Hooley part 2.