Today was absolutely lovely. It's 9 PM now, and I think in a while I may go downstairs for some tea and TV with Carole (she's into crime dramas, just like Mom and Kate. Same shows and everything... seems I can't escape it!). But it's nice spending time with the families (both of them) so I put up with the dramas.
I slept in rather late again, but I was out the door at about 1:30 with two jackets, a scarf, and a printed Google map of the area. I walked down to the coast and spent almost 4 hours walking along the seaside, down the pier, and into the town of Dun Laoghaire a ways. (Dun Laoghaire, by the way, is pronounced "Dun Leary". Weird, huh?) Again I took a ton of pictures... I probably won't do that every day. Because my facebook will end up being full of about sixty albums by the time two months are over. But on second thought, why not? It's a strange thing about cameras - I take so many pictures, but I've rather given up on the notion that photographs preserve a time and place. The photos are really just to jog my memory into remembering what the time and place was actually like. It's just a pity that one's memory can't be written down or drawn exactly the way it happened. Well, as Heraclitus said, you can't step in the same river twice. Or something to that effect.
It was a beautiful day to be by the sea and at the harbor. The beaches in Dun Laoghaire are rocky so you don't swim there, but they sure look beautiful. The harbor itself is quite a popular place for joggers and moms with young kids, because there's a lovely pier that you can walk down and see a tiny little lighthouse. That area attracts all kinds, which was fun. I passed by a street musician who was playing the guitar and singing and just staring out over the water. The only lyrics I caught were "I'd trade all my tomorrows", but I didn't hear what he'd trade them for. I saw a security guard on a bicycle wearing shorts (crazy man - it was freezing out there!), and an old man who was drawing the lighthouse on his drawing pad with an orange sharpie. Mostly there were old men and old women, or young families. I did almost have an unfortunate run-in with some gypsies, though. (Irish gypsies are called Travellers, and I'd nearly forgotten that they exist, because my only experience with them has been from watching that movie about the Irish boys and their mythical horse... who turns out to be their mom, because she was a Traveller, and therefore magic, or something like that. So yeah - I've not been terribly well-informed about them.) It was on my way back, after I'd been walking for a few hours, and I was walking along the low road nearest the rocks on the beach that nobody really walks on. (Most people walk along the upper path near the street, because it's less slippery and dark. I liked going by the lower road though, because it was quieter and less crowded and, well, closer to the sea.) I saw two or three people ahead of me near a corner, but I had seen a family walking that way a bit earlier so I assumed they had stopped there for a break. When I reached the corner, I realized that it wasn't the family - it was a group of about twelve people, mostly men (plus one raggedy dog), and they were there with a bunch of bags and some food. But by then I couldn't just turn around, so I kept walking because there was a sort of aisle between the two rows of them. Then I realized, that's stupid - prime position for mugging. But yeah, too late. Three or four of them started talking to me ("'ello, 'ello 'ello," "What's your name, then?", etc.) but I'm a very fast walker and a very good ignorer, so I got through in a few seconds and was up the stairs just after. In retrospect, I probably should have just turned around - but now I know to look out for that kind of thing. Anyway, there was no harm done. Just a good lesson learned.
Nothing else really happened - I just took in lots of amazing scenery. Tomorrow, I think, I'll wake up earlier and go into Dublin. My throat's starting to feel a bit sore though (NO!!!), so hopefully that'll go away first.
Today's my Ami's birthday. I hope they all have a nice time... it makes me sad to think of everybody together without me. But. I'll be back soon enough, I suppose. On that note, even though I miss people, I'm not homesick. The family I'm staying with has made it so comfortable and welcoming for me that when I return to the house I feel like I'm coming home. I have a key and everything. And they've taught me how to use their coffee maker, so all is well. We had a fabulous dinner of roast chicken and an assortment of vegetables and biscuits and roast potatoes (which are wonderful!). I find that I can actually eat most anything out here. Also, I can do my hair in about five minutes. This is because there's so much wind here that there's really no use in doing anything to one's hair. That's my excuse for taking longer to get presentable in California - there's not enough wind.
But I hate wind. So thank you, California.
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