Lamp-lit leaves

It was really good to have a bit of a lie-on this morning, even if the lie-on was largely needed because of hours of reading during the night of The Slap. I'd seen the first and parts of the second and third episodes of the TV adaptation, but hadn't been gripped enough to persevere with it. The book is a totally different matter -- a real unputdownable experience.

The rest of the morning was spent lazily, the most energetic moment being when I opened the door for a parcel-post delivery (one of my rare orders of actual CDs as opposed to my usual downloads). Egon Wellesz's complete symphonies is the main item, which is unavailable to download. I listened to Symphony No. 1 and was especially impressed by the final movement. Only eight more to go.

After lunch I headed down to Wicklow town, on a bit of a Christmas mission. It was four o'clock by the time I got down there, and the light was quickly failing. Still I spent the guts of an hour wandering around happily snapping away. I agonised a bit about today's blip, but kept coming back to this shot of these lamp-lit leaves down by the river.

The journey back up to Dublin was trouble-free, but things really clogged up when I tried to get through the city centre. Trying to cross the Samuel Beckett bridge was a nightmare, so I gave up, parked the car off Baggot Street and went for something to eat while I let the traffic calm down. Most places in and around Baggot Street were busy, busy, busy with Christmas bookings, and the only place I managed to get a table was in Matt the Thresher on Baggot Street. It's more a pub than a restaurant, and it was pretty much choc-a-block and very, very noisy. Still, beggers and choosers and all that. The food was quite good, though I only stayed for starter and main course before running away from the noisy revellers.