Sea Pinks, Bullock Harbour

The cold snap has become an all-out break: heading below zero tonight apparently.

My first morning waking with the wean (and without the wife, who's off for a week on a business trip to Jamaica). He came into my room at around 7.a.m. I misread the clock though and thought it was 6. And he wouldn't give in to my entreaty to lie in for a little while.

After leaving him into the creche, I dithered in the house for awhile, went for a run in the park, then drove over to call on my mum, who is spending 2 weeks in the Dalkey respite unit.

Then I drove down to Bullock Harbour, in the early winterish dusk, gulls riding the freezing winds above my head.

I climbed on the rocks, took some shots and gazed for a little while at the rosy clouds (heavily perfumed with nostalgia), the big ships on the horizon, till my hands and face began to sting and go numb.