Hugs Galore

A pet of a day (but with a sting in a tail).

My car was booked in for a service at 9am, over the far side of the city in ISA Autos in Blackrock. I had a short list of things to be done, but I got a call about half an hour after check-in to say they'd already found some serious problems. A follow-up call gave the bad news that it would cost €700 to put things right. That was the sting in the tail.

Carl met me at the garage and had a hospital appointment a bit later. We stopped off at Coffee To Go (Extra 1) near Blackrock DART station for coffees, lemon drizzle cake and a (massive) sausage-and-black-pudding roll. On the way back to the car I spotted a door beside the café which seemed to promise something of a musical nature (Extra 2).

Carl's chat with his consultant lasted all of five minutes, but we had a wait of over an hour before he was called in. The outcome was mixed. On the trek to the clinic in St Vincent's I spotted an attractive piece of wall art which cried out to have a camera pointed at it. This is Hugs Galore, a three-dimensional wire-structure piece by Susan Cuffe.

The weather improved dramatically by the time we got back to Carl's place. The garden beckoned and we spent a really pleasant while soaking up the sun before I was dropped down to the DART at Glenageary. Checking times we were surprised to find that DART frequency has much improved, with trains popping up at ten-minute intervals throughout the day. Sadly, Irish Rail rather let the side down inside my train, since the display that indicates the stops progress wasn't working. That was no problem with me, since I'm familiar with all the stations between Glenageary and Clontarf Road, but I pity visitors who have no idea where they are or what the next station is.

I took it easy back home until the time arrived to organise a taxi pickup to take me and my dear friend Alison in to town for a meal in the good old reliable Trocadero restaurant. The meal was a thank to Alison for helping me out while my bathroom was being re-invented back the beginning of June. Carl joined us for a wonderful meal and great chat, which brought a really enjoyable day to a close, even allowing for the bad news about the car.