Signs & Symptoms

Martin, whose place we stay in on our trips to Gran Canaria, is in town, overseeing work that's being done on his house in Ranelagh. He contacted us to make an arrangement to meet up, which we did this evening.

We booked an early bird (or what The Wild Goose in Ranelagh call an Early Goose). I got a taxi in to town. It was an impressive bit of kit, with not just a sunroof but virtually the entire roof of the car glazed. Really silent, so definitely electric. I experienced an embarrassing moment when it arrived when I couldn't figure out how to open the door. I cod you not. There was no way to grip the handle like on any normal car. I thought maybe a childhood lock was engaged and that the driver either did that for security reasons or had simply forgotten that it was on. All was explained when I leaned forward, told the driver I liked the car and asked him what make it was. It turned out it was a Tesla. Oh dear! I felt like an unknowing hypocrite, complimenting something that Elon Musk was responsible for. Some of my prejudices surfaced when I realised that the flashiness was rather skin deep, since the seats looked and felt like really cheap plastic.

Anyway … I spotted this bit of graffiti while stopped at lights on Townsend Street. An intriguing slogan. Blippable.

Our evening with Martin was wonderful. The Wild Goose was excellent. Superb staff, really pleasant atmosphere, fine food. Martin was delighted with the friendliness of the maitre 'd and our waiters. He's based in Zürich and isn't a great fan of the Swiss, finding them cold and distant. He loves being here and soaking up the generally relaxed and engaging attitude of people in 'the service industry'. The restaurant is part of McSorley's pub, so downstairs we went after our meal for a few bevvies and lots of chat.

My return taxi was a hybrid, more down-to-earth than the earlier Tesla. The driver was in super-talkative mood and we passed the journey home comparing notes about good places to get coffee (we agreed in our disparagement of the various coffee chains — Starbucks particularly, but also Insomnia and Costa). Our 'early bird' didn't live up to its name. It was 11:30 by the time I reached home.