Boy, passing

Down in Wicklow today for an anniversary garden party, scheduled for 2.30 arrival for 3.00 eats. I went for the daily walk at 11.30 and arranged to meet Carl in Glasthule at 1.00 to shop for a guestly bottle of wine and some bits and pieces as anniversary present. The intention had been to get the DART to Monkstown and walk back, but this grand plan was scuppered by Iarnród Éireann. I got my ticket from the machine off the laneway which runs beside the railway line and offered it to the barrier in roder to get through to the lift down to the platform. The lift wasn't working. I slipped back out and went round to the main entrance and once again offered my (unused) ticket to the barrier turnstile. 'Recently validated', the machine told me, but stubbornly refused to open the barrier for me. The only alternative would have been to buy another ticket, which I was not prepared to do (naturally, the ticket office was unmanned).

So I walked to Dún Laoghaire instead and along the sea front almost to Sandycove. The blip was intended to be a view of Howth with rocks in the foreground, but the boy came into frame quite accidentally.

The garden party went really well, with great companionship, okay weather, and fine food. Back at Carl's we took up Pulp Fiction where we left off last night but still didn't get to the end (I eventually realised that the scene I'd been waiting for is actually from Reservoir Dogs). Maybe we'll get to the end tomorrow after the Hungarian Grand Prix. We shall see.