Cycle Cambodia? I don't think so.

Today's walk wasn't exactly a marathon. In fact, it was just a round-the-block saunter. Still, better than nothing, everything little thing helps ... and so on. I got a slight pang of guilt when I spotted this ad for a charity cycle on a local bus shelter, but I quickly set my mind to rest and kept right on walking.

Thursday morning sees my assessment appointment with the heart surgeon. For some reason that I can't now explain, it seemed like a good idea to return to Carl's convalescent facility and spend a couple of nights there beforehand -- actually, the main reason was that I'd convinced myself it would be more convenient to get the DART from his place than have to walk to the nearest station to my place.

It was Carl who pointed out the logistical consequences of this decision in terms of bringing things with me, so he came over to collect me this evening. Rather than have him knuckle down to cooking when we got there, we treated ourselves to a meal in Valparaiso restaurant in Monkstown. It's one of the increasing number of places which offer what used be an Early Bird menu all night for most of the week. Usually, this means that the menu choices are very limited, but this certainly wasn't the case here. My Carrot and Cumin soup was delicious, and my fish pie main course was very good too. As usual, though, after adding on a pre-meal drink and some wine and coffee, the cheapness which is traditionally connected with an Early Bird menu quickly vanished, and the bill came to over 100 euro between us. Nice, though.