No. 5

Another dull grey day, relieved only by a bit of research into possible destinations for a trip away next month. Originally, the great plan was to go to the South of France at the end of August or the beginning of September as a sort of extension to my convalescence time, to be spent lazily and self-indulgently just lying around lazily in a warmer climate. But then I got involved back in work again and the quarterly magazine, which would normally have gone to press at the end of August, dragged on and on and on and only got tidied away at the end of last week. Once that was out of the way, Carl was able to book a slot in work, and will now be off for the second and third weeks in November.

An Aer Lingus winter sale offer came to an end at midnight last night and we toyed for a bit with the idea of going to Venice. For some reason, I couldn't get my holiday mojo together and just didn't react quickly enough. So I promised to research some other options today. Frankfurt quickly got shot on the head (too far north), and Faro and Lyon somehow seemed unlikely destinations for the minimum week which we're aiming for. A bit more digging brought up the possibility of Nerja, and that's now top of the list. One of the guys from the music group is recently back from a holiday there, so we;re consulting him before making a final decision. As I checked flights and fares and accommodation I gradually felt myself getting into going-away mode, and now I'm all on for it. If it doesn't turn out to be Nerja, it'll be somewhere else. The important thing is that we'll be getting away from dull and dismal Dublin for a week or so next month.

I wasn't able to do any of this until the afternoon because of an unexpected call about another job proposal which I needed to attend to first. With that out of the way and some get-away research under the belt as well, I braved the murkiness and went out for a late-afternoon walk. Nothing spectacular: just a drive up to the old reliable St Anne's Park again and a bit of a walk around the parkland. Conditions were hugely different from the last time I was there, and certainly far from ideal for enjoyable and productive blipping. I'd parked the car in the Red Stables car park, and it was only when I got back there that I spotted this strange little metal door thing set into the brick wall right in front of where the car was. I've no idea what it is or what it's for, but it met my blip need for the day.