Irish Rail's gritting machine

It seemed like a good idea to combine a walk with a trip in to town, for two reasons: my really-need-to-do-them-daily walks have been far from daily recently, and I've begun to suffer from cabin fever. So I walked to Killester and got the DART in to town, then walked to Dawson Street and treated myself to a copy of Paul Auster's New York Trilogy (I've just finished re-reading the same author's utterly wonderful The Brooklyn Follies and am ready for another dose of Auster).

I just missed a DART when I got to the station and had a shivery fifteen-minute wait until the next one came, then a cagey walk over to Grafton Street/Dawson Street and back to Abbey Street to get the bus home. It all took a good three hours, and I felt well justified to include a stop-off at the Butler's Chocolates shop in Wicklow Street for a nice hot chocolate and a vanilla and strawberry muffin. It's good to be back home again inside my nice cosy house.

At least the City Council seem to have got their act together at long last and have managed to keep the main routes clear at least, even if pavements in the city centre are still treacherous and it's a matter of taking your life into your hands in off-the-beaten-track suburbia. Still, it was reassuring to see this guy (I presume he's employed by Irish Rail) doing his bit at Killester DART station to reduce the danger of slippage at the bottom of the northerly ramp. A bag of salt is better than nothing, I guess.