Watcher and watched

I was too busy yesterday to keep my promise and phone my friend Robin about meeting for lunch. The grand plan was to use my recently acquired travel pass and get one of the rare cross-city buses over to Terenure. I hadn't seen him since Niall's funeral, and we wanted to put our heads together about that and about making arrangements for a celebration night that's been planned for early July.

A text message from Robin ('Where's yer bleedin' bus?') was the spur I needed to down tools for a bit and go across to meet him. We had lunch in Biagio's in Terenure (nice spot, and great value - 9.95 euro for 2-course lunch) and had a good old chat over pleasant food and an okay bottle of wine. If only Dublin Bus would get their act together a bit better and increase the frequency on their routes, it would have been even more successful. As it was, I had a wait at each step of the way. The grand plan to use the cross-city bus was fine in theory, but it was only when I did an online time check that I realised the number 128 goes to Rathmines and not Terenure. Still, that meant I fitted in a decent walk on the outward leg.

You definitely see things differently when travelling by bus, especially if you're on the upper deck. This was the first of a few blips which I took through a bus window, half thinking of a from-the-bus collage or suchlike. Yer man with the beard looks like quite a character, and I abandoned the collage idea once I saw this on the pooter. This is the RIAC (Royal Irish Automobile Club) in Dawson Street. I don't know if he's a member or a club official. I think I'd like to strike up a conversation with him, though.

More silly work when I got home, right into the early hours of tomorrow. It's a tight deadline, since the client wants our quarterly magazine put to bed before she goes on holiday from Friday. It's been straight from one tight deadline to another. Maybe I'll get some sleep at the weekend.