Walled-in church

Another black and white day, though by the time I was leaving Malahide Castle the sun was beginning to fitfully break through the clouds. I'd gone out there after a bite of lunch with one of the guys from the music group who I haven't seen for quite a while. We just had convenience food in the Insomnia place at Northern Cross, where he lives. As I waited for him to come down from his apartment I was surprised to see that the Fresh shop was being transformed into yet another Eurospar (a real shame, since Fresh had lots of unusual stuff on offer and was a nice, airy place to spend a few euro in. Actually, that's what Tom said was the problem: over-inflated prices. He says the staff remains unchanged and he's been told the stock will also remain the same, but I can't see that happening.

I spent a while wandering around the grounds at Malahide Castle. Once again I came on the old churchyard which looks so out of place, hidden behind its surrounding stone wall and protected behind its padlocked gates. I wonder if it's possible to make a special application to somebody to get a key and be allowed inside the compound? Meanwhile all I could do was blip away from my side of the stone wall. I spotted this bird hovering around the ruined tower, took a chance and rolled off a sequence, hoping that one at least of the resulting frames would have the bird in a photogenic spot. This one was the best of the bunch. A bit of post-processing and a touch of exaggerated high contrast, and this was the result.

The day began, of course, with Carl's trip to the airport for his visit 'Stateside'. Even at 7.45 am things were chaotic in the ridiculously laid out drop-off area outside Departures. I drove back home, leaving Carl to the prospect of his two-and-a-half-hour wait before lift-off. It's 13 hours later as I write this and he still has time to go before he reaches his final destination. Not a pleasant journey. Perhaps it's time planes flew faster.