Smokestacks & Bench

I still had to do a final check, produce high-res PDFs, gather together support material, and burn everything to disc to hand over to the printer, so I was up at 5.00 am to do this and get it all ready for when the printer phoned (I just couldn't face into doing this last night when I got back from the opera). He had an appointment at 9.00 and said he'd phone after that to arrange a time and a place to meet. I had everything ready at 7.00 and went for a lie-down to wait for his call. I don't know what happened his 9.00 am appointment, because the phone call came at 8.30! I had hoped he'd be a bit later and that I'd miss the rush hour traffic, but up I got and out I went, expecting a slow trip to our meeting point. I've no idea what was so different about this morning, but there was hardly anything on the road, and I got in to town in record time. It seems so strange after all the work and the crazy hours and the more crazy time-keeping that all there is to hand over is one little CD, but that's what changed hands.

Yesterday's feeling of relief and of having a weight lifted off my shoulders was even stronger as we parted, so I parked the car and went off for some retail therapy. I got some much-needed bits and pieces for bedroom and bathroom in a recently opened home store, rescued the car and went over to the bank. On the way I noticed the Liffey was really high (must be a very high tide these days), and the sunlight on the water looked gorgeous and the Sean O'Casey pedestrian bridge looked especially photogenic, so I pulled in and got the camera ready for action. Why didn't I charge the battery last night? Unfortunately I hadn't, and I got the dreaded 'change battery pack' warning. I took this as a warning that I shouldn't waste any more time, so when I finished in the bank I went to a camera shop and got not just a battery pack but a polarising filter too (already have a UV one).

Unfortunately, it had turned cloudy again by the time I'd finished all my bits and pieces and got back home, so I lazed away a good while until both batteries were cooked and ready for action before heading out on a mini blip expedition. When in doubt I find now that I head either for St Anne's Park or the Bull Wall, and it was the sea wall which won out this time (even though the high tide I'd admired earlier was now well gone out). It was also bitterly cold, but I braved it all for blip and got some fifty shots in about twenty minutes, at which stage my fingers were becoming numb and I called it a day. The sun was doing nice things breaking through the clouds, so most of the fifty shots are of that. It was really good to get out of the house with the new camera. I'm sure both it and the Blip community are sick and tired of close-up after close-up of household items while I've been tied up with the work project. I'm really looking forward to next week and getting out and about some more, backup battery pack at the ready.

It's now 8.15 pm, I've had another lie-down, I'll have a quick bite to eat after this blip session, and then I need to get stuck into some serious housework. The place is in a bit of a mess and is feeling rather neglected due to the hectic work schedule. I'm having people over to lunch on Sunday, so things need to be ship-shape.