Rainy skyline

What a wretched day! Rain, rain, rain all day long. All that changed was the heaviness of it all, ranging from light drizzle to driving downpour.

I picked my moment for going out, and wouldn't have left the house at all if it weren't for needing to progress arrangements for disposal of my car. So I combined a quick trip to the bank and the local shop with a visit to the Garda station to enquire about motor tax and the NCT (National Car Test) and whether one needs to be sorted before the other. I got the impression that the guard who opened the shutter wasn't fully certain when he told me a current NCT cert wasn't necessary in order to apply for motor tax, so I checked on line when I got back home. Sure enough, the cert is only obligatory for commercial vehicles and the like. So tomorrow's mission is to tax the car and to book it in for an NCT.

I didn't get too wet running in to the shop or the bank, but I had to park a bit away from the Garda station and that's when the rain decided to come down heavier, and then heavier still when I was going back to the car. Feeling miserable, I stopped off in Clontarf Castle hotel for a cup of coffee. I'm fond of this place as a blip spot, and have blipped it before. It looked very different today, with wet trail marks all over the floor and umbrellas everywhere. I climbed up to the top level of the atrium anyway, which is where I got this view of the Dublin skyline through the rain spotted windows.

The rest of the day was spent snug indoors playing with my new high-speed broadband, listening to music, reading and watching TV.