Saturday 6 April 2024

For some strange reason (maybe “only in Ireland?”), our house heating is set for 12 noon to 12 midnight. We want to be warm in the mornings, as the evenings are under a doona and quite toasty. To fix this, Flashy lights the open fire on rising in the morning and because of the height of the chimney/flue, the flames are spectacular.

The storm has resulted in some leaf stripping and it’s still gusting, with scattered showers here in Limerick but we are reasonably protected. The drive in to the Milk Market (no milk of course) is fairly straight forward and the market itself is pretty high quality. We buy some local cheeses, dips, sausages, salami and bread and meet a bloke from Keith in South Australia, for some greens and sweet potato. The old story, he met an Irish girl “and here I am.”

A different way home from the market via Herbert’s Bar, which has been recommended by our host as having good live music. We arrive at 12.00 noon. It opens at 1.00 pm. It’s windy and showers about, so we don’t hang about in the carpark like a couple of desperados, but drive home through the village, stopping briefly for some beer and wine. A nice platter for lunch, with our charcuterie and a little research on dead rellies for the next couple of days travel.

As the day goes on, Lady P takes Sonja for a little walk and Flashy goes on a little walk without a lead. He ends up at Bradshaws Pub and takes the last seat at a packed bar. The Guinness is OK, not brilliant. Further research is called for.

We managed to link the phone by Bluetooth to the car’s screen today, so that the maps are prominently displayed and ‘Siobhan’, the talking GPS, can be easily heard. Of course, she has decided to talk only about half the time. Something to do with the fairies we reckon.

Lady P has now developed a taste for hot, spicy food. She has roasted cauliflower with some hot, eye-watering spice and is adding tablespoons of spices to a bean mix. Flashy did say that harissa is usually added by the half teaspoon - but too late. It can always be used as paint stripper, I suppose. We are contemplating a sauna tonight. That should make the electricity meter spin!

Bradshaws has lots of bottles of spiritus liqueurs

Our converted house - coachhouse to the left and court house on the right. The cobbled stables are out the back.


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