Howth

First of all, it rhymes with both. Howth. Which is silly, if they want it to be Ho-wth they should not have that W in there, it looks to me like How-th. But if you say it like that you will be laughed at. Anyway, Howth is a suburb of Dublin, and I was there to look for samples on a data buoy that was being serviced. So in the picture below you can see some of Dublin city across the water, because Howth is a peninsula.

And here is a very picturesque island, that lies just off of the harbour. It was nice. I didn't have my camera with me at sunset but it was nice early in the morning too. Howth is very small, there wasn't much option for dinner really, plus being a student there has to be some semblance of budgeting. So dinner was had at a pub/restaurant and first of all there was this oldish fella sitting at the bar and he had the hugest moustache I have ever seen - it was like some sort of little animal stuck onto his upper lip. And then there was this chick that kept going in and out, walking past the table back and forth. And she was wearing a white maxi-dress and it was so see-through - her companions should have told her. But then, she probably knew already. Perhaps she was a hooker. Probably not, but still, it's amusing to make up stories about strangers.

But anywho, the sampling was completely fruitless, there was nothing on the buoy except for seaweed, a couple of starfish, and strangely enough scallops. Strange because scallops are supposed to live buried in the sand of the seabed. Secretly though, I'm not overly disappointed about the sampling, I'm sick of barnacles. I have given some to the aquarium and they are doing well so if I get my way I will give them all the rest for Christmas - so I will get to have a break from work! And maybe I just won't take them back (that's probably entirely wishful thinking). The weather was good, apparently it is always much better in Dublin than Galway, and the water was really still, so the marina made for pretty pictures.

But now I'm back in Galway and so unimpressed with all this bloody rain. After spending all my money on holiday, I got paid and sorted out the credit card. So to relieve the monotony of rain and cold weather I am giving the credit card some more exercise - I have in the last week or so brought a sewing machine! And a guitar! Plus halloween is coming, they do it properly here, so that means costumes and parties and pumpkin carving. Some fun is definately in order, work is hectic this week, I keep getting rained on and my shoes don't keep the water out. I had to go buy an extension cord to plug in the new sewing machine and the hardware store near here, it's a big one too, would have to be the most sorry excuse for a hardware store ever. No extension cord. And I got rained on. But on coming out of the store the rain stopped and the sky was this weird green-yellow colour, I wished I had my camera with me. There was a rainbow too, it was really bright and a complete half-circle, with another shadow-rainbow behind it. But no camera. So I went across to the big supermarket and I was getting a few supplies, and you know I just cannot bring myself to change my opinions or take back any comments about supermarkets in this bloody country. Today, the supermarket had lots of blue food colouring but not other colours. What's up with that? And no vanilla essence, just almond and brandy and lemon. Weird.