Previously, I thought I was blending in fairly well to the local Dublin scene - as long as I don't open my mouth I have the fair skin of a typical celt who may have lived here for generations. However, today I found this is not the case - I think they spotted me from 100 paces.


So I am setting out to walk to Uni with my computer strapped to my back and my normal northern hemisphere clothing to date - long pants, thermals, pure woollen jumper, a wind proof fleece, woollen overcoat, my woollen Dockers scarf (thank you Chris), water proof walking boots, thick socks and two pairs of gloves (one leather one wool) and my red beanie. OK so I look a little large but so far not too out of place. But when I stepped outside today the weather included not just a maximum of 4C but also snow - which when it hit the ground, or alternatively was intercepted by me, was very wet. So I stopped and topped up my urbane gear with my khaki green rain cape and a bright orange umbrella. So how did I know I stuck out like a sore thumb? Because in my 25 minutes walk to Uni I did not see one other person with a) as much warm clothing, b) a rain coat or c) an umbrella that was any colour other than black.


In fact all the uni students also doing the same walk did it without any covering at all - apparently it is not cool to rug up against the cold or wet weather - I saw one girl alight from a car with only jeans and a t-shirt to ward of potential pneumonia. Of course an extra hint I had of my foreign response to the weather was the people who crossed the road rather than be potentially accosted for their spare change by the khaki Hunchback of Notre Dame that approached them. Oh the social risk Margaret and Suz - I don't think 30 paces between us may have been enough to protect you.

However, I must say that I have had a week of glorious weather which has allowed me to tramp kilometres in all directions from my house so now I have got a good lie of the land. With a few days off from Uni I chose to visit the seaside town of Bray - see the photos below. While walking along the beachside admiring the large stones on the beach I noticed a large cross on top of a hill and thought that is the destination for me. It took 1.5 hours to climb up the hill - though this would have been shorter if I found the walking path that wound its way gently to the top rather than scaling the rock face up the more direct front. The views from the top were amazing and I thought of all my walking partners on the Bibulmun Track and how much they would have enjoyed the experience. So you are all never far from my mind.

As I live near The Dart - it is directing all my local travel experiences at the moment and I stopped of in Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dunleary) to take advantage of the student movie ticket price on Tuesdays (I saw Notes on a Scandal). I plan this as a weekly event so the Day family tradition of seeing and talking about movies on a travel blog continues. Love Cathy



Click on the photos if you want to see them in a bigger format.

Walking to Uni today in the snow



The cross on Bray's head




Views from Top of the Cross
and the town of Bray.



This view shows the top of Bray Head
where there is a cross enticing people
like me to view more closely.



My bedroom in Una's house in Ballsbridge












Una at the nearby beach - the tide was
out so the water was 500m away.
When the tide is in the water is up to
30cm deep!













Una's house in Ballsbridge is situated
in a cul de sac so very quiet.