Hidden courtyard

I'd arranged with Carl to go over to his place and watch the Italian Grand Prix there. BEcause of working until 8.00 am I phoned him around 11.0 to say I'd be a bit late and to ask him to record the race for later viewing. We had some loose ends to bring together for the forthcoming holiday, and I needed to gather some information onto my MacBook to bring over to the other side of the city. This meant we were watching the race about an hour and a half after the actual event. Our friend Robin, a real motor racking addict if ever there was one, is away on holiday in Spain. His text message said "Not one of the better ones", and thankfully that's all he said, since I would have been very upset if I'd known the race result prematurely. I enjoyed the race more than Robin did, and was delighted to see the two Ferraris do so well. Five races to go. We're in for an exciting finish to the season.

By the time we got to the end of the recorded race it was 4.15, and we still had to head towards Wicklow to check out some paving material for possible use in Carl's place. From there we dropped in on our friends in Bray, then back to Carl's for takeaway (well, delivery, really - Indian for me; pizza for Carl). I was back home by 10.15 or so.

We had a little bit of time to kill before heading for Bray, so stopped off in a little pub in Kilpedder. Being kind, I suppose you could apply the fashionable word 'retro' to the place and its décor. It's a good spot, with the great advantage of prices which are much, much lower than we're used to in Dublin. We sat at the bar, deciding that it was perhaps not mild enough to justify sitting outside in the smoking yard. The closest I got to that was this view through the toilet window. I thought it had a rather continental feel to it, it's nicely secluded, and the red flowers or leaves made quite a dramatic display.