Fabulous Friday

Had an extremely busy day today. I knew that the Eircom installer was coming today, but the window was between 8 am and 1 pm. I decided to rearrange the furniture in the living room as I didn't like there being a chair behind the door. Of course, while I was moving furniture I swept. I love it when I have a good reason to clean - it gets me moving. I played music randomly on my iPod and really got a lot done.

The installer showed up around 10:30 to find that I had a box ready to hook the modem to, but the wall it is on has no electrical outlets on it.  We tried to reach the outlet in the kitchen, but the cord was too short. He had to go to the work area to set me up, so while he was gone I walked over to the hardware around the corner and brought an extension cord (they call it an extension lead).  So I brought a small bed table out from the bedroom and put it around the corner into the kitchen where it will be very handy to store hot pads and kitchen linens.

After I played with the wifi for a bit, I took a shower and headed out for my first walk of the day. I walked down Main Street where all the shops are and when I got to the end I walked down to the quay and then decided to go home a different way. I turned away from the quay on a street down at the far end, only to find that the Tesco store was there. Many people had told me it was pretty far for a walk. Huh? Oh man, what a store. The street level was parking and you had to go up on a very interesting gizmo. It is a combination escalator and people mover so that there are no stairs and you can take shopping carts up and down. Who knew?

I did a little shopping and then decided to try to find my way home a new way. I knew I just had to find a road perpendicular to the one I was on and turn to the right. Imagine my surprise when I had to walk about a mile before I finally found one. I was really thinking that I couldn't get home from there. Once I turned right and was on a hilly section, I could see the water so I knew I was headed the right way and before long I began to see familiar landmarks. When I got home I found from my fitbit that I had walked 7,744 steps so I planned to take another walk after dinner.

I made dinner and ate and then waited for about 6:15 so it would soon be dusk. I hadn't been out at dusk or later so this was going to be another adventure. As I was putting my shoes on my fitbit vibrated to let me know that I'd fulfilled my 10,000 steps (it is amazing how many steps you walk getting dressed, sweeping the courtyard and making dinner). But I headed out anyway. Here are a few pix that I took.

This is the Spiegeltent for the festival.

Here is it again from the side.

A sailboat out in the harbor.

I think this is a fishing vessel coming into port.

Got a little bit of lights and reflections on this one.

I'm meeting Philomena and some of the other TidyTown volunteers to plant flowers in pots tomorrow at 9 am. Then I think we are going out for tea. It is really nice to get to know some of the women in the community. There are men in the group too and they go out with us, but I think it will take longer to get to know them, except maybe for Aaron, one of the women's sons. He seems a pretty friendly lad.

I also called and made a doctor appointment today so I can show him the migraine medicine I take and see if he will continue to prescribe it. If I feel comfortable in the office, I will ask Townsend to send my records to him. And last, but not least, I signed up for insurance today - another pleasant surprise. In the event of any accidents that require a visit to what we would call ER I am fully covered, and any incidents that require hospitalization, I have to pay the first €75 and they pay the rest. The cost of this insurance which will be direct debited from my bank account is a whopping €82. I was paying almost $300 a month at home for less insurance.

Now I just have to wait for the policy to arrive in the mail and I am ready to go to the Garda and get whatever is necessary to be allowed to stay here indefinitely. I must say I was concerned when the immigration officer at the airport only gave me two months to fulfill the requirements, but things have just been falling into place.

Bonus, the doctor's office is between my place and the library - literally 2 minutes away on foot.

Tata....