Stepping out again

I was due over with Carl this morning. We're off to Lisbon at the beginning of March, and we still hadn't booked accommodation, so I was beginning to panic. While we could have done individual internet searches and come up with short lists from which a final choice could have been made by an exchange of emails, this approach would not have been as quick as working on it together. So that was the priority for the day, and the grand plan.

The weather had other ideas, though. I was hugely surprised when I got out of bed to find snow falling. The flakes were small, but they were many, they were falling steadily, and snow cover was building up all the time. So I phoned to say I'd wait for later developments, not wishing to run the risk of a slip-slidey accident on the way across the city. I had a quick bite to eat and went back to bed. To my great surprise, it was almost 3.00 pm when I woke again. A quick glance out the window showed that the snow hadn't lasted, and that driving conditions were no worse than they would be after a shower of rain. So off I went.

We first familiarised ourselves with Lisbon and its layout and tourist sights so that we'd have some idea of where places were when we found likely accommodation. We were thinking along the lines of standard hotels, and had found a few which were in our price range and in likely parts of the city. And then, somehow or other, Carl stumbled on the very place: an apartment in the Chiado district. After seeing this, there was no contest, really. The apartment was shown as available for our dates, so we sent off an enquiry to the owner. Confirmation was waiting in my inbox when I got home, so we're sorted -- and nicely.

I'd earlier heard from Rita that Derek was back home after his surgery, so I arranged to go over to see him when I'd finished in Carl's. I took the Port Tunnel route, which got me from Glasthule in South Dublin to Ashbourne in county Meath in no time at all. Derek was in okay form, though a bit upset because of all the medication he's been prescribed and especially because there's a spray included which he has to use under his tongue if he feels any suspicious twinges. We had a good chat, keeping a weather eye out all the time in case it turned frosty. I was back home in time to finalise arrangements for the Lisbon apartment before 11.30.

A good day. [The blip: just a quick shot of some of Carl's shoes which I sneakily blipped while he was out of the room. He'll probably kill me.]