Gardeners

After an eye clinic appointment in the Mater hospital I met Carl for coffee in the Schoolhouse Hotel. It's years since we'd been there and it's still a great spot. Surprisingly under-populated around 11:30, and too early for meaningful food so we just had coffee and scones. It's a quirky place, and that's where we met this cheeky pair stuck in a niche in an outside wall. Another wall had what we thought was a 'living wall' panel but it turned out to be plastic.

Afterwards we moved on around the corner to a café and bar in the Grand Canal Hotel. It looked like a good spot on Google Maps but the 'café' turned to be a tiny concession in the hotel lobby and the bar is all about craft beer, which we hate. A helpful barman directed me back out to the lobby where he said I'd get a Heineken. What I really wanted was a Smithwicks shandy, but that was too much to expect. Their toasted ham and cheese sandwich was good.

Earlier, near the hospital, I spotted an old P&T access manhole cover on the pavement. Talk about memories! P&T (Post agus Telegrafa) was the forerunner of Telecom Éireann and had a government minister (for Posts and Telegraphs) when I was a lad.