Crown

A day of bright clearings and rainshowers, the kind on which, as the wean observed, we might see a rainbow. S is still in Vienna (with her mum, who tagged along for a little holiday); back on Sunday, the end of a four day business trip.

He agreed to come with me to the city centre, provided we took the the 'train', so I drove to the LUAS and parked, then sat with him for the 20 minute journey, always a pleasure to see the rising and falling embankments give way to backgardens, roads (a view of the clouded mountains), that little church near Dundrum with the ramshackle graveyard, the canal, then the bricky glassy encroaching city. It had been raining and I couldn't keep him out of the puddles (his Peppa Pig obsession). I took him into Bewleys to take a leak (he actually agreed to use the hand-dryer!) then Brown Thomas, two emporiums I haven't entered in years, the latter to see if they had any compact umbrellas. None seemed compact enough to shove in a coat pocket or shoulderbag. He was restless and bolted around a corner in a downstairs mens dept., and suddenly I really thought he might get lost in the labyrinth of mirrors and mannikins and Saturday bustle. If I ran after him he might circle back and get even more lost, so I shouted, not panicked but loud and firm. And sure enough he reappeared. But it can happen, just like that!

I had Conns check out the Canon (a small repair job on the outside of the lens: they recommended Superglue, which makes sense). I agreed to take the wean into the Tower Record/DVD store nearby provided he didn't argue with my refusal to buy anything too expensive. So we emerged with The Three Musketeers (starring mickey mouse) and the Prime Suspect 1995 movie, which I'm sure I've seen but entirely forgotten.

On the way back up Grafton Street I spotted this perfect little cloud, crowning the afternoon.