Sepia sky with birds

I paid yet another visit to the shops in Dundrum Town Centre in the afternoon, hoping among other things to treat myself to one final bit of retail selfishness. One of the photo shops there has a reasonably good stock of Lowepro camera bags, and I managed to find one that matched my needs. I was a bit surprised when I saw the price, and hesitated at first. Then I told myself that I deserved to be spoiled and went to pay. There was no indication on the Lowepro racks that anything was reduced in price, so getting 25% off was all the more pleasant as a result and instantly did away with any lingering feelings of guilt.

Following a quick bite to eat I called in to a friend to convey birthday greetings (there's never any danger of forgetting that birthday) and then continued on to pick up Carl and head for Bray and friends with whom it's now become a tradition to welcome in the new year. They've recently changed house and went through the stressful experience over the past few weeks of having builders in to carry out some structural work and install a new kitchen -- all wonderfully successful. We were treated to a lovely meal, and then before we knew it the clock had made its way to 11.45 and we barely had time to break open the bubbly and do the countdown things to bid farewell to 2007 and welcome 2008 onto the scene.

We played charades for a bit, assembled and messed around with an uncooperative Scalextric-type track. Apart from that it was drink and chat until 6.00 am. A great night. I didn't really expect to get any useable blips from the evening, especially in its later stages, so it was just as well I spent a while around Deer Park up behind Stillorgan on my way to the Dundrum shops, from where there's an excellent view across the city on a good day. Conditions weren't all that great for the camera (too hazy), but I did get a couple of okay shots of sky and trees.