A Slow Week

23–11-2025

This week brought a much-needed slowdown. I’ve been going full blast to explore as much of Ireland as possible before I leave in just two weeks.

On Monday, I attended my class at Trinity College in Dublin. This week, we had a different meeting place, which was quite a hike from my bus stop. As I made my way down Pearce Street, I passed a DHL store. I need a box to ship some items back home, and it looks like I can purchase one at this store. Next Monday, when I’m back in Dublin, I plan to stop by the DHL store and hopefully buy a box.

My search for a box, highlights some of the challenges of living in a new country. I wasn't even sure where to find a box. I know UPS has an office in Waterford, but their online page didn’t indicate that I could buy a single box—only bulk orders of twenty-five or more. Additionally, I wasn’t sure where the UPS store was located. Without a car, I would need to either walk to the store or take a taxi, which would make the box quite expensive. That’s why I was so relieved to find a DHL store within walking distance of my bus stop in Dublin. I’m crossing my fingers that I can buy one box there and manage to get it home on the bus!

I had a delightful lunch by chance after my class. As I was walking back toward my usual spots in Dublin, I passed a vegetarian deli and decided to give it a try. I ordered a delicious croissant, and although the restaurant was quite busy, I managed to find a table in a back corner.

A few minutes later, a lady approached and asked if she could join me since there were no other seats available. She assured me that she wouldn’t bother me with conversation. However, I welcomed her to the table and encouraged her to talk, as I always ate lunch alone. She was from Minnesota and was in Ireland for just nine days. Her traveling companion had to drop out at the last minute, so she decided to come on her own.

I shared my story, which always piques people's interest, and we ended up having a lovely conversation about our lives. It turned out to be quite a serendipitous lunch.

The rest of the week was quiet until Saturday when my granddaughter Rachel arrived for a

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visit. As soon as she got here, we headed out to see Winterval, Waterford’s Christmas festival. Having been to Galway’s Christmas festival just a couple of weeks earlier, we were able to make some comparisons. Waterford’s festival offers more activities for children than Galway’s did, while Galway had more stalls selling food and goods than Waterford’s festival. Additionally, Galway’s stores stayed open much later than those in Waterford. Everything here was closing up at 8:00 on a Saturday night; I don’t know what time the stalls in Galway closed because we returned to the hotel to sleep before they closed. The stalls in Waterford were spread out throughout the city center, requiring a lot of walking, while the stalls in Galway were all located in one park, which made it easier to explore. In conclusion, Waterford’s festival seems to be aimed at families with children, while Galway’s festival is more geared toward adults. Both are enjoyable, but I prefer Galway’s festival to Waterford’s, as much as it pains me to admit that.

One activity we were particularly looking forward to was a drone show, something I’ve wanted to see for a long time. We decided to have an early dinner so we could be at the Quay by 7:00 to catch the show. However, we couldn’t get into any restaurants near the Quay because so many people were watching a rugby game between Ireland and South Africa (the current world rugby champions). We quickly grabbed a meal from one of the stalls at the festival and hurried to the Quay to watch the drone show. When we got there, no one was around, so Rachel checked the festival schedule on her phone. To our disappointment, we discovered that the drone show had been postponed to Sunday night due to weather conditions. This made little sense because there was no rain, no wind, and the sky was cloudless—a perfect night for a drone show. I suspect the organizers realized that people were more interested in the rugby game than the drone show. They couldn’t postpone the drone show because of a rugby game, but they could conveniently blame it on the weather. After all, this is Ireland, and it can always rain here.

Waterford Weather:     Partly Cloudy, No Rain

High: 49 F (9 C),  Low 42 F (6 C)

Sunrise:  8:03  Sunset: 4:26  (16:26 IST)

Hours of Daylight:  8 hours and 23 minutes

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