I’m still plugging away at Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (excellent DLC, by the way). Here’s what I’ve been up to otherwise.

Garden Update

The raised beds are showing various degrees of success. One bed is being slowly replaced by potatoes, and has a good crop of lettuce and radishes. A few of the beetroot and carrots have popped up, but not everything has germinated. The weather is a tad unpredictable at the moment. The sun is either splitting the trees, or we are nearly washed away in a flash flood. There isn’t much in between.

The Lizard (not, not the Cornish one)

This is a first for me in Plymouth. Walking along the South West Coast Path I came across a little critter enjoying the heat. A quick Google seems to suggest the most likely culprit is a Common Wall Lizard. I love seeing walls covered in lizards in Southern Europe, but hadn’t come across them here until the other day.

Nudibrunch

If you’re hungry along the path, fear not. Tucked away in Cattedown in the back of Sound Diving there is a little café aptly named Nudibrunch. It’s such a good pun, my autocorrect is furiously trying to replace it with nudibranch, the colourful and often ostentatious sea slugs.

I had a coffee and a sausage sandwich, and spent the time reading about cnidarians and talking with the owner about his experience with ocean photography and freediving.

The (It’ll be Grand) Tour

An Irish adventure. That was the plan for half term, but we didn’t have much mapped out other than that. We knew where to start, and where to end, but the rest was up for debate. The open ended (or middled?) itinerary left us with a lot of flexibility. We ended up touring the North Coast of Northern Ireland, part of Donegal, Connemara, Galway, Birr, Cashel/Cahir, and Piltown/Kilkenny. Having driven extensively around the Southern part of England, the distances didn’t bother me. No. What really bothered me was the insane driving and quality of the roads.

The weather was incredible for the first half of the trip. The drive down through Mayo and Galway was breathtaking. My grandfather loved driving the west coast of Ireland and I didn’t really appreciate it when I was young. It was more about the destination and sitting in a car for hours was never fun. I had a whole new experience exploring the island as an adult, and it is truly a phenomenal place.

Stay tuned for more Ireland.