As I was away on the day of my birthday, Mr. Waffle and I decided to take Thursday off work and go for a walk together as a birthday celebration for me.
We went to Carlingford. It can be really beautiful up there. It was not beautiful on Thursday. It lashed rain; that rain that hits the ground and then bounces back up again and hits you from underneath. We abandoned our plans for a walk and went to the Heritage Centre in the old Protestant church. It was fine as these things go but limited. Standing in the church graveyard in the driving rain looking at the gravestones, I couldn’t help feeling that it was all going rather poorly. This was before I stood on a large sloping, slate gravestone to examine the inscription in more detail. Slate is quite slippy in the rain and I managed to hit my knee, shoulder and the side of my face as I went down. No serious injury but mild pain, humiliation and misery.
Then we went for lunch. We went to Fitzpatrick’s. It was recommended by a friend. It didn’t really do it for me. Mr Waffle described it as “Johnny Fox’s North” and that was about the size of it. Food was fine; big quantities and decor very touristy. Unfortunately, I then proceeded to succumb to a migraine to add the icing to that particular birthday cake.
Alas. Let us hope that the rather inauspicious beginning is not an omen for the year.