Sunday Thoughts

It’s another dark August day in rural Sligo, and the schools go back next week, so that’s it for summer. The Irish tourist board really need to market Ireland as a place to visit to cool down! The tagline could be ‘Come to Ireland, the coolest place in Europe’.

Sunday thoughts last week was great, over 70 people listened to the podcast version, which I’m surprised and delighted by. I could have done another podcast version today, but I’m tired, and my voice sounds it. Also, it’s lashing rain, and my sound studio (my car!) will pick up on that. You can listen to last week’s one here though.

It’s been a busy week. The annual Belfast Model Railway Exhibition was on yesterday, so me and Jono went along. It was a great event, and we loved looking at all the model railways, one of my favourites was the Monopoly layout – such a clever idea.

We broke the journey up on the way back with a visit to the service station for lunch. Burger King for Jono (we don’t have one in Sligo anymore), and Greggs for me. We don’t have Greggs in our neck of the woods, so it’s a guilty pleasure.

We also stopped in Enniskillen, there’s a great model railway shop there – The Modellers Corner – and Jono got some things for the little layouts that he’s working on.

I had to go to Carrick on Shannon this week for work. I called into Fika for breakfast when I was there, I met Ger and Mae when they first opened but I didn’t have time to stop, so I was delighted to go back. Ger was so kind, when I went to pay, she wouldn’t let me. Such a wonderful gesture and very much appreciated. I did try to leave some money as a tip, but she chased me out with it. If you are in Carrick, please support them, they are wonderful there, and breakfast was fantastic.

I also went to O’Halloran’s, I love this place, and treated myself to a bag of pick ‘n’ mix sweets, I love that I could ask for what I wanted and say how much I wanted to spend. The sweets were meant to be for the lads, but I’ve almost finished them! The O’Halloran’s shop story is a great one too, read about it here.

A big shout out to Carrick on Shannon tidy towns too. The town looks fantastic, and I just love the artwork on the old bath, and the little library, it’s a credit to all involved.

The season is certainly changing, the blackberries are out, the leaves are changing colour, and we say farewell to the summer that never was. I’ve got high hopes for Autumn though, you have to stay positive, don’t you?

Before I go, I want to tell you about BorrowBox from the library. I’ve got very into listening to audiobooks these days, and I didn’t realise that Spotify only let you listen to 15 hours a month, even if you have a premium account. I was mid-way though a book and my hours ran out, they wanted me to pay an extra 12.99 a month – they get enough money from me, so there was no way I was doing that. I asked on twitter and a few apps were suggested, one was BorrowBox, it’s great because it’s free with your Irish library membership. Happy days!

I hope you are all keeping well thanks as always for reading.