hors saison

A couple of weeks ago it was my birthday (ouch) and we decided to get out of the city for the occasion. We took the bus to the Irish 'Sunny South' on Saturday morning, leaving an unexpectedly bright sunny Dublin to arrive in a grey tempestuous sea town by the late afternoon. I had to quickly give up on my plans of sunbathing on the trailer's dock in my 50's polka dot swimsuit but I didn't mind, there's something dreamy and melancholic about an out-of-season seaside resort. We dropped our stuff at the mobile and walked on the strand, high half on the spindrift and half on the fumes coming from Dooley's, the Holy Grail of fish & chips.

The gales got more and more tormented and when we fell asleep to the sound of the elements, the trailer was getting rocked by the wind while the rain was slapping our walls like there was no tomorrow...

We woke up to a more favourable sky and headed to Misty's, the Fifties diner for breakfast. While eating, we gathered our lucky stars and got ready for the town's best offering on a Sunday afternoon : the arcades and their numerous slots. I didn't do too bad for once, I won 6 euro on the bingo machine.

Before leaving, we had to go up the hill to the heart of the village to pay a visit to Calico. Calico is one of those 'new age' shop where you can find esoteric stuff, crafts from faraway countries and candles. The main event though is at the back of the shops where you can find piles and piles of second-hand books and the owner, a sort of local Bernard Black, his nose perpetually attached to a book. Unfortunately, it was closed that day. Can't always get lucky.