Dungarvan

We spent two nights in a B&B just outside Dungarvan, in the south east of Ireland. Dungarvan will forever stand out in my mind for having 5 pharmacies within three blocks of each other. Of course, only one of the five was open on the windy, rainy evening when I needed a band-aid and a needle to operate on the Dublin blister that was consuming my right heel. Naturally, this sole (ha ha) beacon of pharmaceutical work ethics was the last of the five that I limped hopefully up to through the horizontal drizzle.

However, the pharmacist made up for all my suffering by being charming, extremely helpful, quite good looking and possessed of the most adorable Irish accent. We chatted about the weather while he turned the store upside down and shook it vigorously in the hope that a needle would fall out (it didn't, but I didn't care anymore). He told me that Ireland is beautiful when the sun shines, which happens for at least 6 or 7 days each year. It was unfortunate, he said, that this year they were all in May. He suggested that we could try coming back next May but, of course, next year's summer might happen one week in August.

Armed with the brand of sticking plaster recommended by my new favourite pharmacist I limped back out through the drizzle.

Perhaps as a treat for being so brave about lancing my nasty blister, Dungarvan laid on a special sunset. This is what I saw when I hopped to the window of my room.