Day 6 Ennis

O'Connell St Ennis

The day started off with a very soft and gentle rain... and I thought it was going to be a cold and wet day. My picture of the beach this morning reflects this...

Lahinch Beach on a rainy morning

I went to Mass at 10 am to say thanks for Jim coming out of his operation ok. As  usual we prayed for everyone who had died and one man in particular who was being buried at Ennistymon Church at 12 noon.  So  I just said my Eternal rest prayer for him, not realizing he was going to affect my day later!

In the meantime, I think I have a new 2nd best friend, because Dave, the TV man was able to fix my TV! Yay!!!!! He was up on the roof and round about  for ages in the rain, so I was very grateful that he got it sorted for me.

That kept me at home for a while, but my plan for today was to go to Ennis to try and sort out my issues with the sim card. So once the TV was sorted, I was off.......

And this is where the prayers at Mass this morning for those who died kicked in to my world!

Because I had to go through Ennistymon at just on 12 noon... and the whole town was stopped for the beginnings of the funeral... Apparently the gentleman who died was a prominent policeman in Ennistymon, so the cops just stopped all the traffic while the hearse was brought in.  Again the Irish culture was very evident in that local community... And nobody was worried about the traffic buildup. It was just a mark of respect to wait.

So once we got going again, I set my sights for Ennis, the virtual capital of County Clare It's only half an hour from Lahinch and the road was reasonable. Nobody was speeding along, everyone just kept a steady pace.

Dave, the TV man, had advised me where to park, which was just as well, because there are quite a few pedestrian malls and getting around can be a bit tricky. So I found his car park - next thing to do was to find a phone shop that sold sims

Here's a few pics of Ennis to give you an idea of the town...

O'Connell St Ennis

River Fergus flows through Ennis

Daniel O'Connell monument

Ennis street

So now the next challenge was to find a phone shop. I knew there was a Vodaphone one there somewhere, so I tried my Google Maps for walking, but I was getting totally confused with that. Anyway, I resorted to the age old trick... "Excuse me... do you know..." People are always so kind an helpful and the Irish are exceptionally so.

Anyway I got there and the lovely girl installed my new sim card so I can use the local Vodaphone network, instead of using my Australian Telstra connection, which I've been using intermittently for the last week. God knows what my Telstra bill will be like when I get home????

I wanted to pick up a few groceries so after asking around, I found there was a Dunnes Store - which seems to combine groceries with Myers!!!!

Dunnes Store

So then I had to find my way back to the car park. I usually have a reasonable sense of direction, so with a bit of luck and a few prayers to St Anthony I made it back.  Found something interesting on the way... 😁

Look carefully at the street name :) 

By this time the sun was out and it was a beautiful drive home through the very green Irish country side.

I've decided to stay home and cook for myself tonight. Just need to keep tabs on my diet and it will be good to have some home made pasta tonight...

So that was a lovely day out and I successfully completed one job!

Hopefully meeting up with my cousin Marie tonight.

Late edition:

Just caught up with Marie and we went for a lovely walk along the promenade - although I have to admit she is a bit fitter than me!!! Beautiful evening for it though...

Marie and Moira - Lahinch sunset