Friday, August 19, 2011

A Morning on the Seaside

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.  ~Isak Dinesen


A trip to presumably the best beach in Dublin was a great escape from the city yesterday morning. When my friend, Áine (pronounced An-ya, for my non-Irish friends) suggested it, I jumped at the chance, as we've never been to Skerries' Beach and we're all about exploring unseen places our last month here. 


Stupidly I didn't do much research on how to get there - I just knew we needed to get the train at my local DART station (Dublin City's rail service). It was a bit more complicated than I anticipated and the lift was out of order so imagine a frantic woman trying to get to the other side of the platform, baby in one arm, stroller and coffee in the other and diaper bag over the shoulder - which in involved going up two flights of stairs, running to the other side and seeing the train pull in as I was descending the last two flights to get to the platform. Liam was crying and I nearly was as we boarded at the last possible second!


We got to the next station in just a couple of minutes and had to wait about 15 minutes for the train to Skerries, as well as our friends who were running a bit late (these morning playdates are difficult, I tell you!) The train was pulling in and Aine was not in sight! I ran to the front and asked the conductor (do we still call them that??) if he could wait a couple of extra seconds for my friend who was thisclose (see the train to Skerries does not come very freqeuntly, so this train was our only chance!). He said he would try but couldn't wait long - they have to account for every second. Well, the couple extra seconds were all we needed as Áine andherbaby literally flew through the gate and onto the train (although in a different car than the one I was in)! No worries though, she joined me in my compartment at the next stop and we breathed a collective sigh of relief. Soon we watched the Sea come into view and arrived at the Skerries stop. Now, to the beach!


The train station in Skerries

 Ahh.... can you smell the fresh sea air?


Having fun!

Áine & Matthew

We had such a lovely time at the beach, and the boys were so exhausted by the time we left that they fell asleep in their strollers on our walk back to the station. Áine and I managed to have a wonderful conversation while we waited 30 minutes for the train, without interruption! It was a peaceful ride home, too. It's true, Isak, salt water is the cure - I didn't even know I needed one.

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