Clarity, Friendship and a decent pint of Guinness

My diary today comes at you from sunny / windy / rainy / thundery / doesn't know what to do with itself Ireland ! I tell you, I do not miss this changeable weather at all LOL

Gratuitous shot of the sky above the clouds ... man, am I getting into this flying malarky :)

And of course, some wine and a good book helps make the flight seem shorter :)

As I mentioned already, I am visiting my friend Dawn in Ireland for a couple of days - there has been a lot happening with me lately and I just needed to be with a trusted friend, to mull things over and to have someone who has known me longer than most, for a bit of clarity ... we all need that at times, right?

Oh, for those who are at all interested, I have known Dawn a mighty 23 years !! Of course, that means we have known each other since we were, erm, 7 ! *ahem*

We had a fairly shaky start to our day, following a minor wallpaper disaster which had to be dealt with - Dawn and I went into Belfast to sort that out and while I was sitting in the car I happened to look across the street and noticed a large sign on the wall ... Venus Tattoos ... my uncle's tattoo parlour (ok, John Ferris is his actual name, Johnny Venus is his professional name :)) - he tattoo'd my hip (chinese symbol, meaning "heart" - yes, I wear my heart on my hip LOL - and my original armband, which of course has now been enhanced!)

We headed back over to Carrickfergus, down to the Marina, where we had a leisurely lunch at the Windrose and a good old girlie chat ...

The view from the restaurant out over the Marina ...

Lunch consisted of a beautiful liver pate followed by the special - Hake, Mussels and Crab Claws with Champ (for my american readers (and probably my English ones too haha) ... champ is mashed potatoes with spring onions all chopped up and mushed in :)) - washed down with a PROPER pint of Guinness - yuuuuuuuuum :)

Here's the proof that Champ is real :)

And my mouth is watering looking at this again ... yuuuuum :)

It has been good to get over to see you, Dawn, thanks for your friendship, your understanding and your insights ... we need to do this more often, girlfriend !

To finish ... a beautiful sunset as we came in to land at Liverpool ...

Gill :)