Being towed down the towpath

Paddy and I went for a long walk down the Lagan Towpath.

We stopped to talk to a lot of people--Paddy is pretty irresistible. And we had breakfast at the Lock Keeper’s Inn--I had an egg sandwich and himself had his first sausage. He pulled at the leash pretty hard all the way back to the car. A very bad habit that I hope to get under control before he gets bigger and stronger.

I’ve seen a lot of springers pull that way, so it’s possible I’ll never train it out of him.
After a short breather at home I went into town to go to Christmas markets #4 and #5--St. George’s Market and the Continental Market (I’ve been to Spittalfields in London, Ards craft show in Newtownards and the Void artist collective in East Belfast). I had really good tatas bravas and bought a few more lovely Christmas presents. But the crowds made me claustrophobic and I was glad to get home. Before doing so, I went by the Bank Buildings, site of a horrible fire.

The building’s instability forced stores around it to close--a real problem for nearby retailers, even those that didn’t close.
Tonight I was too tired to manage logistics for tomorrow’s trip so David helped me out. For starters, which parking lot should I reserve a spot at? I’m going to drive instead of taking two buses each way. There are maybe five lots to chose from and, when you go to reserve a spot, they ask if you have a voucher. When you look for a voucher online, there’s lots of airport discount sites and it’s hard to figure which, if any, offer discounts at your airport. I started down this path and realised there was nothing in the tank to get me to the finish line, metaphorically. So David took over. Parking space secured (with no discount), he then printed boarding passes for flights. Printed tickets for Stansted Express train to London Liverpool Street. He figured out which tube from Liverpool Street to office and back (MANY lines go through Liverpool Street). Meanwhile I packed then figured out where the Air BnB is and how to get into it. Turns out there’s one code for the building, a second for the flat, a third for my room in the flat. Oh the joys of travel. Amazing how much work goes into 24 hours in London.
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