I’ve been watching the weather news for Ireland - I hope you are able to keep safely warm while the power is out. It never occurred to me that your schools weren’t heated, and that’s why they had to close them during this extreme weather. Living in the US, I’ve never attended a school that didn’t have heat, though it does make sense that Ireland’s weather is usually not as extreme.

I’m with you on the slow travel. I was lucky enough to make it to Ireland on an unplanned six-week trip. My dad had died and once I sold the house and settled the estate, I stored things and went to Spain to walk the Camino. Short version, I hadn’t booked ahead enough and ended up flying to Ireland. My plan was to spend at least 3-4 nights in most of the places I went, and there were a few places I went back to more than once. Other than booking a hotel for the night I arrived, and then 4 nights in Kildare so I could see the Irish National Stud, I had no real plans when I got there. I ended up finding a hermitage in Glendalough, in Wicklow; two different hostels in Sligo, which I visited three times for several days each (I kept coming back to see Michael Quirke, the woodcarver/storyteller on Wine Street); 4 amazing days/nights in Dingle; and time in Donegal, Dublin, and Bray (the DART made it possible to spend less expensive visits into Dublin). And you are so right - in addition to Michael I met other folks in hostels, some of whom followed me to Sligo on my second visit. In Dingle, I became a “regular” in a restaurant for breakfast after one visit, and had many conversations with the woman in the bakery I visited daily.

Even when I used to go to writing workshops, I always made it a point to take the time to know the names of the kitchen folks or the staff, which made it more fun if I went back the next year to have people I knew.

Stay safe and warm, and thanks!