Home away from home

 The registration plate in Ireland gives some information regarding the vehicle.

The pattern is XXX-XX-XXXXX where the first 3 are numbers that signify when the car was registered with the 3rd of those numbers being either a 1 or 2.

The next 2 are letters, may only be 1 letter, which signify which county or main area the car was registered in and the last 5 are numbers telling you where in the sequence of car registrations the car was registered.

Our vehicle bears plate 261-D-28607 so it can be interpreted as the 28607th vehicle registered in Dublin in the first half of 2026. If it was 262 it would be in the 2nd half of 2026.

Since arriving in Ireland we have:

• Not drawn any cash from an ATM everything being paid off the card
• Not paid any surcharge for using a card
• Not had any service fee added to a restaurant purchase unlike in London

Today we drove the short distance from Bunratty to Limerick, it being the 2nd largest city we have visited, Dublin being the largest.

In reality it was not much more than a bustling commercial environment with a Cathedral and a Castle on the banks of the Shannon river - a slight undersell perhaps as there was also a few museums, a thriving market area and some engaging folk especially the waiter at the restaurant we chose for lunch

Mid afternoon we returned to Bunratty and spent some time in the village which attracts large numbers because of the proximity of Bunratty Castle. In the area of the Castle there are 3 restaurants, 3 or 4 food carts and 2 retail shops selling quite high quality souvenirs, clothing and products from the Bunratty Woollen mills.

The temperature has been down a few degrees today which has made it slightly more bearable or some would say less than warm if in the wind on the shaded side of the streets.

Our accommodation is about 1.6kms from the village on an elevated area (not called Hill Rd for nothing), is framed as “Home away from home” and provides all that we want or need.

The view from the rear of the property