Fire and Water: The Burning of the Blackrock Centre, County Dublin, Ireland - 12th August 2017

We're roaming around the Frascati Centre in Blackrock when clouds of smoke are spotted billowing from the top of the Blackrock Centre, over the road. It's not, as the car-park security dude suggests just some standard blowing off of fumes or air conditioning or something, but turns out to be an actual fire on the roof of the building which, at one point, looks like it's getting pretty serious. By the time we get there, the shopping centre is being evacuated and there are five or six units of the Dublin fire brigade in attendance. After that excitement, we meet up with Wayne and Caro down in Dun Laoghaire and go out for dinner in the evening with Evelyn and Jen Mac. The next day, it's time for a swim down at Seafort Parade and then tea at Mao's in Dun Laoghaire.

next album: Isobel's Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon, Dublin, Ireland - 13th August 2017
previous album: From Achill to Strokestown, Mayo and Roscommon, Ireland - 10th August 2017

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The boys head up to the playground

The boys head up to the playground

Harry's on the bus in Deansgrange

Harry and Isobel in Blackrock

Fred walks ahead

Blackrock DART station

Harry's on the path to the park

New graffiti down by the DART station

The path from Blackrock DART station

Some Liverpool ironwork

The Blackrock Park band stand

Harry and Fred on the recently-restored band stand

Isobel roams around

There's a plant growing out of an old signpost

On the steps back up to the High Street

There's an old shelter or hut in the park

The Frascati Centre is being redeveloped

The Frascati car park is now a hole in the ground

A poster has been screwed on awkwardly

Fred finds something hilarious in Marks and Spencer

We're tragically in MacDonald's

Smoke billows from the roof of the Blackrock Centre

The fire brigade is on the scene

A fireman sticks a head out of the window

There's a queue of fire engines on the street

People are evacuated from the building

People stream out onto the street

Somebody leaves a hairdresser's in a hurry

The Dublin Fire Brigade mills around

People watch the action unfold

Hoses are hauled up to the second floor

The fire chief is on the phone

Firemen mill around

A hose is hauled up to an upstairs office

Hoses are unreeled

Water leaks onto the street

Isobel bumps into an old friend from school

Blackrock High Street returns to normality

Graffiti on the remains of the swimming pool

Graffiti close up

The winkies and the Blackrock swimming pool wall

'Keep the pavement dry' in Dun Laoghaire

Someone reads a book on the clifftop

The Harrington's outside bar

Wayne chats about stuff

A flotilla of little boats sets sail

Caro and Isobel outside the Harrington

Wayne takes the boys down to the sea

Finn, Harry and Fred down by the waterline

Harry sits on a rock

We explore around the concrete of the shore

Finn and Fred

The old changing area is now locked up

Fred scales a cannon

Harry, Finn and Fred on a canon

Victorian people

Wayne gets the boys ice cream

Derelict house in Monkstown

More dereliction

Flowers lead up to the Scary Mary

The 'scary Mary' on Oliver Plunkett Avenue

Evelyn and Isobel head into Dun Laoghaire

Isobel peers out of the window of the café

Jan and Isobel chat

The sun goes down

The first faint noise of gently moving water

More derelict swimming pools

The derelict swimming pools of Dun Laoghaire

Swimming pool dereliction

The Promenade Bistro

Jen Mac, Isobel and Evelyn in the Promenade Bistro

We walk back into the centre of Dun Laoghaire

We end up in a bar looking for Jake's leaving party

Harry hangs on a fence

Isobel and the boys in Blackrock Park

Harry chases the ball

Fred contemplates the sea

The gang head down to the water

Evelyn helps Fred

Fred gets out because it's freezing

Jamie and Isobel swim around

James bobs about in Dublin Bay

Harry clings to a wall

Fred on the DART wall

Harry looks up the tracks

Ever-changing graffiti

Someone sits on the sea wall

James has got grass on his head for some reason

Harry tries the grass wig out

Fred has a go with the grass/moss hairpiece

A colonial building in Dun Laoghaire

Inspecting the menu in Mao's

A reflective photo

Fred's got straws for antennae

Outside Mao's in Dun Laoghaire

Evelyn gives Harry a shoulder ride

Dun Laoghaire town hall

Waiting to cross outside the Forty Foot

Hanging baskets on the town hall

There's some kind of hen night in town