From Saint Brigid to Saint Patrick in one morning

Autumn-like colours on the first day of the Spring along the banks of the Grand Canal in Dublin this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

After an early morning celebration of the Eucharist for Saint Brigid’s Day in the Chapel of the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, I spent a half-day in Christ Church Cathedral working with Neil Delamere, Conor Morrissey, Anne Heffernan and a team from Mind the Gap Films working on a television programme on Saint Patrick.

The documentary, Slaves, Snakes & Shamrocks, is due to be broadcast by RTÉ1 next month, a few days before Saint Patrick’s Day. We discussed the period when Saint Patrick returned to Ireland, the scope, length, impact and legacy of his mission, how his message was received, his character, and the ways he influenced later developments of Christianity in Ireland.

Using a mix of stand-up comedy, sketches and interviews with historians and experts, comedian Neil Delamere is exploring the fact and fiction surrounding Ireland’s patron saint. The programme will be broadcast on RTÉ1 on Thursday 14 March.

Saint Patrick and Irish saints in stained glass windows in the Baptistry in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

After coffee in Temple Bar, two of us drove along the banks of the Grand Canal and Prtobello, where the colours were more like autumn that the first day of Spring.

The tide was in at Kilcoole, and as the rain came down our planned walk on the beach was cut short (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

We then drove on to Kilcoole in Co Wicklow for a short walk on the beach. But the tide was in and as we crossed the railway line the rains started to come down.

Seen on a wall in the Happy Pear in Greystones this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

The short walk on the beach became shorter than planned, and we drove back to Greystones and had a late but happy lunch in the Happy Pear.

We picked up a good bottle of Chareau Ksar Reserve du Couvent from the Bekaa Valley, a bottle of Barbera d’Asti from Piedmont in Supervalu and today’s Guardian in the newsagents before returning to a house that has been upside-down and higgledy-piggledy for the past week with painters, builders and decorators giving the place a complete makeover and refit.