Thursday 11th May 2023

My last full day in Ireland, and more work.

I wake in my room in the hotel, time enough to have a shower and get dressed before going down for breakfast. I time it well with few other diners, but within 20 minutes it is full, mainly with passengers on a coach tour who sweep through the buffet like a swarm of locusts. Patrick joins me, we agree we slept well, and the night in the pub was grand.

We have to drive from the hotel, out to near the airport where the office was, and I suppose this is where I mention that Dublin is dreadful for traffic: traffic lights everywhere causing jams. The 8km to the office would take 45 minutes.

There is a tunnel from near the harbour out under the city to the airport, you have to pay a toll, but worth it.

COVID has meant that the office is less used than it was, in today's case, we were the only people in it, having the use of two sets of offices and four conference rooms. Auditees dial in via Teams, and the morning passes.

We were done by just after one, and Patrick says he'd drop me near to Temple Bar before he went home.

An early finish at work, and I have some of the afternoon in which to enjoy the city,

Traffic inched along the Liffey, over narrow bridges and then crossing to the other side.

I was dropped off near to Temple Bar just as the heavens opened for the second time in half an hour, I took shelter in a café enjoying a second breakfast which included both black AND white pudding.

I cam out and the sun had also came out, while I joined the tourists in and around Temple Bar, where bands and musicians were striking up the usual numbers to tourist traps selling Guinness at over seven Euros a pint.

I walked through the shopping area, and near to a church found a reasonable-priced pub, bought a pint of the black stuff, which I drink sitting near a group of four Austrian gentlemen who were passing the afternoon in a fine way, downing pints and drams of Jameson.

I leave them to it, and find the taxi rank, and ask the Indian guy to take me to the hotel, which was via the same mix of jams and traffic lights. Despite the rain having cleared and warm sunshine outside, he had the heater and blower on full, so I had the window open as smiled as we drove.

I chilled out for the rest of the afternoon, book a seat at an Italian place nearby for seven, and I walk beside the Dodder in the golden evening light to the restaurant. The evening was made interesting by two of the waitresses having a right barney.

I drank my wine and looked on. Sadly, they shouted in Italian, both thinking they were right.

No limoncello for me, so I have a coffee before walking back beside the river to the hotel.

Soon be time to go home.