Adi Cox
Goes To
Dublin -
30th April till 5th May
2015
_____________________________________________________________________
Not wanting to go out. I find myself writing this because it is a
typical bank holiday weekend. It is Saturday 2nd May 2015 and the
sky is dark grey. The rain is falling and blustering around in the
wind. There is a dispute and the bus drivers in Dublin are on
strike. At 6am I was out playing my guitar at
Tara train station
here in Dublin. I was not so much busking as finding a dry place to
play my guitar and sing without disturbing anyone at such an early
hour in the morning. I just need to keep the practice up, otherwise
I feel incomplete if I do not play my set of songs that I have
memorised over the years.
Yesterday was my first full day here in Dublin and it was blue sky
and sunshine which prompted me to hike away from the hustle of the
big city centre. I found myself wandering down by the
Grand canal
and played my set there to a few passing joggers, cyclists and dog
walkers and maybe even a few river otters, who knows?
I was glad to
get a good session singing and playing my guitar because the
previous day had been taken up travelling from
Ollerton in
Nottinghamshire, England. Up to
Holyhead,
North Wales and then on
the fery across the
Irish sea to Dublin, before walking from the
ferryport to
Dublin city centre.
I am staying at Citi
Hostel.
The exchange rate is good. I am getting
about one
Euro forty to the
British pound. It is fifteen Euros a
night and at five nights that came to seventy five Euros. A hotel
would be about seventy five Euros just for one night so it is a
hostel for me. I have room
305. There are five bunkbeds in that room
and they are all taken, mainly with younger males and females who
are travelers, but there are also people who are working who are
staying here. There is the
Dart railway line next to the building.
This line runs along the coastal towns I am told. The sound of
trains enter into my dreams as I am sleeping at night.
Last night
there were a group of
East Europeans celebrating loudly outside. A
girl half awake asked "
Who is outside the door?" She then realised
that the noise was coming from outside the building. We made a joke
of her sleepy confusion and I closed the window to make the sound of
the celebration a little muffled. After that I had a good nights
sleep, waking up at 05:30. I had not heard a few late night
revellers turn in to bed in our room. The hostel has a kitchen but
it is not open until 07:00. So
...
I went out to a cafe for what I would call a full
English breakfast,
here in
Ireland. This experience is what I would call "
The Illusion
Of
Choice." It goes something like this:
"What would you like on your breakfast?" Asked the server.
"I would like; A sausage, bacon, mushrooms, beans, tomatoes and an
egg please." I said.
"
Tell the lady on the till that you have six items." The server
instructed me.
"
Okay." I said understanding this straight forward instruction. So I
told the lady on the till that I had ordered six breakfast items.
"That will be seven Euros please." She said, which I duly paid. "Tea
or coffee?" The lady on the till asked me.
"
No thank you." I said, declining the request.
"But you've paid for it!" She said. This was news to me.
I was eating my breakfast when the server came to my table and
handed me a plate with two toasts and two small packs of butter.
"Thankyou very much." I said wanting to be polite and thinking, I
did not ask for that. Not wanting to be ungreatful or appear
arkward, I ate the toast out of politeness, in response to the fast
and efficient service that the staff delivered under the rigid
guidelines of their employment. So I was greatful for that.
Written by Adi Cox.
- published: 07 May 2015
- views: 136