As I type this, the TV has been retuned to an English channel - as opposed to the Irish language that provided news and weather to those who understood. I of course am still ignorant of those facts, my Irish not being up to snuff.
The flights over were both delayed, but worked out just fine in the end. We needed serious de-icing of the wings in Ottawa but the guys responsible did a great job. If they hadn't I don't suppose I'd be posting this. The weather in Toronto was clear with no need for that process. The flight to Dublin was delayed out of Toronto because the plane was late arriving from wherever it had been. Between walking from arrival gate to departure gate in Toronto, and walking down the stairs onto the tarmac in Dublin and onward to the baggage carousel I got my 10,000 steps. Just as well because it was a long sit on the plane. Note to Toronto Pearson airport - some signs indicating where to find E and F when you arrive in section D would be appreciated. You only need to walk about a half a kilometer to see the signs - if you have chosen the right direction when setting out. What was rather annoying to discover was that the long corridor I had to walk in one direction was parallel to the corridor I had to walk back the same distance and is connected by bridges not accessible to the public. Argghhh.
Oliver met me at the Dublin airport and his help with the baggage was hugely appreciated. We took the shuttle to the Hertz location for the rental car. I upgraded to an automatic and now have a lovely Ford Focus. The trunk easily held the two large suitcases - yay! Getting them up and into the trunk is a different challenge. Once I figured out how to get out of the airport, having done a drive-by of the rental place once again, it was smooth sailing to Ashford. Driving in circles seems to be my pattern here. This is much aided by all the roundabouts.
Not surprisingly, there was food awaiting my arrival. Mary Harte cannot welcome anyone without nourishing the body and spirit. She did a wonderful job of both. For supper we had Hake (a lovely white fish), more potatoes than I'd eat in a month, plus carrots and shredded cabbage. Mary served the plates and despite requesting a small portion, I got a huge plateful of goodness. Needless to say I could not finish.
Now I have been pampered from time to time in the past, but this treatment was special: my bed was pre-heated with an electric mattress pad and I had a hot water bottle that kept my toes cosy all night long. There was a heater in the room which I turned off so that I could enjoy the mountain of duvets and quilts. The toilet had a fluffy seat cover to keep my tush from freezing.
I went to bed early, after having had just a few winks on the plane, and slept until 9 am this morning. Yikes! Needless to say I was quite refreshed and ready to go. Well, not so fast! When I got up and was given Mary's lovely cosy housecoat to keep me warm, there was coffee and toast for me. That would have been enough. Oops - that was followed by a huge bowl of porridge. OK - breakfast is done. Not so fast. Mary started beating eggs and flour to make pancakes. Whoa - I'd already had more than needed and simply could not eat any more. In fact, I didn't eat again until 5 pm when the porridge finally wore off.
It was after 11 when I got away and headed south on the M11. It's a great highway and had little traffic and of course - no snow or ice!!!! I sailed right along and the GPS, locally known as a Sat Nav, had me well directed. Oliver suggested that I take the Gorey-Inch exit, not the one the GPS wanted. However, it is a patient device and fond of recalculating, so the tour became a bit more interesting. When I got to Gorey the "straight ahead" option usually was given on a curve that offered other turns and straightaways as well, and directions to turn right at X street were interesting as I believe they use invisible street signs. Finally I eventually found myself near the shopping centre and was more or less oriented. I only made one more loop around the town, before finding the right road.
There is a folk song here called "The one road" and has a line that says "maybe the wrong road". It's my theme song when driving in rural Ireland. Every single trip that I don't have a local navigator I find the wrong road. Even with the GPS. But it's fun. Of course this also happens to me at home.
I passed Ann and Tom Byrne's at the Rocktavern but it was more important to find my cottage and get stocked with groceries so I didn't stop - just nodded as I sailed past. From there it was easy-peasy to find Bunclody and Moss Cottage, my Irish home for now.
Mary Gilsenan, my landlady, gave me the tour and "how to" lessons on the important features and here I am. It's absolutely delightful and better than I could have dreamed. They have a lovely garden that I'll explore on the first sunny day. That may take a while to arrive.
I have installed myself in the bedroom on the first floor (not the ground floor), co-located with the kitchen, living-dining room and a huge bathroom. It's bright and cheery and ideal. The washer and dryer are on the ground level through a separate entrance and in that same spot I've been provided with a small freezer so I can do a little cooking ahead. If I make soup I won't have to have it for 6 meals in a row. I can freeze some. That area is not heated and could serve as a cold room.
The coffee maker is a French press for which I'm sure I'll figure out appropriate quantities of ground coffee. The dishwasher might not get much use as it's easy to wash up a couple of dishes. I will probably buy a blender of some sort but otherwise there's nothing missing.
I headed out to Aldi for some grocery shopping and was pleasantly surprised by the great selection and the prices. And they have wine and beer. So much more civilized than the Ontario approach to alcohol. The prices are also more civilized. The Sauvignon Blanc was lovely with dinner, but I'm getting ahead of myself. They didn't have herbs and spices so I'll shop for those elsewhere. I bought some basics along with some fresh veggies and chicken. For this evening I bought a prepared meal of chicken, veggies and potatoes which was very tasty and inexpensive. They seemed to have a lot of such options so perhaps I won't do much meal prep anyway.
The wifi is working perfectly, the new phone is humming along and all devices have logged into the network easily. Now I can be reached by friends and relatives in Ireland as a local, not international, call.
I've taken a little break from the organizing of my stuff, so I'll complete the process of settling in shortly. The clothes are all put away, but the paper and books need to be sorted out. The coffee table is looking like the likely location for these supplies.
This great room is in the upper level of a former stable or garage, so the walls are sloped. Having nearly concussed myself about 4 times, I've lined up the dining chairs along one wall so it won't happen again. When you walk up the stairs from the ground floor and look straight ahead it looks like you've entered a waiting room, but my head is safe.
Tune in again soon. No photos other than the one on FB but I'll take some soon and put them somewhere with a link. Comments are welcome although I can't say whether you need to do anything to add them. My point of view as the author of the blog is a bit different than that of my readers.
Slan
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