I was in Galway, yesterday

I made a day-trip to Galway again, for a casting etc.

I left home at 6:40am, and I was barely out the door when I was forced to walk ankle deep in water as the lane between Seapoint Road and Bray station, was totally flooded. I did think about turning back and walking the long way around, but I wanted to get an early DART, so.. As a result, I spent the whole day in wet socks and shoes until coming home at midnight. Well, at least the day was otherwise blissful.

 
I actually got an even earlier DART (6:55am) than I'd planned! I had a soggy Metro to entertain me.. The sea looked rough, but beautiful..

Hopped off at Connolly (Jebus, the mental image..), and went straight to the Londis near Busáras, to get some breakfast & snacks for the train journey.. Luas then came right after I'd bought a ticket, and I Luased it to Heuston station..

First things first, so I bought myself a day return ticket. At that point, it was 8:30am, and I noticed that there was an 8:40am train to Galway, so I could have taken that, but I'd already made arrangements for Galway, so I decided that I'd rather wait at Heuston station at that time of the morning as there was more to do there.

I decided to keep my Londis sambo for a train snack, and thought I'd have some breakfast at Supermac's. (Hadn't been to a Supermac's in years..) I'd have fancied their chicken breast sambo (and nothing with that), but they only served breakfast, at that time! Chicken breast sambo would have required waiting for about 15 minutes =/ So, I got a breakfast roll with tea. Left most of the tea, though as it was way too hot, and I couldn't be arsed to go and ask for more milk for it. A pigeon was flying in and out =)

Then I bought an RTE Guide and a crossword puzzle magazine at Eason, and I'd grabbed a free magazine at the ticket office, so I wouldn't be bored to death on the train.. Generally, I don't like to use much Facebook on the phone as the battery goes flat so soon - it turned out, though, that the trains had outlets, so I was able to charge my phone twice, during the day =D

I must make a separate blog entry about the toilets at Heuston station.. Mainly, about the idiotic flush button!


The train was already there (15+ minutes before departing), so I got in and got all comfortable, until I noticed that the seat was pre-booked.. Grrr.. They could make it a bit more obvious! Anyway, I just grabbed a free seat across the aisle and got comfy again.

 
The train departed at 9:25am, and I started working on my first bag of Maltesers.. =)

    
Tullamore..

 
Phone & cam snaps of the train..


Stopped here for a moment..

 
Ballinasloe and blurry Ballinasloe..

 
I ran the top left photo on Facebook as "guess the song".. Dympna got the Fields of Athenry =)

I even survived the train toilet =D I try to avoid using such places on trains and planes as they are tiny and shaky, but sometimes your bladder just demands it. I blame the Supermac's tea =)

Arrived in Galway at 11:40am, and I'd estimated that I'd make it to the hotel at 12 noon - it turned out that I was spot on! The weather was terrible, of course.. I always get soaked in Galway.

 

 
It was busier than this (above) when I arrived, and the photo queue ran around the room.



Finally, we had a rainy walk to my friend's van, and then did a little Salthill spin. Would have loved a cuppa at O'Connors (where I haven't been since late 90's when it was my local), but it was closed at that time of the day =( So, we went to Salthill Fish & Chips for some food instead.

 
Phone & cam snaps of the delightful weather..


I had to take a picture of the bottle of Fish & Chip Shop Taste - Original Flavour !!! =D Brilliant.. And I forgot to try it!!! LOL


The food was gorgeous! I had scampi in batter, with chips.

The rain wouldn't stop, so we were just driving around a bit, and ended up parking on a disabled parking spot for a while - would have parked on a regular spot, but a disabled driver had parked on it! We were very upset.. =) Eventually, we got a regular spot, though, and no disabled people were traumatised or left without a spot.

We went to a nearby pub for a while, and then I got a lift to the station where I took the 7:15pm train back to Dublin.

 

 


It had been a long day, so I was just Facebooking, napping and texting on the train back.

 
I was thinking of making a separate entry about this, but fukit, I'll put it here..

WHO THE FUCK designed the flush buttons for the toilets at Heuston station?!?

They are IDIOTIC!!!

They're very stiff, so you need to push hard and deep to flush the toilet, but the button goes in to the very narrow frame (see the pics above), so you can't push it with your knuckles, or the sides of your fingers, for example. No, you have to either use the very tip of your finger, or a tool.

Most women have some length on their nails, so flushing a toilet like this becomes impossible. Not everyone would even have the strength to push that feckin' button with their fingertip!

I really think that the designer of this satanic device, should be named and shamed in public.

 



 


Waiting for the Luas at Heuston..


I always prefer to walk to Tara Street station, on the way back..

 
I had to wait for 19 minutes until the next DART to Bray =/ At least I'd charged my phone again, on the train, so I could Facebook to kill time..


Maltesers on the DART..

I'd seen it in the morning, and I heard that Bray / M50 flooding had been on the news, during the day, but when people stepped out of the DART in Bray, there were spontaneous groans of misery.. The steps of the station bridge were like waterfalls, and it was still raining..

My feet were still soaked, since early morning, but I chose not to walk through the lane lake, and went around Carlisle Grounds instead.

I got home at midnight, and the first thing I did, was to take off my wet scarf, coat, ankle boots and socks, and put on a dry pair of woolly socks, mmmm.. Bliss! (Then I ate that Londis sambo I'd been carrying around all day! LOL)

Ending this with a recommendation;


If you're ever in Galway - this is an awesome chipper..