Waiting.....

Life is full of waiting and it's no different whatever country you are in. Two weekends ago I was waiting at Dublin for a flight to Birmingham, UK. Leaving home at 3pm for a 50 min flight seemed straightforward. It was, until the skies opened and Dublin was deluged with rain. Thunder and lightning meant planes couldn't be refueled till the danger had passed and plane arrivals were delayed out of other destinations. I'm not sure why the brand new departures area from Dublin airport doesn't have air bridges (maybe they are still to be added) but it made for a rather damp trip to the plane once it arrived and was refueled. Still, I passed the time chatting to Fran, from Birmingham, who had been to visit her mum in Wexford and shared her family story with me. It ended up being a 6 hour trip but they say patience is a virtue!

This week it was waiting at Immigration for our GNIB 'Garda Cards'. We seemed to arrive as everyone else did, had to queue for a number, then sit and wait for 2 hours to pay for our new cards (100 euros) then sit again and wait 'about 20 minutes' for our new cards. This took actually took one hour and was delayed further as now fingerprints are required and it seems my right index finger must be nearly worn to the bone as they had trouble getting a scan of it - took about 6 attempts till they were happy. I hope that doesn't happening every time I try to get into the country!