Panic set in on Saturday.  I was planning something enormous, and I had dealt with it by ignoring it.  Now here I was, leaving Tuesday am, and nothing prepared.  

Affairs in order?   Actual tax returns prepared, to fulfill last April's automatic extension?  Laptop computers configured for the sister and cousin who would inherit them?  Laundry done?  Gotten a clue how to stuff all those diabetic supplies into my pack along side the "usual" stuff that  I'd taken on my earlier Vision Quest?  Do shrimps whistle?

Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon.  Yrs truly has hugged his truly wonderful sis g'bye, and is relaxing high over Utah, Dublin bound, nothing I need to do but what I am doing, except hours 2 and up of the last three nights' sleep.  That stuff can be done in the air. The icy wind on my "corner" seat - that is a window seat in front of a bulkhead - that wind gave me cold-nightmares, the sense  of doom that something vital is still undone, no matter how many times I'd done it.

Altogether, a semi-buttocked start on the Rest Of My Life as an ex-pat.

Fitful sleep is still sleep. I was rested and ready on arrival.
"The weather is overcast and 8 degrees celsius - pretty good weather for Dublin", said the captain, and he should know.  After committing Aer Lingus for 10 hours straight, I was ready to give this Dublin place a look-see.  I had about 2-1/2 hours actually in town, armed with my freebie map from the airport tourist office, which actually corresponded with some of the streets I walked.
Pedestrian bridge with curved pointed arches The Ha'Penny Bridge
Street crossing with the warning "Look Left" painted on the pavement View through arch intto alleyway
Outdoor cafe in small plaza storefronts and pedestrians

lacy blue and white storefront front and display window of a shop named Boodles
intricate stone facade above church entry turquoise neon lining in romanesque arches
Reflections in the windows of a French cafe Pigeons at a fountain in St Stephen's Green

Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Bulf