In Dublin's Fair City

Monday was a big day for me. I was going back to Dublin for the first time in three years. Not only that, I was meeting up with people who I hadn't seen for a while too. Plus, meeting Roisin for the first time. I was very excited. So excited that I got to Stansted airport three hours before my flight. Oops. I had got the train from Liverpool Street station, which is also dripping in memories for me since it is the gateway to Suffolk so I have passed through it many times in my life. And spent a lot of time sitting there waiting for peak time to finish so I could buy a ticket home without having to sell my soul to the devil to finance it.

No such luck this time. Being too old for that ever valuable Young Person's Railcard (being 'young' stops at 26 apparently though I am sure that I was still quite spritely for the rest of my twenties, things only really went down hill as I hit 30) I bought a return ticket to the airport for half the price of my flight to Dublin. And off I went.

Early. So I sat outside the airport on a strip of grass that was covered with other people with a similar way of thinking. Other people were sitting on the benches in the shade. It seemed that all the people on the grass had backpacks and all those on the benches had suitcases. Class distinctions in travelling are pretty obvious, not social classes but luggage classes. I was with the backpackers and for the first time in a long time felt like a traveller. Hooray!

The time ticked by. I went in and bought a couple of postcards of London, I get so sentimental even if I am just away for a day or two, then checked in. I got there early so was able to actually, for the first time in my life, be among those passengers that get to board once the young and old are on. With Ryanair, you are not allocated seats so it is all in the rush to get the best one. I got a window seat so I could enjoy the views and do a green for green comparison with England and Ireland. I was taking a bit of a risk since they are both a bit known for their cloudiness. Overall, I think that they are on pretty equal green footing though shrouded in rain clouds.

It was a windy day with turbulence to spare. I was a little unnerved but dealt with it the way that I deal with a a lot of scary situations, I fell asleep. I arrived in Dublin airport and, eventually, was met by Nerissa. Last time I saw Ner she was quite heavily pregnant so, while I didn't mean to, I realised that I was looking for someone with a big belly on them and so looked straight through her at first since she has returned to the tiny thing that she ever was. The 'belly' is now a beautiful two year old called Roisin, who I met in the car with her dad, Barry. Both Barry and Nerissa are friends of mine from my first year in Korea when I lived in Mokpo. It has been a while.

We were barely through the door before the Stellas were cracked open and the reminiscing started. To say that Roisin won my heart with the first bat of her long eyelashes is no exaggeration. She was capable of twisting me round her little finger from the word go.

I have to say that we were too busy catching up on the last two years and laughing at Barry hitting his head for there to be any photos from the first night. So, for those of you who haven't seen Barry since Mokpo, he looks the same except now the bumps are on the back of his head. It was a late night and I think that some people tried to blame me for the Monday night drinking. All I will say is that Ner was halfway down her first Stella as I was on the orange juice. I was just playing catch up after that.

The next day was my only full day in Dublin. Spent a very fun morning playing with Roisin and Ner. Being only two, Roisin still managed to remind me of my little Koreans. Probably because she is still speaking in code with just some words that I understand. And I swear that I heard her say both 'yogi-yo' and 'juseyo' at some point. Ner can understand the code though and translate. Roisin spent a very happy few hours going through my stuff, appearing in the living room with my digital camera in her hand and my sunglasses in the other one. She has special words for things, a mobile phone is a 'hi' for instance, but it would appear that everything that came out of my bag was called 's'mine' accompanied with hands reaching up to take it off me.

She was entranced with the camera, even if she did have to be wearing my sunglasses whenever she used it. It wasn't long before she was taking photos and watching videos of herself with a satisfied smile on her face.

Ner and Barry's friend came over to babysit while we went into the city later that day. I saw the Luas trams running for the first time, weird since I worked on that project for nine months. When I say 'worked' I use it in its loosest form. In fact, I was paid, and paid well, to do a whole lot of nothing and when they gave me more nothing to do I negotiated a pay rise. The people there were great though and totally taken by the fact that when I started there I was living in a tent by the DART (train- Dublin Area Rapid Transport or transit or something) right in the heart of the city. I think that this gave them the impression that I was skint. I wasn't, just tight. So I was never able to put my hand in my pocket to get a round in for the whole nine months.

I saw the spire on O'Connell Street too for the first time. They were just starting work on it when I was last there. And trying to decide on the new nickname for the tour guides on the open top buses to use. Back in my day it was The Stiffy on the Liffey (Liffey being the name of the river that runs through Dublin) but now it is the more family friendly Stilletto in the Ghetto. It is tall. Awesome. I loved it. I think that is one of the best things about not being a tax payer in the country, you can enjoy it safe in the knowledge that you have contributed nothing towards it.

It was only later that I realised I had only taken photos of things that I had many photos of before. Hum. Starting with the various hostels that I lived in on Lower Gardiner Street- the Chelsea (I looked through the window and they still haven't painted the living room), The Manor (where I didn't live but I did clean one day for a bit of cash, it was minging, so bad that it took me about a dozen showers to feel clean again. Why do male backpackers think that it is OK to wet the bed?) and Abraham House where I was for my last few months in Dublin. A large sprawling maze of a building where I spent most evenings sitting by the reception desk in my yellow teddy bears jammies with my mates, reading kids' books to each other. Happy days.

Then we went over the Ha-penny (Hay not Ha) Bridge which was away when I was there before, being restored. Probably repairing the bars which are quite irresistible to drunks who want to swing on something.

And into Temple Bar.

Out the other side to see the Dublin School of English which is where this whole Korean adventure started for me. It was there that I studied for my TEFL certificate and met a South African, Alan, who had a Korean girlfriend he had met in Israel.

I don't think that he even meant to but sometime over the next six weeks he had changed my dream destination from Thailand to Korea. And we were both stunned when I ended up being offered a job in Eun-Kyung's hometown. And even more stunned to find out, on my first day, that my new co-worker was the girl that she had gone to Israel with. T'is a small world.

After class everyday we went to The Bridge bar downstairs and it was here that me and Ner had arranged to meet up with Barbs and Trish, two more people that we had known in Mokpo.

We had a great couple of hours chatting and catching up before the girls had to go off for various appointments and me and Nerissa ventured down Grafton Street, being just sozzled enough to get a photo with the Molly Malone statue (my first time!).

At the end of Grafton Street is an Australian bar, The Down Under or Major Tom's depending on what sign you read. When I was managing a hostel up on Thomas Street I spent many hours down there with my antipodean guests- getting there around 9am one Saturday morning to watch The Lions VS Australia. The Lions being a rugby team made of both British and Irish people, I was able to support my team in public for the first time since arriving in Ireland. Though it was not advisable to do so in this bar as we kicked Oz's arse.

It would have been rude not to pop in since we were passing so we had a VB for old time's sake.

Back to the house then for more chatting and playing with Roisin. Baz came home from work late so had been unable to join us for the night out which was a shame but couldn't be helped. All too soon it was time to crawl into my (incredibly comfortable, fantastic, not made of sofa cushions, double) bed.

Ner and Roisin took me back to the airport, with Roisin leaning out of the buggy and insisting I hold her hand all the way. It is fair to say that I didn't want to leave and they waved to me as I went through the security gates and each time the automatic doors opened until I got all the way through. I was biting back the tears.

I love Ireland, always have done. And I love my friends, they make a hard team to say goodbye to. I comfort myself with the fact that I will go back there again and stay longer. Much longer. That thought, and the chocolate vending machine, made me feel better.

Today is my birthday so I want those of you that can to go to the bar and drink a tequila for me- send me a photo of you doing so. And I hope to get none of these for my birthday

Thanks for the cards and presents that I got today, and the days running up to this day. My uncle has sent me a toy squirrel to keep me company when I travelling so I am sure that some photos of that will turn up on here from time to time.