Adi Cox Goes To Dublin

30th April till 5th May 2015

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Not wanting to go out. I find myself writing this because it is a typical bank holiday weekend. It is Saturday 2nd May 2015 and the sky is dark grey. The rain is falling and blustering around in the wind. There is a dispute and the bus drivers in Dublin are on strike. At 6am I was out playing my guitar at Tara train station here in Dublin. I was not so much busking as finding a dry place to play my guitar and sing without disturbing anyone at such an early hour in the morning. I just need to keep the practice up, otherwise I feel incomplete if I do not play my set of songs that I have memorised over the years.

Yesterday was my first full day here in Dublin and it was blue sky and sunshine which prompted me to hike away from the hustle of the big city centre. I found myself wandering down by the Grand canal and played my set there to a few passing joggers, cyclists and dog walkers and maybe even a few river otters, who knows? I was glad to get a good session singing and playing my guitar because the previous day had been taken up travelling from Ollerton in Nottinghamshire, England. Up to Holyhead, North Wales and then on the ferry across the Irish sea to Dublin, before walking from the ferryport to Dublin city centre.

I am staying at Citi Hostel. The exchange rate is good. I am getting about one Euro forty to the British pound. It is fifteen Euros a night and at five nights that came to seventy five Euros. A hotel would be about seventy five Euros just for one night so it is a hostel for me. I have room 305. There are five bunkbeds in that room and they are all taken, mainly with younger males and females who are travelers, but there are also people who are working who are staying here. There is the Dart railway line next to the building. This line runs along the coastal towns I am told. The sound of trains enter into my dreams as I am sleeping at night. Last night there were a group of East Europeans celebrating loudly outside. A girl half awake asked "Who is outside the door?" She then realised that the noise was coming from outside the building. We made a joke of her sleepy confusion and I closed the window to make the sound of the celebration a little muffled. After that I had a good nights sleep, waking up at 05:30. I had not heard a few late night revellers turn in to bed in our room. The hostel has a kitchen but it is not open until 07:00. So ...

I went out to a cafe for what I would call a full English breakfast, here in Ireland. This experience is what I would call "The Illusion Of Choice." It goes something like this:

"What would you like on your breakfast?" Asked the server.

"I would like; A sausage, bacon, mushrooms, beans, tomatoes and an egg please." I said.

"Tell the lady on the till that you have six items." The server instructed me.

"Okay." I said understanding this straight forward instruction. So I told the lady on the till that I had ordered six breakfast items.

"That will be seven Euros please." She said, which I duly paid. "Tea or coffee?" The lady on the till asked me.

"No thank you." I said, declining the request.

"But you've paid for it!" She said. This was news to me.

I was eating my breakfast when the server came to my table and handed me a plate with two toasts and two small packs of butter. "Thankyou very much." I said wanting to be polite and thinking, I did not ask for that. Not wanting to be ungreatful or appear arkward, I ate the toast out of politeness, in response to the fast and efficient service that the staff delivered under the rigid guidelines of their employment. So I was greatful for that.

Written by Adi Cox.