Ready for departure
Friday and Saturday were all about buying presents for mom's friends and family at St.George's Market, cleaning the house, mowing, packing, and having the house ready for the housesitter. I wanted to go swimming at Helen's Bay and play golf, but I kept on task and was ready to go at 6:30 Sunday morning, when my friend Ali drove me into Belfast to catch the Dublin bus.
My one indulgence was a tour of historic churches on Saturday as part of European Open Heritage Day. I had always wanted to visit St. George's, built in the early 1800s on a site where two rivers met in Belfast. One of those rivers, the Farset, which gave Belfast its name, was routed underground through tunnels, so the church site is now a block from the Lagan, with the Farset not in sight.
From Wiki: The church stands on what had been a fording place where the River Lagan and River Farset met.[3] The earliest mention of a place of worship existing on this site is in the papal taxation rolls of 1306.[4] The Chapel of the Ford was a chapel of ease of the main parish church at Shankill, and was constructed here for those waiting to cross the mud flats which covered most of the area that has since become central Belfast. The chapel later became known as Corporation Chapel after the newly founded Belfast Corporation.[3]
Lovely tile work:
Each pew has individual needlepoint kneelers--two longer versions seen above. This is normal in Church of Ireland churches, which this is. Of course initially a Catholic church, but Church of Ireland after the plantation of Ulster.
Next on to St. Patrick's, ready for a wedding (hence the two kneeling chairs in the aisle).
I visited only one more church then moved on to St. George's Market for gift shopping and to an artists' sale at The Vault.
Upon trying to check in for Sunday's flight, I learn that Aer Lingus's computers are down and all flights into and out of Dublin are cancelled until further notice. Not what you want to see the day before departure. I didn't sleep at all Saturday night. At 4 a.m. Sunday I got up and was able to check in. I paid extra for a seat as I didn't want to wait for them to allocate me a seat in case the flight was now oversold.
When I arrive at the airport, the queues for Aer Lingus not only filled Terminal 2 but spilled out of the terminal and wrapped around two sides. I had 3.5 hours until departure. The queue actually moved quite quickly and, once in the building, I jumped to the shorter queue for those who had already checked in and needed only to check in/weigh their bag. So I was through all of that in less than an hour. Then the very long security lines--maybe 45 minutes. I bought a few presents at Avoca, my flight was delayed an hour, so I thought I was doing well. Then I went to US pre-clearance, and again the lines were endless, filling the hallway on the floor above the escalators, and then very long lines once you went down to pre-clearance. My heart sank. But, again, everything moved quite quickly. I was to my gate by the time of my original departure, so an hour to wait. I spoke to more than one person who had spent the night in the airport after the Saturday shutdown, trying to get on a Sunday flight. Our departure was delayed another half hour, making me worry about making my connection in DC. But all was well--I caught the flight to Columbus, where my bag was the first on the conveyor belt. From there to a shuttle to the Hampton Inn, where I tried and failed to get a full night's sleep. I was awake by 2 a.m. US time (7 a.m. in UK). Got a shuttle to the airport, then the Go Bus to Marietta Ohio, where mom and her friend Nancy were waiting for me at 11 a.m. Monday, as my schedule set out. Given all the stress of the journey, I was surprised I made it.
Flight films: Wolf Walkers, an Irish animated film from Cartoon Saloon about English colonizers cutting down a forest and trying to kill a wolf pack. It was very stressful. I don't know how chilren watch these films. But it was also beautiful and had a happy ending. And The Phantom of the Open, the wonderful Mark Rylance in the role of Maurice Flitcroft, who fibbed his way into the Open over and over again, despite not being a terribly good golfer. Best part: the speech at the end where he thanks his wife (played by the wonderful Sally Hawkins). Hankies ready. A true story of a garden variety English eccentric.
Sept. 9-11