Last post of the Northern Ireland adventure

Ending up the saga of ten weeks in Northern Ireland……

Tuesday, December 20, was a full day! I was up as usual and made coffee. I was to meet with Alan for my “exit interview” at 9:45, however, he met at 9 with the Deirdre, Richie and Sarah which meant he wasn’t ready for me until after 10. I had prepared a 3 page summary in bullet point form of both ministry and personal activities. He hadn’t asked for one but I’ve always done it at the end of an extended mission trip. It was surprising even to me at how much I had done in ten short weeks. A friend commented on Facebook that I’ve been quite ecumenical and I would agree! I attended 11 worship services in ten weeks---all in different churches---Baptist, Brethren, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Quaker and the Fifth Sunday (which is open to all the churches as a united service). 

The gate at the front

One of the rear wings of the mansion

After our meeting, I had a task to complete and a couple of things I still wanted to photograph. I took Little Suzy off to Montpanther, the mansion with 365 rooms.  You can see it from the road but I wanted a closer view. I took the public road up to a side road, then down a private lane, along a muddy tractor route and into the rear courtyard of this mammoth but deserted home. I took several photos of the back and side wings, then drove around to the front. I was now on the horse path evidenced by the aroma. There were so many trees I couldn’t get a good pictures so back down the path, the lane, and the road and down to the Dundrum/Clough road. That was the best vantage point for the total effect!

Perhaps the gatekeeper's cottage

Another rear wing

The front of Montpanther as seen from the road

I needed to go to the Oasis to put all the sheets, towels, duvets and duvet covers in the linen closet and individual rooms (those we had nicked to cover my mistake a few weeks ago). Before I took off, I needed to make a stop for fuel. The person sharing the vehicle had left it in a sorry state…..c’mon Alasdair! What kind of “do unto others” is this??

Since I didn’t want to drive the 20 minutes to Newcastle where Murlough House has an account, I just pulled into Brennan’s and put in 3 litres! That was 4 £ which is $6 for ¾ gallon. (Hard to be sympathetic to $3.32/gal. costs in Kokomo.)  The little bit of fuel would ensure that I wasn’t walking through the Mournes!!  On the way back from the Oasis, I stopped at a Catholic cemetery on the Auchincloy (or something like that) Road to take a few pics.

Then it was back to Murlough House for lunch and then the Dirty Santa gift exchange. Jen, Canadian, suggested it. The others hadn’t heard of it but they got into the “stealing” gifts rather quickly! I opened the Cadbury chocolates which were soon possessed by someone else! It included Turkish Delight! Oh well, I had already bought some to take home-----I thought that was a made up name for candy in the Narnia Chronicles, I didn’t know there really was such a thing!

I worked on packing up and continued to sort out some things to take to the Charity Shops, a game for Deirdre’s grandson, and miscellaneous things that Deirdre might use. Richard and I weighed the big bag. If the scales are correct, it’s 49 lbs. Seems heavy!

There was preparation for the evening party in the Coffee Bar. Richie and Richard took care of the setup and the BBQ. There was chicken and burgers! There were 27 or 28 who came including Irene and Des, Alan D., the Alexanders, Leslie, Daniel, Moyra, Johnny and wife, Ruth and husband, Joy, Rachel and some I didn’t know. Of course there was also Sarah, Alasdair, Richie and Jen, Alan C., Richard and me. The Irish excell at dessert and tonight was no exception---Chocolate Crumb Cake, Pavlova, Shortbread, Trifle, Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie!!! There were Christmas crackers and lots of good Irish craic!!

After the party, Deirdre and I chatted a while over tea. Then it was off to bed for my last sleep this year in Northern Ireland!

Wednesday!! Up to finish the last bag. I could not get another thing in! And then….I checked the drawers one last time….and found a drawer full of knit shirts….seven of them! I had to rearrange, taking out the new bathrobe I had bought in Newry and putting in some of the shirts. Now I have a basket of things that I’ll have to come back to get.  : )

Richie arrived at 8:30, put my bags in the car and he, Deirdre and I were off! His driving is not as conservative as mine and we were airborne at least once on the Newry road!! Weeeee…………..

We arrived at the Dublin airport with time to spare. The 49 pound bag weighed 53.6 pounds but because my second bag was only 35, they averaged it and I only had to pay the second bag fee, 50 € or $65, not an additional excess weight fee. However, the second bag fee was a bit problematic. I had U.S. dollars and a few pounds. They wanted the fee in Euros or on a charge card. My cards have been shut off because I didn’t notify them I was out of the country. Richie to the rescue!! He put it on his credit card and I gave him cash--$50 plus 10 £ which totaled the $65. Thanks so much, Richie!!! So many currencies in one exchange! Note to self: be sure you notify all banks and credit card companies of your itinerary next time you travel! The international number on the back of the card does not work!

We secured a wheelchair, I gave Richie and Deirdre a big hug; they were off and I was in for a long day. It was 11:05 am and I was scheduled to fly at 1 pm. We had to go through passport control, customs, and security at the gate. I was at the departure gate at 11:40 and they began boarding at 12:10. We waited for two passengers to arrive and finally pulled away from the gate at 1:25 pm. Soon we moved not to the runway, but back to the gate with the announcement that a passenger is ill and the paramedics are coming. It was determined that she was too ill to fly so the next wait was to get her baggage.  I ate the snack mix that Richie and Jen had given me (Thanks Jen!!!) and we continued to wait. At 2 pm, they said we have a new ETA….4:30 Chicago time. That means I’ll have less than an hour to catch the connecting flight. That may work since we did customs in Dublin, we won’t have to claim our luggage and transfer it. But it is Chicago and we do have to change terminals, taking a train, so one hour still isn’t much. At 2:15, they announced that we are refueling. We finally made it to the runway and takeoff at 2:40 pm…100 minutes behind schedule!!

They served supper at 5 pm and I was ready for even airline food. I had a scone for breakfast and snack mix for lunch. I watched 2 movies and an episode of Father Tim. There was a beautiful baby in the row ahead of me…she was beautiful for the first part of the flight: she cried from 6-8:30. When she finally wore herself out and fell asleep in exhaustion, her four year old sister awoke, apparently from a bad dream, crying. It took another half hour to settle her. Now the two year old in the row behind me woke from her long nap. She was chipper and chatted in a loud singsong nonsensical voice for the next two hours. Delightful flight! The attendants didn’t come with beverage service…you had to go collect it yourself. (The 8 1/2 hour flight turned into over 10 hours on the plane due to delays.)

I listened to Beatles music for a while and thought of all my friends, both in Howard County and County Down….”I do appreciate you being ‘round” (from Help). It really does apply to my friends in these weeks. Sue had emailed that she had checked on my house after having the water turned back on, had turned the heat up to warm the house and had bought a few groceries! And Deirdre and Richie had not only seen me off but had helped me with the credit card, and Jen had provided a snack that we didn’t know I’d need….and Bob and Phyllis would be meeting me at the airport in Indianapolis. “I do appreciate you being ‘round!!”

The wheelchair was at the gate in Chicago! The pusher was a sweet girl from Poland, 15 years old and only two weeks on this her first job! I needed to get reticketed as we didn’t land until 5 pm (Chicago time) so I would definitely miss my 5:22 flight! She got me to the head of the line for passport check and reticketing and the train and boarding the rescheduled 6:30 flight. I was the first one to board!! I’m so glad we asked for a wheelchair. I don’t know if I could have made it if I’d had to wait in all those lines.

Bob and Phyllis were there with smiling faces!! Only one of my two checked bags made the flight. They located it and were happy to know it was lavender, not the typical black! The agent said it would be easy to spot! (The bag was on the porch when I got up on Thursday morning!)

I was home by 11 pm (which would be 4 am, Ireland time-so I had traveled about 3000 miles in 15 hours) to a cozy house. I took about half an hour to unwind and was in bed……

So thank you to those of you who 'traveled' with me these past weeks. We learned some Irish history, some Irish vocabulary and made friends with some grand Irish folk. I've enjoyed sharing with you and appreciate you also!

My life in Greentown doesn't seem as note worthy so the blog posts may be few and far between until I travel again...but then I will be babysitting my 6 month old great granddaughter a couple of days a week so you may see new of her!! Blessings on each of you!