Monthly Archives: July 2009
I Really Don’t Like Parking
The drive to work has always been more stressful than the job I was driving too.
When I passed my test I was an arrogant driver and I still am. I’ve made mistakes but I’m still far better at driving than any of you.
My Father may well bring up the issue of parking. But that has nothing to do with the art of driving. It’s just and annoyance at the end of a drive. Something I will always get someone else to do especially if it involves a multi-storey.
My drive to work back in the UK was normally ten minutes door to door. That was only if certain conditions were met. Firstly that every car excluding mine broke down in their driveways and secondly, that every cyclist came down with a bad case of dead. Of course this never happened meaning that of course my drive to work was never 10 minutes.
The longest drive I’ve ever had to or from work has been an hour and a half. And nearly every driver went on my “When Murder Becomes Legal” list.
Sometimes the stress starts before the engine does. I’ve been blocked in my drive, I’ve had a “surprise, good morning!” flat tyre and I once randomly had my car surrounded by traffic cones.
OK, so those may have nothing to do with driving in the UK exclusively. They could happen any where.
When I moved to Ireland a month ago I brought my beloved car with me. It’s still on UK plates and (rather annoyingly) has a digital dashboard in MPH.
For those of you not in the know the speed limits in Ireland are in KPH.
Fun maths games are a permanent delight every road trip. However, now I have installed a conversion device on my dashboard in the shape of a series of post-its. I’m sure the Garda will find it entertaining to see when they pull me over for speeding or indeed, for going too slow.
The drive to work on the other hand is so far removed from that of the one in the UK it’s amazing. It’s a 20 minute drive that takes 20 minutes. The road is hardly a driving challenge but it’s definitely not the stop, start monotony of York.
My fuel economy has gone from a low of 25mpg in York to a fantastic 40mpg here!
I arrive at work with only one worry after the relaxing drive through the country. That is whether or not I can park!
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A Year Into The Future
This time last year I might have said to myself “Can’t time just fast forward to a year in the future?!”. It might have been because of some stressful incident at work, money issues or indeed, family issues. Every now and again I will catch myself wanting to be a year in the future. To at least let past me deal with the crap that was happening.
If I had written down then what I thought I might have been doing in the future when I had demanded it the last thing I would have written would have been “Living in Ireland.”
It has been a month now. Fairly calm and successful one at that. As an English woman I’ve not hit as many problems as I was expecting.
The mundane task of proving to the Irish government I was here legitimately and had a job was no more annoying as I would imagine it could be in the UK. But I will have to sing their praises – as I imagine it actually would be quicker than in the UK. Within the month I have got myself a bank account, internet and a phoneline and my National Insurance number. Oh I’m also tax exempt on my UK registered car and my car insurance is sorted. Not too bad, though I can only imagine what my phone bill is like.
The first month has had it’s ups and thankfully I’m yet to hit a down. Even though I thought the washing machine broke yesterday. I’m going along with “living in England” being the down, so hopefully living in Ireland is going to be at least 24 years of an “up”.
I’ve been quick to make friends and I’ve already had three hangovers. I’ve woken up twice in a strangers house and have had a lift home three times by three different people that I had known for less than 24 hours. Interestingly enough I have met more people from the UK than I have people from Ireland. Says something about living in Ireland, that there are more of the Brits over here than back at home.
I haven’t had TV since being here, and to be honest I don’t think I will go through the fuss of getting it. I have only one show I watch religiously and I will always find a means of watching that.
For now I will continue to go to the pub to watch some sport, and knit as I watch the tide coming in and out of Courtmacsherry Bay.
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