Got to the airport 100 minutes before the scheduled departure time. A forlorn looking Barbara greets me with "Mairtin, you are going to kill me...".
It turned out she had forgotten her passport.
The wayward article was in the engineering building. We took a shockingly slow taxi trip to UCD.
Barbara's mother does not use a mobile phone. She had to collect Barbara's office key from her [Barbara's] boyfriend, Daniel. Daniel was supposed to be in work- he wasn't.
She rushed in to a nearby Starbucks roaring: "someone please help me! My daughter is going to Holland this morning and has forgotten her passport. I need to use a phone!" Someone was kind enough to provide one and the twain met successfully, and all was well.
Got the passport [and a camera] and made it back to the airport in 20 minutes from UCD, there was a shakey moment when Barbara's mother drove down the wrong way on a road, I calmly told her this was the case and once more all was well.
5 hours later...
We got to the conference centre to register. Last week I was asked if I had sorted out the accommodation for the ISIC conference, I glibly retorted that it was included in the registration fees. The closer we got to that desk, the more I doubted that this was so. Nonetheless I hoped that the receptionist would finish her piece with "...and here are your accommodation details". [Hands us keys to suites].Despite staring at her expectantly after she had given us our bags and coupons, she did not say the magic words.
"Bugger..."
[Time passed]
We were in the StayOkay Hostel by the river, and all was well.
Had a waffle and whipped ice-cream in town. Maastricht is a pretty buildinged, old and institutionally sedate town- very reminiscent of Bruges, of In Bruges fame.
It turned out she had forgotten her passport.
The wayward article was in the engineering building. We took a shockingly slow taxi trip to UCD.
Barbara's mother does not use a mobile phone. She had to collect Barbara's office key from her [Barbara's] boyfriend, Daniel. Daniel was supposed to be in work- he wasn't.
She rushed in to a nearby Starbucks roaring: "someone please help me! My daughter is going to Holland this morning and has forgotten her passport. I need to use a phone!" Someone was kind enough to provide one and the twain met successfully, and all was well.
Got the passport [and a camera] and made it back to the airport in 20 minutes from UCD, there was a shakey moment when Barbara's mother drove down the wrong way on a road, I calmly told her this was the case and once more all was well.
5 hours later...
We got to the conference centre to register. Last week I was asked if I had sorted out the accommodation for the ISIC conference, I glibly retorted that it was included in the registration fees. The closer we got to that desk, the more I doubted that this was so. Nonetheless I hoped that the receptionist would finish her piece with "...and here are your accommodation details". [Hands us keys to suites].Despite staring at her expectantly after she had given us our bags and coupons, she did not say the magic words.
"Bugger..."
[Time passed]
We were in the StayOkay Hostel by the river, and all was well.
Had a waffle and whipped ice-cream in town. Maastricht is a pretty buildinged, old and institutionally sedate town- very reminiscent of Bruges, of In Bruges fame.
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