Final notes from travel diary

20th August, Monday.

"Gerruup-ouravit'!"* Ah the dulcet tones of the Dublin pedestrian as he aims a passing kick at a car, whose driver has had the bad judgment to break the lights at the quays at O'Connell Bridge, finding himself suddenly surrounded by a menacing crowd. Dublin, in the rare 'oul times.  Roch and I are negotiating the still familiar city centre streets, having braved the Luas (tram line) to Abbey Street from the Gibson Hotel, where we are booked in for the remainder of our stay in Ireland, when we witness this scene, much to our private amusement.  I was worried about using the tram but it posed no problem - it's at pavement level so wheeling the chair on and off is easy and you're straight onto the street, no steps to negotiate.

http://www.hotels.com/ho349785/the-gibson-hotel-dublin-ireland/    



Roch at the Gibson

It's just the kind of hotel Roch likes, sleek, modern and with an understated luxury. I sound like a travel brochure! It's the ideal venue for us, as it's situated smack bang between Northside and Southside, making it convenient for visiting family and friends, from both sides of the Liffey. The idea is that they can come to see us here - which makes it far less stressful for both of us. Before we went to Kerry, we made sure the hotel facilities suited - we had to check the height of the bed, the bathroom/toilet etc. It checked out, and the hotel staff could not have been more helpful. We still have to use the trusty toilet raiser seat, but the bed is high enough and we don't need the toilet frame as the grab rails provided are sufficient. We do need the perching stool, as the shower seat is too low, but we expected that.
The bedroom is an oasis of quiet and calm and on our return to the room - even after a relatively short visit to the bar/terrrace for coffee and cigar - it has been transformed in our absence, bed made, bathroom spotless. Now that's luxury.

Many thanks to Fiona, who thought of the Gibson in the first place, Maura who accompanied her on the first reconaissance mission - and to my mother, who gave us our stay there for our 22nd Wedding Anniversary present.

*Translation from Dublinese = Get up out of it.

21st August, Tuesday

The Gathering of the Clan

I guess you could call this the gathering of the clan of cousins, as we had another Maher gathering for breakfast on Sunday, at Mairt's house. There sisters, brothers and various offspring came together before those lucky enough to have tickets to the All Ireland Hurling semi-final headed off to Croke Park for the match, Roch, Tom and Kate amongst them. Today Roch and his brothers and sisters travelled to meet their cousins - presiding over them all, the man who married us - Roch's uncle and namesake, Fr. Roch. It's becoming an annual tradition, this year kindly hosted by Anne and Chris.

Roch with Fr. Roch and Eoin