Omnibus Takes All Of Us

Cold and crisp. No rain. Fortunately.

So either the 0720 was seven minutes late or the 0730 was early. You decide! First note: i need a hat. And a new mp3 player.

By 0736 we’re already at Castleknock road. In the car it would have taken 30 more minutes. Already I’m learning that the 0720 bus takes most of the weight and this one (the 0730 i guess by now) is less hectic. I just looked out on the traffic lined up on the m50…

I didn’t realise Auburn Avenue was on this express route. It’s 0748 and we’re on the Navan Road. Undertaking all the cars and whizzing down the bus lane i note that i would only now be getting to the m50 on ramp.

Stoneybatter by 0800. Let’s see how well the city quays here by the Liffey work out.

Trinity College already and it’s only 0811. Tomorrow I’ll try getting off here and walking down to the Luas.

And here i am on the Luas. It’s 0825. The walk through St. Stephen’s Green was nice. It’s not raining though…

0845 and only at Kilmacud. I had hoped the total journey time would be less than 90 minutes because i still have to walk to the office. For the first time this morning I’m having second thoughts about this.

0901 and I’m here…

Running out of the office at 4:30’ish is acceptable and seeing as (even at 9:00am) I was first in the bloody office just let’s see someone try.

And so the return journey begins… Dropped to Luas station by our friendly shuttle-bus driver. I had time to buy a weekly tickets for €24 and started off good at 1633 I’m hoping to get into the city with enough time to get the next express bus home.

Rain ! Dammit.

So the Luas only took 20 minutes to get me into the city. Tomorrow I’ll try a different route to my bus because the stop at St. Stephen’s green was so crowded the first bus at 1712 stopped further down and of course i didn’t see it until it was sailing by. The next 37X arrived at 1733 so there’s hope yet. It means i could stay in the office until 5o’clock and possibly make it home at a civilised hour.

It’s 1807 and I’m on the Navan road. I think we’ve just home through the trickiest part of the journey… Not that I’ve noticed because I’m reading about Celtic festival shenanigans’..

We make Blackhall place by 1753 and i wonder if I’ll have enough books to keep me amused… I have to do something about the mp3 situation because the driver is playing some dreadful easy listening station. I’m relieved that my fellow passengers are all quiet, sober and few in number.

1816 sees me at Auburn Avenue but it could be tricky ahead on Castleknock road. This is one route i wouldn’t take in the car. It looks like it’s a 2 hour journey home but the missed bus earlier didn’t help.

It’s taking too long to get home and only for the fact that i have paid for a week ticket i think I’d be back in the car tomorrow. 1835 and I’m ready for dinner…

A couple of hours later I can reflect on the fact that I had a lot more energy this evening. I even managed to head out to the shopping centre to sort out a hat and a bit of jewellery repair for Val. I wasn’t fit-to-be-tied when I sat down for dinner and am generally feeling less stressed than usual.

Definitely going to have to get an MP3 player though… my iPod is knackered.