Recently I was away to Ireland on a class trip. We stayed at host families in Malahide next to the coast, just outside Dublin, however we were to be found in Dublin nearly every day. It was great fun being away from Holland for a week, but it was so cold. I have literally shivered for an entire week, firstly because of the weather and secondly because in Ireland they apparently never put on their heating. They had dodgy chocolates with a so-called humorous jokes on it. Try to guess this one: ''Who is the favourite aunt of a penguin?'', (*see answer below)
On one of our daily outings we went for a walk on the cliffs in Howth with a group of about forty people. I didn't expect this to be a problem but apparently it was. The higher we got the more scared I got. There was no fence and there were different paths leading somewhere I had never been. The path we were walking on, in fact all paths were very small, there was no place for two people to
walk next to each other. Suddenly I didn't dare to walk any further, the path just got smaller and I could see myself lying dead down there on the rocks. I asked my friend Renee to walk in front of me, so she did. She was filming the scenery while I sat down on a small rock. ''We should hurry, the group is almost gone.'', she said. I said: ''There is no hurry relax''. It's not like we're going to get lost on a cliff'', not knowing that the following moments would be terrifyingly dangerous. I literally took baby steps. Now there was no one in sight anymore of our class. We didn't panicked but did speed up our journey to catch up with the group. But the path got smaller until there was no path. Reversing our journey a couple of meters back we remembered seeing three different paths, choosing the wrong one apparently. We decided to go back, but the weather suddenly got very bad. It became windy and it started raining cats and dogs while at the same time hailing. The muddy paths became very slippery making it very likely for us to fall into the sea right next to us. We had no telephone, no protection against the stone-hard hailstones that stung our faces. We were abandoned, miserable, wet, terrified, hungry and exhausted. All murky we walked back to the beginning of the cliff, slipping a few times. We waited in a pub called 'The Summit Inn' for someone that was descent enough to go back and look for us but no one came. We sat in front of the window scared to be caught in a pub and sent home, in hope of a miracle. We tried to make a phone call, but stupid enough neither of us had by coincident brought any money. We were desperate at this point. We observed the waitress, who didn't look mean though. We had put up our most sad faces and puppy eyes struck by despair and asked whether she could help us call the school, as it was the only number given to us. The school wasn't much of a help as it advised us to come back to Malahide and then suddenly the line went dead. By now hours had passed by and the hard rain had turned into a few drops which fell upon the window in front of us. We decided to take a bus and go back home. We waited another hour as four buses drove by with 'No Service' on them. Finally we took the fifth one and went back home with an exciting story to be told.
The most enjoyable day was the care-free Sunday. I went to Dublin with two of my friends, Hermidone, Jethro, to do some shopping and visit Temple Bar on my request, as it is the most renowned spot in Dublin. We walked through the narrow side streets of Temple Bar on old paving-stones that are still there. I was looking for some vintage shops because I was advised to visit: Eager Beaver, Wild Child and Harlequin. I must say they had no contribution to make to my wardrobe. Foremostly it was crap that was being sold. There were maybe one or two things that my eyes caught sight being a professional bargain hunter, but unfortunately those two things: a black hat and a woolen scarf already were in my possession, probably of a better quality. I felt sad not being able to go to Harlequin as it is always closed on Sunday's. So I'd say Dublin is not the city for vintage shopping. After the big disappointment we went to Topman, Urban Outfiters and a few other shops to do some real spending.▪
F.S
*answer: Aunt-Arctica
No comments:
Post a Comment