Leaving Dublin on a sunny day we took the motorway south towards Cork. Their freeways have a sensible 120 kilometre speed limit. Unfortunately our hire car’s speedometer is in miles, so we first had to do a maths problem just to find the right speed. On top of that our GPS unit was putting us in a paddock about five hundred metres from the freeway.
Needing fuel we selected an exit, and found ourselves in a small village, with a tiny service station. The price of a tank left me gasping - 62 Euros! A dithering old man, wearing thick coloured glasses, pants pulled up too high, was trying to process an Asian couple’s credit card, frowning in concentration. ‘This new fangled technology’ I could imagine him thinking. Finally managing to work the machine, he then forgot to put the oil they had also bought, and the whole task started again. It must have taken him a good five minutes. Thinking, we’ll starve to death before he manages to do my card, I ran out to the pump and went back inside to pay the cash. Damn, the phone’s ringing now.
“Excuse me sir, we are in a hurry can I pay cash.”
“Hold on” He drawled in his Irish brogue, and then went onto to have a conversation on the phone.
“Look I’ve got the exact money.” I said exasperated pointing at the pump.
He looked at me blankly like he had had no idea I had just fuelled up.
Thinking that was bizarre experience, we went back to the highway passing those famous rolling green pastures of the Emerald Isle. There’s not much traffic on the road (perhaps they can’t afford the price of the fuel) and we’re making good time.
“Go Harvey. Go Harvey. Go Harvey Norman.” Burst onto the radio leaving us startled. It was the exact Australian advertisement read with the Australian accent. Who knew that Harvey Norman’s reach extended even to Ireland.
Now our day got even more bizarre when we arrived at the Radisson Hotel, Cork and there opposite the hotel was a Harvey Norman store.
After checking in we had a quick look around Cork, before returning to the hotel. The light was poor, so we haven’t good photos for you today.
Tomorrow we are off to Blarney Castle.
