Overall, I got good sleep on my first night in Dublin, although the bed was a little too soft and I awoke earlier than the 7:42 am alarm I set. After some preliminary and self-compulsive phone checks, I did take a pause to sit still for a few moments, recite an intention statement I had composed last year when working with my life coach Karlita, then practice some deep breathing… I probably sat for less than 5 minutes but at least it was something.
Crow Street is quiet in the morning, aside from some idyllic squawks from seagulls. Last night there were sounds of some revelers on the streets, but it is much more subdued than usual. Temple Bar in Dublin is a somewhat tamer version of Bourbon Street in New Orleans (which isn’t saying much); everyone who is out here in the evenings wants to have a good time.
My immediate attentions of the day are focused on a few banal objects of everyday life — mattress, groceries, coffee maker, cell phone, and other household necessities.
Both beds in the apartment are European doubles barely two feet off the ground with mattresses that measure 140 x 200 cm (slightly less wide than a U.S. queen size). The landlord had mentioned that the mattress in the 2nd bedroom was brand new, and after comparing depth measurements I realized it was an extra 2” or so thicker than the one I had slept on. I swapped mattresses between rooms in hopes that the new one will provide better support for my large frame. I also searched for mattresses online to get a sense of other options. There are no box springs or platforms to go under mattresses for sale here, only “bed bases” which are essentially a bed frame with feet and slats. There are other thicker mattresses in the European double size, so if worse comes to worse perhaps I could purchase one of those.
The SuperValu grocery delivery window was 9:00-11:00am, but it still hadn’t arrived by 10:45am. Then I got a call from the delivery man, another Ciarán, who said he was running 10 minutes late. He rang again several minutes later asking about the address, I told him to look for the green door on Crow Street just north of Dame Street and that I’d come down and meet him in front. When I opened the door he was there with the plastic green racks of grocery bags. No facemask, very jovial, probably a little older than me. We traded comments about the weather. He unloaded the blue plastic bags filled with groceries into the foyer and went on his way.
As I was carrying the groceries back to the apartment down the outside patio hallway, another neighbor appeared at his doorway two apartments down from mine. He is a young, dark long curly-haired chubby lad with glasses, looking like an older version of one of the kids on Stranger Things. I said hello, that I just arrived yesterday, he said something like “what are you shopping like that for” in a sort of joking way. I said I was self-quarantining for 14 days, “Fair enough.” (A seemingly common phrase in Irish conversation.) He told me his name, which was an Irish one I didn’t recognize… Braden or Brogyn? He asked if I was Irish, to which I responded I was dual citizen, and he said oh American. Nice to meet you and I was off.
This reminds me… last evening as I was coming back from picking up a pizza for dinner, I had run into my immediate neighbors toward the entrance of the outside patio hallway. They are a young woman and man couple (presumably), seemingly carrying out bags of empty bottles for recycling. No facemasks. I said something to the effect of excuse me as I passed by, but we didn’t exchange names or anything further since I had my arms full.
Back to this morning… I put away the groceries and made a breakfast consisting of a toasted bagel with cream cheese and a slightly underripe banana. Then I set about trying to figure out how the Tassimo coffee maker That came with the apartment worked. A YouTube video showed me how to run the cleaning cycle, then I popped in a pod, pushed the button, nothing but hot water sputtered out. There was a mysterious loose part that I surmised was a piercing mechanism, and after another googling of YouTube videos, I figured out how to replace the part where it belonged. The machine then produced a passable latte with the pods I had purchased in my grocery order.
A few times over the last week, I’ve received calls from a young woman named Sally from Vodafone (my Irish mobile provider) offering to upgrade me to a “bill pay” plan from my pay-as-you-go service. Amazingly, it’s the same person who calls back each time, and Sally followed up this morning with a call as promised last time we spoke. Apparently she’s based in Cairo, and her name is really Sally?! Every time we’ve spoken she sounds very bubbly and cheerful, and her frequent giggles at my silly comments made the process actually fun. So now instead of the “extra” plan I’m on some “unlimited max” plan that most importantly comes with unlimited/unthrottled data.
After finishing with Sally, on a random whim I googled “phone number numerology,” clicked on one of the first websites in the search results, and typed in my Irish number of 606-5323 (without the area code). Apparently this combination of numbers reduces down to 7 by adding all the digits to one another, resulting in 25, then adding these two digits again gives a final number. The website then regurgitated the following analysis:
“The Number 7 is associated with philosophy, spirituality and independence. It represents analytical, logical, and contemplative persona, and as such is a phone number best suited for those individuals who think outside the box, researchers, analysts, and those seeking knowledge and understanding to find internal contentment and balance. Although not normally a good number for a business, if it deals with mysticism, the occult, or any subject outside of the norm it could be considered.”
Sounds good to me! Much better than “this phone number is for losers.”
It was now getting to be early to mid-afternoon, and my remaining aspiration for the day was to obtain some extension cords / power strips. Like in many European apartments, wall outlets are scarce in my new home and not always conveniently placed. I had tried ordering some online for delivery from a chain of electronics storea called Currys PC World (think Circuit City or Best Buy on a smaller scale), but for whatever reason my credit card was declined.
An aside on my financial management strategies: I have a MasterCard debit card linked to a Euro account I established with TransferWise, which is like PayPal but designed to manage balances with multiple currencies. I’m using my TransferWise account with Euros to pay rent and other recurring expenses to avoid additional foreign transaction fees, unfavorable exchange rates, etc. I had originally come across TransferWise in 2015 after receiving a speeding ticket from my roadtrip to Germany with my friend Olga that required me to wire the fine to whatever the local municipality had clocked me at driving above the local speed limit (drive as fast as you want on the Autobahn, but as soon as you’re on the local roads the Germans are hyper vigilant about speed limits). At any rate, my primary U.S. debit card with Schwab had been frozen due to a fraudulent charge a week ago (bad timing!), and I am awaiting receipt of a replacement debit card to be shipped to me at my Mail Boxes Etc address in Dublin. That, and in addition to the address changes on my various accounts, the success of credit card transactions have been a little iffy for me lately.
For my outing to Curry PC World, the closest location being across the Liffey River in the Jervis shopping center/mall, I bundle up with a Levi’s coat extracted from one of my shipped boxes, a wool flat cap (my attempt to blend in with Irish fashion), and of course a facemask. Just in case, strapped to my back is a small collapsible rolling cart I had purchased on Amazon in the U.S. for transporting large boxes/packages. In addition to the extension cords / power strips, I’m thinking I might pick up an air fryer and/or a mini multi-use oven.
I step out into Dublin for the first time in daylight hours. The city seems alive and largely aloof that a pandemic is still going on. Some stores are shuttered, but the majority are open. Restaurants and cafes are busy with unmasked patrons seated outside. Pubs are still closed. I’d say less than half of the people I saw out and about on the streets were wearing facemasks. As I had noticed during previous visits to Dublin, there’s a wide diversity of people here — international students, visitors from other EU and non-EU countries, immigrants, etc. Lots of young people, girls in school uniforms, teenage boys in their matching buzz side haircuts, old people in wheelchairs, people carrying on normal their lives. I crossed over the Liffey River on the Ha’Penny pedestrian bridge, only a couple of blocks from the apartment, to one of the city’s main shopping districts. The main shopping thoroughfare closed off to cars, Mary and Henry Streets stretching to the Spire at O’Connell Street, was bustling.
I paid my visit to Currys PC World, found the extension cords I had tried to buy online, and successfully purchased them. Unfortunately, their smaller store did not have many other household appliances, so I continued to Argos in the same shopping center, which is a chain of stores that uses a catalog-based ordering model very similar to Service Merchandise (for those of you who remember what that was in the U.S.). I had purchased a projector from Argos in 2018 when visiting Dublin and staying at an AirBNB with no TV, so I was already familiar with their system. Their storefront consists of a handful of kiosks equipped with computer ordering stations and laminated catalogs. When you’ve decided what you want to purchase, you write down the product number on a little slip of paper using a pencil, both of which are stocked in the ordering kiosk. You then proceed to a separate pay station to enter the product numbers and pay for your order. I wanted to buy an air fryer as well as a fan for my bedroom. Much to my frustration, I made multiple attempts using different credit cards, but all were rejected due to technicalities that still confound me… Argos apparently doesn’t take Amex, my TransferWise MC has a low per transaction limit, and my primary Schwab account was still frozen. In the end, I successfully paid for an air fryer but the fan would have to wait for another day.
In continuation of these financial snafus, when I returned to the apartment I contacted Schwab to inquire as to the status of my new debit card that was to be delivered to the Mail Boxes Etc location where I had already shipped several boxes. I was given a FedEx tracking number, and apparently the package with my new debit card had been delivered earlier that afternoon. I called to confirm, again an answering machine answered but then a human picked up as I was leaving a message. They confirmed the package was there, but it was already 5:20 and the place closed at 5:30. Despite having showered after my previous outing, I threw on my previous clothes and launched myself eastward toward their location past Trinity College. I gave up about halfway there with more than 10 minutes still to go according to Google Maps. I casually strolled back to the apartment, done with the day’s ambitions.
Back in the apartment, more of the typical Temple Bar nightlife sounds were noticeable. Small groups of friends who had likely been drinking over a happy hour gathering were talking loudly, someone played a rendition of the “Tequila” (the one in the Pee-Wee Herman movie) on a trumpet. The noise died down fairly quickly. Crow Street has returned to the peace with which it had started the day.
