Here’s a catch-up from yesterday’s flurry of activity…
New lockdown restrictions (from this article):
Taoiseach Micheal Martin confirmed a number of changes to lockdown rules for the entire country on Wednesday:
• Schools and constructions sites will be forced to stay closed for at least the month of January, with some exceptions
• Shops can no longer run “click and collect” services, and will instead be limited to deliveries only.
• Travelers entering Ireland from the UK or South Africa must produce a negative test taken 72 hours prior to arrival, but must still self isolate for two weeks.
• And Mr Martin told pubs to “forget about take-away pints”, which he said leads to gatherings on streets across the country.
“The Beast from the East II”
This week Ireland has been experiencing colder weather due to a “stratospheric polar vortex.” A similar weather pattern in 2018 brough three days of snow and was dubbed “The Beast from the East.” Despite forecasts for possible snow, this year’s sequel isn’t living up to the hype. Temperatures have been around freezing, so definitely colder, but the precipitation has stayed wet and rainy.
IKEA adventure
As I shared in a post earlier in this week, I had ordered some new dining room chairs from IKEA using “click and collect” (i.e., buying stuff online for pick up). I had originally planned on picking them up today after my follow-up COVID drive-thru test at the airport, since IKEA is right in the same area. However, I had read earlier in the day on Wednesday that the Irish government might be shutting down click-and-collect (before it was officially announced), so I decided I should make a separate trip that day to IKEA to pick up my order otherwise who knew what would happen. I made another GoCar reservation for the exact same vehicle that’s parked on the other side of the Liffey for the afternoon and headed out.
View of the Ha’Penny Bridge after crossing over the Liffey:
The car is parked on the same street, and all goes smoothly with unlocking it, etc. — I’m getting the hang of the whole routine. As I’m living the city centre, I miss one turn and the Google Maps navigation re-routes me through a lot of small streets almost all the way out to the airport… very odd. At any rate, eventually I make it to IKEA where the parking lots and garage are completely empty except for a few cars around the entrance for click-and-collect. I stand in a short line with markers on the floor for social distancing, and when it’s my turn, I step up to a table where a young Irish guy in his 20s is sitting behind a plastic screen checking people’s order numbers in his computer and telling them where to go. He sends me upstairs, via escalator, weaving through the closed cafe and foodshop, to a collection point set up at the cashier registers in the warehouse. There are a couple of young women waiting there, both wearing faceshields and masks. The one who checks my order number is dark skinned and has a non-Irish accent, so I assume she is an immigrant from Africa. While another employee goes to get my items, I strike up some friendly small talk with the two young women about the cold weather and possibility of snow. The chairs come disassembled as expected, wrapped in plastic and loaded on to a shopping cart. There’s a ramped down-escalator for shopping carts, which have magnetic wheels that lock the cart in place — I remember seeing this for the first time when visiting my sister in China in 2006 and being impressed. Do any stores in the U.S. have this setup?
The GoCar’s fuel tank is less than half-full, and you’re supposed to fill it up when it reaches a quarter of a tank or less. The cost of fuel is included in the service, and they provide a debit card in the glovebox and a PIN via the app for refueling. I figure that I’m going to be the only driver using the same vehicle between now and tomorrow when I take it back out to the airport for my COVID test, so I decide to fill up the tank today to get it out of the way. The debit card is for Circle K, which is surprisingly has a very widespread presence here in Ireland… they’re not just in the U.S. midwest! I find a Circle K location nearby and pull in. There’s no pay-at-the-pump option, and I’m not exactly sure how it works in terms of paying in advance, so I go into the store first. The cashier is a young man in his 20s who appears to be either Indian or Pakistani. He says I can pump the fuel first then pay, so I head back outside. Right outside the door of the Circle K, there’s a young Irish guy who is panhandling; I feel self-conscious passing by him back-and-forth. The 26.92 liters of regular unleaded comes to €36.03, which is the equivalent of $44 for 7 gallons, or more than $6 per gallon — not surprising given Europe’s infamously high gas prices.
