Well, off on the next adventure. I started the day in Ballyneety, drove with farmer John and his wife into Cork, caught up with two of my favourite Corkonians (the third was working) and now I'm on a bus to Dunmanway to work at a health retreat. I also managed to buy some more books today AND, most importantly, stock up on some yoghurt covered raisons. All in all, a pretty good day!
What a difference a couple of hours make! I arrived in Dunmanway at 5:50pm, a seemingly busy little town if the traffic is anything to go by but then I guess that's what happens when you only have one street. By 6:45pm I was starting to worry that my email outlining my arrival time hadn't been received or that my workaway place had sent me an email with alternative arrangements and I hadn't received it because I hadn't been able to check my mail all day. I asked a passerby about getting the net somewhere and was told that the only possible place was the library but she doubted it would be open at this time. After trying unsuccessfully to connect to a rouge wireless on the street I headed to the library which was miraculously still open (late night on a Tuesday - hooray!).
The net access works like this - the internet is free for library members and library membership is €2.50 a year so I am now a proud member of the Dunmanyway library. I don't know if I'll be renewing my membership next year however.
So no email from the workplace. And by 7:0pm, still no sign of anyone coming to pick me up. The rain was bucketing down by now and I'd had the forethought to ask the librarian about possible accomodation for the night so I made a decision to reject my firmly held belief that someone was coming for me at any minute, and set off to find a place to sleep for the night.
The place she recommended was a pub with three guys sitting behind the bar who told me that no, they weren't doing the B&B tonight but to try down at the hotel. It's moments like those that I thank God for my rarely used credit card. I was not factoring a hotel stay in Dunmanway into my budget but now it looked as though I had no choice.
€45 later I have a single room with no internet access but it does have a bath. It also has a phone which I used to contact my workplace people. They apologised, said they hadn't got my email but would pick me up in the morning. So, no real harm done I guess. I'll enjoy my bath and my first double bed (not sharing) that I've had since I started travelling. I'll try not to dwell on the money spent and focus on the money saved over the next few weeks ... when I eventually make it to my workplace!
