Getting Connected

Having a roof over our heads was a relief. The stuff you get under a roof in Ireland has numerous small details different enough for us as to require some adjustment. Heating systems are of course prominent features, and we quickly had to learn about central oil radiator heating systems, electrical back up for your hot water, and why we may yet regret not renting a newer house with a gas system...

Much harder than getting our heads around the practical details was trying to find how to find t'ings in Ireland. The yellow pages are listed alphabetically, but not by the function you are seeking, i.e. W is not for Walking Clubs, Wallpaper and Washing Machines, but Walsh, Webb and Welch. This makes it very easy to find a business when you know the name of the owner. Oil heating turned out to be under C for Clonmel. Cars, Automobiles, or Motor vehicles are of course under K, for John Kelly Motors. {Get my drift?}

See above for a picture of what we bought after we established 'K is for Car'

Feeling very much the unwanted aliens, we understood that things would take time, and girded ourselves for a period of minor frustrations, hoping we would feel established before it all became overwhelming. Ultimately the make or break frustration proved to be the establishment of an internet connection. This required, along with the usual passport / photo ID, that we had a 'Utility Bill'. Simple enough; but would the phone company send a bill in advance of their schedule? No. What about the power guys? No. The Oil bloke thankfully {by day five of our application} came to our rescue with an invoice. Did the internet people accept this as a 'Utility'? No. The Bank branch, in Dublin, kindly helped with a statement, sent by snail mail {day 9}. "I'm sorry sir, we require your home address on the bank statement".

To cut a long story considerably short, it took three weeks to have internet access in Ireland, as no utility companies had had the foresight to bill us prior to our arrival.

At this point in time all four children were somewhat miserable, and clearly not well adapted to the near freezing, sleet ridden conditions that greeted us each morning. We decided that to blast the cobwebs we'd take the family to climb some rocks et al in the west of Ireland {our ancestral lands}.