Chez Shay: Dublin...what a riot!

Well I’ve made it back to Aberdeen in one piece after my whirlwind touring week.

Wednesday I made it to the Heliport in time to gear up (I had to put on all the safety gear that I talked about in the Offshore training) and make it on the helicopter. It just so happened that the cab driver that picked me up used to work offshore, so he spent the whole trip reassuring me and telling me tips about going offshore. I was set. The helicopter ride was pretty cool. You could definitely tell I was a ‘new-be’ since I was gawking out the window and everyone else was sleeping. That day I went to the FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage & Offloading) Boat. I could feel the boat moving, but was never seasick, so I did alright. Then the next morning I had to gear up again, and make the 3 km helicopter trip over to the platform. The platform was much larger, but to be honest I never had time to get a tour on either of the installations, so it didn’t really feel like I was floating in the middle of/ hovering over top of the North Sea. Just before leaving the platform on Friday morning one of the guys from the heli-deck crew was asking how my trip was. I had mentioned that I hadn’t been outside at all, so it felt very similar to being onshore. He took me out on the helicopter landing pad and let me look around, over the edge and he explained some of the workings of the platform. Quite cool. Next time I go out I’ll make sure I arrange a tour of both of these places! Everyone offshore was very nice to me and helped me get around! I arrived onshore just after lunch on Friday. So I had time to unpack then re-pack to make my next trip.

I flew Saturday morning to Dublin. What a day this was…good thing I didn’t have much planned, b/c what I did plan, didn’t work out so well. I flew there with John (co-worker) from Aberdeen. Charlene was to fly from London and meet us there that afternoon; we’d tour around, and then go to the concert. No problem. Well…it wasn’t quite that easy. After landing in Dublin, John found out that Charlene couldn’t make her flight for various reasons. Since Charlene was going to miss Kanye West, John decided to fly straight to London that afternoon to be with her. I was now solo. No problem. I found the bus that would take me downtown so that I could tour around the city center and then catch a cab to the concert. I got on the bus and realized that it was a double-decker...COOL. So I went up top and sat up there. As I was gawking out the window (I seem to be doing that a lot lately) my cell phone rang. It was John asking me where I was...I excitedly told him that I was sitting on the top level of a double decker and was on my way to the city center. All he said was “Get off the bus!!!” - What??? He told me that while in the cab on the way to the airport his driver told him that there was a march going through downtown that had just broken out in a riot...YES...RIOT! (You see I wasn’t lying in the title...go ahead...go back and take a look at the title again...see?) There were some fires, people throwing rocks, Police with shields...the whole bit. Soooooo...I got off the bus, somewhere between the hotel and the city center. What was I going to do now? All of the touristy things were downtown…and I guess I wasn’t going down there anymore.

One of the first things I saw after getting off was a little pub. What the heck!! So I went in there. It was most definitely a local pub, where the 7 guys in there all knew each other and were having their afternoon pint of Guinness and watching the football match (soccer). I pulled up a chair at the end of the bar, ordered a Guinness, and then sat there for a moment pondering what to do. I started chatting with the gentleman sitting next to me...which turned into a long conversation! He was very kind and told me about what was happening down-town. Turns out nothing like this has ever happened before in Dublin and it would only last for that day. It would all be over by that night and I could tour around the city on Sunday (good thing I flied out first thing Sun morning). Basically I picked the WRONG day to tour Dublin!! We sat and chatted about a lot of things. At least I think so...I’m guessing that I understood about 2/3 of what he said...he had a ridiculously thick accent!!! From what I gathered - he was shocked that I was traveling on my own and told me that he has daughters my age; thus felt it necessary to be protective and let me know the parts of town I’ll be okay to walk in, and where I should go while killing time to get to the concert. He suggested a restaurant down the street...so after my Guinness and chatting with a couple other locals...off I went.

The restaurant was in one of the hotels. The food was really good, and they offered me a newspaper while I was chillin’ out. The newspaper had been from that morning, and on the 5th or so page there was a write-up about a march that was going to going through the city center. The writer mentioned that no one really cared and would be surprised if many people were out to watch it...oooooo was he wrong! I would have liked to see the paper this morning! I’m sure his story changed!

After supper I went to the lobby to call a cab to go to the concert. When reception added me to the list I noticed that I was the last in line of many going to the concert. So instead of waiting, I just asked a couple that was in the lobby if I could join them...and what do ya know...they were the next ones to get a cab. Oh yeah...I know how to pick ‘em! So I did make it to the concert (the one thing I planned that worked out). I was in the standing section with a be-zillion others. Unfortunately I was pretty far away so didn’t have a great view...but at least I was tall enough to see bits of it. I was laughing at one point because I suddenly heard “Oh my god...that’s so cool!” When I looked behind me there was an extremely short girl that had jumped up on her friends back to be able to see the stage. It was about 45 min into Kayne’s bit, and it was the first time she’d actually seen him. ;o) Thank goodness I’m tall!

After the concert, I took a cab back to the hotel. I was going to take the bus and save a lot of money, but after the events of that afternoon, I figured it would be best if I just took a cab. It cost a fortune! Actually it cost almost as much as my return flight to Dublin! But at least this way I knew I’d make it there in one piece!

Well that’s it...my adventures offshore and in Ireland. Actually that nearly wraps up this ‘edition’ of “Shay-Anne in Aberdeen”. I fly home on Friday. Yaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!! But will be returning here soon enough. I’ll be posting more on here so don’t forget about me! I’d love to hear how you guys are doing!!!

Later!
Shay