Between a shamrock and a hard place
By Harriette Puddy-Jones
I think it was around December last year when I got talking to a friend about how to resolve the issue of combatting the misery derived from the cold and darkness of Durham. Whether it is for that nine a.m. lecture, for a morning run, or trek to Maiden Castle to lift your spirits, we can all agree that the weather is a major player in determining our moods.
We ultimately concluded that we should try to break up the term by exploring other nearby areas, because the excitement of going somewhere new (even if that is Seaham during the rain) is enough to make you get outside, and possibly even the motivation you need to attend a lecture. However, there’s only so many times you can look at the North Sea and spend the next half an hour debating dipping just your toes in or submerging yourself completely. So, around the beginning of February, it was decided to upgrade these adventures to something a little different — 24 hours in Dublin.
It was simple; we’d fly from Newcastle on Friday evening, roam the sites and streets of Dublin until the early hours, and fly back Saturday evening. And a £35 return flight with no luggage or accommodation was a deal and a half – surely it couldn’t be that bad? Now I will note that it is interesting we chose Dublin, it’s cold and rains consistently, so it’s basically Durham, only more expensive and has better Guinness (?). Nevertheless, the plan was set, and 14 of us were committed.
The 6th of March came quickly, and we found ourselves in the Temple Bar district. It happened to be the day of the Six Nations Ireland vs Wales match, meaning that after an Irish win, Dublin was buzzing. Before we left, we spent quite a lot of time researching and creating an itinerary, making sure everything would run as smoothly as possible…
Although, as it turns out, the bouncers of the Irish Pubs determine the age limit for entry on the night of. So, it pretty much depends on how you dress, your attitude and group size. Which meant that, as a fairly large party, our plans to take on the hotspot of Temple Bar were denied, and we were forced to take on the (not at all) notorious look-alike down the road. Despite this initial setback, the bar we entered had everything we needed for the evening – live music, a dancefloor, and our first experience of homemade Guinness. And it’s true – it does taste better. In fact, as a non-Guinness drinker, I don’t think I’ve ever sounded that passionate about a drink before.
Now I will note that it is interesting we chose Dublin, it’s cold and rains consistently, so it’s basically Durham, only more expensive and has better Guinness (?)
I think we take Durham for granted in some senses, and during this particular night, one thing came to mind – safety at night. Phone, wallet, keys and ID all in one back pocket, and you won’t even think of them until you get your phone out to pay for your post-Klute subway sandwich. I think going from this for a few months to Ireland’s capital meant none of us was even thinking about taking precautions – because you don’t really need them in Durham. So, after an hour of dancing and numerous attempts to request Ed Sheeran’s ‘Galway Girl’, it was perhaps inevitable that a phone was stolen. Pretty stressful, and I think this causes slight trauma for us now – the concept that a friend was without money, contact to home and worst of all – a boarding pass to Durham. So, the second setback of the evening, and we still didn’t have accommodation. I think, despite all this sounding hellish, we were (on the whole) enjoying ourselves.
After a few of us stayed hopelessly searching for a lost phone (which has recently been traced to a village in Moldova), the majority headed to probably the only nightclub which allowed the youngest to enter. We all gathered here at around midnight, and after a couple of hours boogying and feeling relieved to be away from the sardine experience that is Babs’ dancefloor, we were inevitably faced with our most dreaded question – where on earth are we sleeping?
There are only so many hours you can spend in a Maccies playing card games and pretending not to be asleep, so you don’t get kicked out for somewhat “anti-social” behaviour. Therefore, a 50 minute walk to the beach seemed like the best idea since sliced bread, particularly because by the time we would get there, we’d have an hour’s nap on the beach and then watch the sunrise. I think we took for granted how lucky we were when we went. The weather was perfect, and nothing like what any of us had come to expect from a weekend in Ireland. I remember standing there looking out to the sea, laughing at the unidentified animal skeleton we’d somehow managed to nap on without noticing, and watching what must have been thousands of birds drift overhead on their migration south. Just 14 students from Durham, on a random beach in Dublin in March. Perfect, really.
After the sun had risen, we returned to the city centre for breakfast and our planned tour of the Guinness factory. We agreed we couldn’t exactly trek to Dublin and not do this. But having slept for under an hour, the walk around the factory was full of delirium and was fuelled by a hungover beans-on-toast from the side-door café. I mentioned that a friend had a phone stolen during the night, well, it seemed that this did have an upside. When you enter the storehouse, part of your ticket contains a free Guinness from the bar, and she was given two extra tickets out of sympathy. I’m not sure how, but this turned out to be a lot more than two free drinks. So maybe getting a phone stolen isn’t the worst thing in the world. This was a key moment, and I think it is agreed that the few hours we spent at the gravity bar were the most memorable and humorous time we shared.
It’s not often that you find yourself surrounded by friends and can just pop to Dublin to buy a Guinness, and I’d highly recommend doing something similar. After all, you can always catch up on your lectures.
Image credits: Harriette Puddy-Jones
