The Ban Bus

Sunday came and we grabbed a few hours off to go for a bike ride in Phoenix Park. The park is huge and in the middle of Dublin. It’s so big you could seriously get lost there. The really special character of the park is it has herds of wild deer wandering free. We found a large herd and quietly stalked them. They were so used to being safe and not interfered with by people that they couldn’t care less about our presence. They grazed about and wandered from place to place happily while we took a few photographs.

Ireland is doing well economically and they have put a lot of effort into issues like bike paths and public transport. The bus lanes on most major roads are sacred to public transport while the car lanes are choked with the result of the boom. The boom has created an affluent middle class where now everyone has a car. This rapid boom has put so many cars into a road system that is struggling that the end result are some horror traffic jams.

Our friend Raechel arrived this night too from New Zealand. She will be working with us doing some filming of the whole Ban Bus and treaty process. The footage will be used in a variety of ways as pool for media but a prime outlet is You Tube.

She called from the airport that she had landed but her bags were lost. That is the ultimate drag after over 30 hours of travelling. It’s very cheesy to be in the same clothes after so long in a plane and then after a refreshing shower changing back into the same cheesy undies. The airline, BMI, was totally disinterested and said that they had lost many bags today and they would get them to her when they finally had time. On their website they promised all sorts of responsibilities but in practice delivered none. Finally after lots of calls they said the bag would arrive by 11 pm the next day. We stayed in with the phones on a waited. Nothing. We tried calling but no one there. Another day gone. The next morning Raechel rang again and got the same amazing customer service. She stuck to her guns and finally had them agree to find her bag and deliver it by mid day. We waited again. Mid day came and went and still no bags. She rang again to no avail till finally a courier dropped them off in the early afternoon. A happy girl emerged from the shower with clean clothes and feeling like new.