Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting. -Joyce Meyer
We’re now working on day 3 of no luggage. The plan for today was to do some touring back in the direction of Cork on the off chance that we’d be notified that our luggage had finally arrived and we’d be nearby to go get it. We were assuming that our luggage was sitting in Manchester and that it would have to arrive on one of the two daily scheduled flights from Manchester. When 10:30 (our original arrival time for Friday) came and went, our hopes were a bit dashed. Our destination was a place called Charles Fort near the town of Kinsale. The plan was to tour the fort and then take a stroll through Kinsale to see the shops. If I haven’t mentioned the weather yet – it might be because it hasn’t been our favorite topic already. The forecast for today was maybe high 50’s and chance of rain. Our warm clothes were, of course, in our delayed luggage. The day started out looking at least somewhat pleasant, but by the time we arrived at the fort, it was getting overcast and blustery. Yvonne had a couple of extra rain jackets/coats in her car and we all ended up wearing whichever one would fit just to try to keep warm.
We enjoyed the tour – there is a lot of history there. The fort was finished in 1682 and is one of the better known examples of a star shaped fort.
But first, Yvonne needed to make a short visit to a relative in the hospital in Cork. On the way there she got a phone call from a number she didn’t recognize. She pulled over and called back and it was the baggage delivery man! YAY!!! He had a slight problem. He’d made it as far as Durrus (Yvonne’s address sort of ends in Durrus) and had no idea where to go next. She knew she couldn’t explain it and we were too far away for him to wait for us to come find him. She thought fast and told him she has some cousins that own a B&B just outside of Durrus and she asked him to leave our bags there. She told him to tell her cousins it was for her. She told us that she was sure they’d be wondering what the heck was going on, but they’d hold the bags for us no problem. We continued to Cork where she dropped us off at a grocery store (with a small shopping mall attached) while she was off visiting. We picked up a few groceries and looked in the stores while we waited for her. It was pouring down rain when she came back to pick us up! A quick drive (OK -really it was about 1 1/2 hours!) back to Durrus and at long last…we finally have our bags!! YAY! A big thank you, along with the explanation, to the B&B cousins and then to Yvonne’s to freshen up for dinner which would be at a cute Italian restaurant in Ballydehob (another nearby village). I decided that pizza might be a good choice for my dinner. They had some suggested pies on the menu and I picked one that had pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives and artichokes on it. Mike had some fish in a shrimp and garlic sauce. When my pizza arrived I cracked up. I didn’t get a picture of it -but it was a bit larger than I expected -8 pieces- and 2 pieces had ONLY pepperoni on them. Two pieces had ONLY black olives on them. Two pieces had ONLY mushrooms on them… You get the picture. I was thinking – “Um, I’m not in Kansas anymore!” The pizza was good -but it was sort of weird to have it served that way.