So here I am, then, back in Maynooth. The rain was pelting down in Cardiff when I went to get the bus so I arrived at the airport soaked to the skin. Other than that, and a slightly delayed flight, the trip home was uneventful and I arrived in Maynooth in good time.
That was quite a surprise, actually, as this afternoon the Pope was doing his thing in Phoenix Park, Dublin, and there were many road closures in the city as a consequence. I feared a long delay on the Airport Hopper bus, but in the event it ran precisely on schedule.
Perhaps the lack of travel disruption was connected to the fact that fewer than 130,000 attended today’s Papal Mass for which 500,000 tickets had been made available? The last Papal visit to Ireland in 1979 drew a crowd of 1.25 million to Phoenix Park. Ireland does seem to have changed a lot in 40 years.
Anyway the heavy rain I left behind in the United Kingdom is pretty typical for an August Bank Holiday weekend. Here in Ireland, however, this is not a Bank Holiday weekend. The August Bank Holiday here is on the first Monday of August, not the last…
I didn’t realise until yesterday that the UK August Bank Holiday was originally set to be the first Monday too, but was moved in 1965 as an experiment to try to extend the summer; change was made permanent in 1971. You can read more about that here.
Anyway, since it is not a Bank Holiday Monday, I have a busy day at work tomorrow, including an Examiners’ Meeting. Perhaps my books will arrive too!