Not NIR's finest day.

On Sunday we went to visit our friends in Ballymena - 45 minute car ride from Lambeg. The train ride was not the highlight of the day! We left Lambeg at 0929 and arrived in Ballymena @ 1130. We had an engine go on one of the cars that caused a diesel leak, then at Antrim one of the doors wouldn't close so the train could not start and the third unscheduled stop was not announced because the speakers had quit working - someone jumped out of the train and ran down the track and a few minutes later came back and we were on our way. On the way home our friends dropped us off at the station. We were on time for the 1812 train only to find that it had left a few minutes before. We were stranded in downtown Ballymena with a 3 hour wait outside for the next train. We decided to take a taxi to church and then a kind man drove us back to catch the train. The train left at 2101 and we got home at 2320. What a day! By my calculations we spent 7 or more hours of our day to make a journey that should have taken 1.5 hours. It was worth it because we had a really fun visit with our friends. We also met Terry - a man from their church who called us by name - he had been checking our friends the Murphys' blog and had found our link and read our blog. Interesting way to get to know people.