After some adventures in air travel, we have arrived in Ireland and settled back into life in Lambeg for a short time so that I can go through my PhD defense (viva) on June 9 at 10 am.
First, the travel adventures: we got to the Saskatoon airport shortly after 4:30 am for our early morning flight and checked in, but our hearts sank when the attendant pointed out that our passports were expired and voided! Somehow, we had picked up the wrong ones; the current passports were sitting in a drawer in Caronport, 2.5 hours' drive away. What saved us is that we were flying to Montreal so I (Randy) could attend the CETA (Canadian Evangelical Theological Association) conference en route to Ireland. Gwen went back through security and got her luggage and then drove furiously to Cport to retrieve the passports; then she flew the next day to meet me in Montreal. (When she picked up her luggage, she realized that the handlers had taken off the piece that held the clothes I was planning to wear to the conference, so she managed to get an Air Canada employee to sprint to the plane and get them to me just before the plane's door was closed!)
Now, about settling back in to Lambeg: our neighbour, Nan, had said that the house we rented four years earlier was now empty, so we contacted the landlord and he graciously allowed us to use the house for the time we are here. Friends and neighbours have spoiled us again, making sure we had enough in stock for evening tea and much more.
A few things have changed--the kerbs are all one (drab) colour now and the neighbourhood children have grown a lot--but we were struck with how much everything is just as we left it. In fact, pictures we hung on the walls of the house are still in their place and a tear-off calendar we left behind still displays the date we left!
Yesterday we met up with my supervisor and got some business done at Queen's (including finding the location of my viva), we toured the Ulster Museum, which had closed for renovations the day after the last time we went through, and we strolled through the Botanic Gardens & shared a Flake ice cream cone from a Mr. Whippy wanna-be. We then took the train back home and visited at the Parkside nursing home & shopped in Lisburn, getting home footsore, weary, and laden with some of the favourites we remembered from before (such as black currant jam).
Today, we went for a (not so wee) drive with Nan and Tom, going from one restaurant to the next, so the long walk yesterday was all for nought in terms of calories burnt. Not only that--there are butter & cream & Stilton in the fridge, so . . .
All in all, it's wonderful to be back.
