Seriously Damp Weekend

Being on dog watching duty Saturday night, I headed out to the bus stop at about 2 on Saturday, having waited all morning for the rain to stop or at least slow down to no avail. With no luck there, I loaded up my backpack, put it on UNDER my rain coat, and left my apartment. The walk up to the stop wasn’t awful. It was when I got to the bus stop and had to stand there for 20 minutes while the sideways rain got to the only place it could – my legs and feet! My shoes were soaked by the time the bus got there, as were my jeans from the bottom to my knees. Alright, I figured, at least most of my walking is over.

The bus ride to the Dun Laoghaire DART train station was about 45 minutes long. The bus stopped literally right in front of the door to the DART station and I felt lucky for it. I bought my ticket for the train and went to the upper deck to watch for the train’s approach. I had my ipod going, so I only caught the tail end of some important announcement. When there were 3 minutes left until the train’s arrival, I went ahead and walked down to the train platform. It pulled in and I waited for everyone to get off. This passenger getting off the train says “The train is terminating here.” I was like, “Excuse me?” He went on to tell me the train could go no further due to flooding on the tracks further south. He suggested taking Bus 45A to Bray, where I was trying to go on the train.

Back out to the buses, where I couldn’t find the stop for the 45A. While I was looking for it I got soaked, so I figured I could go back in and find out where to go and to verify the guy’s information. I overheard a transportation employee telling somebody else that the 45A indeed goes to Bray, and that the stop was around the corner. The walk to the bus stop was not far, but I was annoyed to see the bus pulling away from the curb just as I turned the corner. I piled into the covered bus stop with about 20 other people (there was only room for about 10, but 20 piled in anyway) to wait for the next 45A. It took about 20 minutes for the next bus to show up.

It was about another 45 minutes to the Bray DART station, where I was to catch the 184 to Greystones. When we got there, that station was obviously closed too, so more confused people were milling around out front trying to figure out what to do. I heard this transportation guy ask if anyone wanted to go to Dublin. When people were telling him they wanted to go to Greystones, he said “No buses to Greystones, the roads are underwater.” At this point I started to flip out a little, since I had no way to get to the dog. So I decided to wait, having no other options. The sun was out and I thought maybe the roads would clear a bit.

About a half hour later, the bus pulled up ready to go to Greystones. I can’t even tell you how many people got onto the bus at this point. People were everywhere, including a large group of French students sitting and standing around me. The ride was okay at first except for how crowded it was and a bit smelly too, at this point. People began to exit little by little at the stops, and the whole French crowd got off at the Greystones DART station. There were only about 10 of us left downstairs at this point. The further we got toward Greystones, the more giant puddles (more like lakes) we drove through.

All of a sudden, the bus slowed way down, and I heard a strange noise and someone said “Here it comes!” The next thing I knew, gallons of muddy rain water were pouring into the bus from the door. Gallons. We all lifted our feet and were all laughing and just really couldn’t believe it. As the bus drove along, the water sloshed around and forced us to keep our feet off the floor. We drove down one street where people were wading through their front yards in knee-deep water standing around their homes. The bus took water about two or three more times, and the bus finally dropped me off fairly close to the house, and luckily I didn’t have to walk in rain. It was 6:30 when I walked in the door. Four and a half hours after leaving my apartment. Can you believe that?!