UK360 Day 7 : Dublin – A Tale Of Two Cities

Amy Harpin: Today was a Follow That Fire Engine rollercoaster, there were highs, there were lows, there were times when we didn’t know how to feel, and times when it felt like the ‘luck of the Irish’ was definitely starting to rub off on us.

We started the day in Bangor, a cooked breakfast was gratefully consumed (on the FTFE 360 Tour you never know where your next meal is coming from so it’s best to fill your boots when you can).  It was another scorching hot day and we were sad to say goodbye to the beautiful countryside, you can definitely see why Ireland is fondly known as the ‘Emerald Isle’, as we headed for Belfast City centre.

After a few dubious manouvers, which the duty traffic warden assured us were fine, we met with Macmillan representatives at Belfast City Hall.  We were there to open the ‘Macmillan Wig Walk’ which funnily enough is a walk, that you do wearing a wig.  We were presented with two green wigs, two blue wigs and I received a special silver one, lucky girl.  Dave and Chris weren’t sure they signed up for ‘wig wearing’ when they agreed to come on the FTFE tour, but as soon as they put them on they looked very at home.

There were probably several hundred people taking part in the wig walk.  James took the opportunity to do some FTFE canvassing, explaining to the ‘wigs’ why we were there and wishing them good luck with the walk.  Dave soon realised talking to the public doesn’t come so naturally, his opening line being, ‘have you heard about the fire engine trip?’.  It’s OK Dave, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

At 12 o’clock the ‘wigs’ congregated at the corner of City Hall, behind Matha, and it was ‘on your marks, get set, HORN!’ as we sounded the horn and the sea of green and blue wigs set off on their mission around Belfast.  It really was a pleasure to be involved in such a great fund raiser.

As we left Belfast we were lucky enough to attract a Follow That Fire Engine follower, we gave him a wave and the thumbs up, the Irish really are friendly…  unfortunately it was the Garda, pulling us over to make sure we turned off the blue lights, oops sorry.

We were heading to Dublin to pick up the lovely Ailsa and meet the Mayoress of Dublin, Emer Costello.  With four boys in the fire engine I can only describe the journey as ‘windy’.  After meeting Ailsa at Dublin airport (yay, another girl!) we hit Dubln bang on time and managed to find the square that Dublin Council had arranged for us to meet the Mayoress, or had we?  Wolfe Tone Square was occupied by groups of, let’s say, ‘less than savoury characters’ who had maybe overdone it a bit on the shandy/sunshine combo.  Was this really where the council would be sending their Lord Mayor?  Apparently so.

The Mayoress arrived and everyone, except Chris, was in the fire engine on the other side of the river (we had to spend ten minutes driving around Dublin just to get onto the other side of the square, to enable us to park up, such is Dublin’s one way system!).  A few nervous calls from Chris “Where are you?”, “Where are you now?”, and Chris could breathe a sigh of relief, as we pulled up to meet the Lord Mayor.  She was very excited about the expedition and said she would be following us online.  Whilst having official photographs taken, one of the less compos mentis locals decided to put his arm round the Lord Mayor and tell her how attractive she is. She took it very well and the chap in question was helped on his way by bodyguard Chris, doing his Phil Mitchell impression.  As the Mayoress looked around Martha the said gentleman spent five minutes telling Steve how much he hated him, because he was English.  As you can imagine, at this point we weren’t feeling incredibly welcome in Dublin.

As Mayoress left, a journalist from the Irish Times turned up to interview Steve, he’s an old hand at that sort of thing now.  When she’d got what she needed we moved Martha to a street next to the shopping centre and started handing out flyers and trying to drum up some interest.  We soon realised that a Sunday afternoon in Dublin City centre, when the sun’s out, isn’t the best time to capture people’s imagination.  And the type of interest we were attracting wasn’t necessarily the type we wanted.  Slightly deflated, and without a plan B, we were a bit stumped about what to do.  Steve had been trying to get in touch with Dublin Fire Brigade but they weren’t answering the phone.  Steve’s Uncle John and Uncle Tony were due to be arriving in 5 minutes, and at that moment FTFE and Dublin had nothing to offer them.  It was then that an Ambulance pulled up behind us and Steve got out to ask their advice.  In Dublin, fire fighters are also paramedics, so they all know each other, they advised us to turn up at the fire station unannounced and we would receive a warm welcome.  This could be our lucky day!

We picked up a very excited Uncle John and Uncle Tony along the way and as we tried to find the fire station we drove past City Hall again, and again, oh and there it is again.  I think I mentioned Dublin’s one way system, apparently it was introduced about 6 months ago, something our SatNav is unaware of.  Eventually, after another impromptu tour of the city, we reached Dublin Fire Station, to be greeted by Steve’s cousin Matt and three friends, all kitted out in FTFE gear.  They just happened to be in Dublin this weekend and wanted to come and show their support.

At this point it was time to say goodbye to Chris and Dave who were flying back to London, sad times but as they say, all good things must come to an end.  They were being replaced by new blood; move over boys, its time for the ‘Tony and John show’!

Parking Martha in the fire station was hilarious.  Steve had a fire fighter on his right telling him to go left, and someone on his left telling him to go right, along with a few chaps at the back shouting “wooooohhhh, WOOOOOaahhhh” every time he started to reverse.  Eventually we got parked and as the chat got going I thought I’d best capture the moment on camera.  Fire fighter Albert asked if I’d like to “go up there, to take some pictures?”.  I thought he meant up into one of the buildings.  The next thing I know I’m shooting up 100ft in the air, on the crane ladder, looking and out over Dublin.  I didn’t think that would be on the agenda when I woke up this morning!

We stopped at the fire station for a nice cup of tea and were invited to a BBQ at the station that evening.  So in the space of a couple of hours we’d gone from feeling that Dublin was maybe a bit of a mistake (apart from the meeting with the Lord Mayor of course) to one of the best receptions of the tour so far.  Thanks to Dublin Fire Brigade for saving the day!

Amy Harpin

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