So I arrived in Dublin nice n'early on the Friday morning with one day to get a load of stuff done...
Luckily I've got a sound little brother who, for the price of the toll bridge fee, came to meet me at Dublin airport at 8am (cheers Bro, much appreciated).
I could see he was tired, apparently 2 toddlers will do that to you! Still though, he didnt mind taking me to two different Garda (police) stations to get my Police Certificate sorted and despite the best efforts of a cranky Bean Garda I managed to get this crossed off the list.
Next up was was to get GP's Medical Report from my family Doctor which I needed to renew my driving licence. (I have Epilepsy and my licence had been suspended for over a year on medical grounds). After a couple of hours waiting around for him to come in, I managed to get that sorted too, all I needed to do now get some passport photos and take all of the relevant documentation and forms etc to the Motor Taxation Office in Nutgrove to reapply for my licence.
This turned out to be not so straight forward... Apparently, as part of the government's 'Austerity Measures' my local Motor Tax office had been shut down (smart move Enda, close a government office that's so busy the queues are usually 1hour long and force the good folk of South Dublin to travel to the other side of the city to tax their car or apply for a licence). So basically I had a choice, try to convince my brother to drive to Clondalkin in West Dublin (bearing in mind he hasnt had breakfast yet and it's now 1pm) or take the bus to North Dublin and hope I can make it by the 3.30 closing time.
Luckily my lovely Mammy happened to show up and by pure chance needed to go to the Motor Tax Office to get a log book re-issued. Things were working in my favour...
So I got to Clondalkin Motor Tax Office and managed to reach the counter at about 3pm. Right away the woman behind the counter made it clear she was gonna make things difficult. Firstly there was a problem with the Certificate the Driving Licence Authority (DVLA) had given me for the date I stopped driving and the relevant driving qualifications on my licence. Secondly, my GP's report was in the wrong format, or on the wrong form (I was getting frustrated and was pretty tired by this point).
Anyway I was about to concede that I wouldnt get it sorted today and that I'd be rushing around right up to the last minute when I had a light bulb moment... I'd been reading Neil Straus' bestseller 'The Game' (I've been recommending this book a lot lately to all red blooded men) so I decided to try apply a little 'Game' to the situation (no harm in trying eh). The woman behind the counter was probably in her late thirties early forties (yes this is relevant) and aside from her obvious boredome with the job, I could tell that behind her Civil Servant 'front', she was quite friendly.
So after displaying an overly peacocked smile and paying some (seemingly unintentional) compliments aswell as applying some witty banter and (indirectly/playfully) making fun of some of her mannerisms she started to warm considerably. Within about ten minutes, she'd gotten her boss to contact the DVLA in Wales to verify my letter and had gone through my file to find an old medical report that she could apply my latest medical to... Then she stamped my application, gave me a receipt, we exchanged pleasantries and I was on my way. Licence renewal crossed from the list...
I decided I deserved some breakfast at this point so myself and my Mam went across the road to McDonalds for a well deserved 3.30pm late breakfast quarter pounder... Thanks Neil Straus :)
All I needed to do now was complete my form for my International Drivers Permit and give it to my Dad to post (I forgot to do this) and look forward to seeing my friends. I hadnt seen most of the lads in a couple of months so it was nice to have a few beers and talk crap for the evening. Pretty therapeutic I must admit.
Till my next scrawlings...
Do chara, do mhac, do dheartháir,
Damien
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