True Blue Monday...

We spend 1 seventh of our lives on Mondays. What a thought.
Actually I thought today would be quite a good one. After getting some sun yesterday (yep, Dublin's in the grip of a heatwave - the mercury has hit 25 for 2 days running!) I was a little tired so went to bed nice & early last night, happy in the knowledge that I only had to get out of bed at 7:30 cos I was only due in at work at 10 this morning.

Knowing this, and fearful of The Yak (a.k.a. me before I've had my first dose of morning caffeine), my hubby left very quietly for work while I was still asleep. Very thoughtful of him. I woke up when I heard the news jingle quietly playing on the radio - at 8am. Aw crap! I have my morning routine timed to the second and I was running half an hour late already. Doing my best to rush to get ready, I managed to overcook my egg so it tasted like rubber - and there is NO WAY I leave the house without being fed in the mornings - don't want to be unleashing The Yak on the unsuspecting public!
I missed my regular train, and as I rounded the corner to the station I broke into a sprint (well, as close to a sprint as one can get in strappy sandals) because I could see the next train was already there. It was still at the platform when I stumbled onto it, breathless. But the doors were closed and the mean, nasty train driver actually leaned out of the window and looked at me as I put my hand onto the button in the vain hope of re-opening the doors, before pulling gently away.
So I flopped onto a bench and waited another 40 minutes for the next train, taking the time to de-tangle my still-wet hair and do up the button that had popped loose on my blouse during my athletics stint.

It was a gorgeous morning though, bright and hot and sunny, so my mood picked up pretty quickly. The next train arrived & I got a window seat facing the sun. Good music on my MP3 player - the day was improving!

Three stops later, the carriage was invaded by about thirty 5-year-olds on a day trip. I don't have any children of my own. This is a conscious choice, and this morning just reinforced that I have made the right decision. I turned up the volume on my MP3 player until it was loud enough to make me deaf... but still not loud enough to drown out the cacophany of kindergarten around me. One blue toe and three kicks on the shin later, I removed myself to the furthest corner of the carriage, in doing so probably saving one of the little treasures from having its block knocked off.

Nonetheless, I made it to work in one piece, nobody noticed I was a tad late, and after only a couple of 'challenging' calls, e.g.
User: My PC crashed and now it won't start up.
Me: Have you checked all the cables are plugged in?
User: Yes.
Me: OK I'll come downstairs and take a look.
(Walk down 2 flights of stairs)
Me: Hm, where does this power cable go to... ah, there we are... (click)
User: Oh, sorry, I didn't see that one.
(Sound of computer starting up)
Me: No problem (fake smile)
the day ended and it was time to head home.

Only, when I got to the station it was chaos because a train had broken down somewhere so all the other trains were running about half an hour late.

Well folks, there's no other choice - just gotta plug in those earphones, pump up the volume and accept the fact that it's Monday, it's public transport, and there's nothing that can be done about it.

There are another six whole days before the next one hits!