Monday 24th
The omens were not good.
The security screening line I was put in at the airport was the one full of trainees. So, when my hand luggage emerged on the belt from the x-ray scanner everything was taken out, searched, swabbed and re-scanned.
When we were standing in line waiting to go up the steps for the flight to Dublin. The passengers that had just come from Dublin were getting off.
There was a lot of relieved laughter, a few faces that could have done with a bit of blusher to restore the colour to their cheeks and one young guy who was actually green and needing a bit of a hand to get into the terminal.
Also, even just sitting on the tarmac the plane was rocking from side to side as the wings flapped enough to signal its impatience waiting to take off.
The actual take off was not too bad. The veering across the runway did not last for long before the packed plane was bouncing into the sky swiftly catching up and then overtaking the fast moving clouds.
The main part of the flight in the blue above the white was fine and smooth.
On the approach to Dublin the playful shrieks and giggles that started as the bouncing plane began to descend turned into silent prayers as we got closer to the ground and the aircraft leapt and bucked like a frisky stallion.
The pilot was working hard keeping us level, on the centre line and at the right height.
There did not seem to be that much runway left when the flying beast stopped flying and thudded heavily onto the Dublin tarmac.
Simultaneously a lot of passengers let out a rousing cheer and the pilot hit the reverse thrust and brakes.
This time I almost joined in with the applause. I hope Ryanair don’t retrospectively want to charge extra for the thrill ride of a life time.
It was of no great surprise that the wind was so bad not that far away in Scotland, the Forth Road Bridge was closed to all traffic and the airport we had just left was also now closed.
As we taxied in to the terminal out of the rain swept window was Air Force 1 and its little brother Air Force 2.
Air Force 1 and 2.
My flight had been delayed by forty five minutes or so but, but that was nothing compared to the delay Daybreak's Chief Corespondent Richard Gaisford endured.
The wind was so strong that as well as making his flight late it was too dangerous to get the bags off.
By the time I met him in the arrivals hall the concert that we were due to report on was already in full swing.
We would do our best to get into town to get what we could.
Luck was now slightly on out side. Although the President’s speech had started when we got in the taxi to take us to town the driver had a TV in the car that we could watch it on.
Not only that he was keen to do what he could do to get us in as quickly as he could.
He drove the way we wanted him to but could not really ask.
Along with bending the rules on speeding a bit he was not averse to giving out advise to his fellow road users, like, “Will yi get out the way yi fookin’ ejit!”.
He got us as near to the event as was possible in a vehicle that was not big, black, with lots of flashing lights or had a crest of an eagle on it.
Before we got out the car President Obama’s speech was over.
What we wanted to do was to get to College Green where he had made the speech and chat to some of the people that had been there to hear it first hand.
The problem was that we were on the wrong side of the river.
Both the roads and walkways on the bridges that cross the Liffy were currently closed.
There was no way that any Garda was going to let a pair of dodgy looking characters like us get across, even if they had official accreditation, which we didn’t because we had not had time to go to Dublin Castle to pick it up.
We decided then to at least get a shot of the motorcade that was possibly going to go along the road where we were.
There was a bit of a crowd. It would not have been a good idea to try and play the media card and push to the front.
My best option was to get some height. There is a statue at the end of O’Connell Street that has an angel on it. So i climbed up it to get a better view of the cavalcade when it appeared.
I was using Richard’s small camera because money needed to be saved on excess baggage. ITN still had kit in Dublin that I would use for the live broadcasts in the morning.
Getting the shot of the cavalcade of cars.
The shot of the president’s car going past was at least our own material rather than pool footage that all the other broadcsters would have. We would be able to edit with if needed.
Along it camce after a short wait. I could not see the president but the way the sun shone through the car window it was a good view of Michelle.
It was only a few moments after the long line of cars had gone when the roads were opened.
We went to the scene of the speech and concert to talk to a few of the many many people that had crammed into the fairly small city centre area.
One of the Obama fans we interviewed.
I was a little frustrated using the small camera because I was not able to monitor the audio but it all appeared fine, except of course when a large hoist was manoeuvring in the background of one of the interviews.
TV crews doing their live broadcasts...
....including the Irish national television station RTE.
Then came the call that changed everything.
To avoid the ashcoud caused by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Grimsvotn that was currently spurting lava, gas and dust into the atmosphere, the president was going to leave Ireland in the evening, not next morning as planned.
Instantly there was no reason for us to be in Ireland in the morning.
There were a few more phone calls the result of which was that we would try to get out as well. Flights to and from Edinburgh tomorrow morning had already been cancelled.
Whilst these calls were being made Richard and I found ourselves in Temple Bar, the tourist area of Dublin. There was a small but excited crowd surrounding some flash cars that were trying to negotiate the narrow streets.
The interest was that Westlife and the bizarre duo Jedward, who had been performing at the concert nearby had just been ushered into the vehicles.
Westlife are in that one....
....Jedward are in the one in front. They need the extra headroom!
There was only one flight that we might just be able to make. It was t
he last flight out of Dublin to London’s Heathrow. The travel company was unable to get us booked on to it but we were told that there were seats available.
We had to go to the airport and try to get on.
Another one of Dublin’s lovely taxi drivers, a more refined lady than our dare devil of earlier got us there as fast as she could.
We walked into Terminal 2’s check in concourse and our hearts sank.
The place was like the preverbal ghost town. The only activity to be seen was a little black headed asian guy connecting up a huge floor cleaner to the mains.
The deserted check-in area.
Then right at the far end there were two lonely figures behind two check-in desks.
We told them that we wanted to get on the flight to Heathrow telling them also that we had bookings for tomorrow.
The two very nice ladies told us that the ticket desk was closed and that it might be difficult for them to do anything to help us.
They then had a a quick chat about what they could do to swap the bookings on to the flight.
Richard and I had no idea what they were talking about. They would have been as well talking in a mixture of Gaelic and Swahili for all we could understand of the codes and acronyms they were saying to each other as they simultaneously tapped away on their keyboards.
It did not take too long for them to come up with a couple of boarding cards and huge smiles. I immediately authorised the pair a huge pay rise and massive holiday bonus.
We dashed up to a very deserted security area where the staff recognised Richard and whisked us through the scanning procedure but not without telling us how much they did not like Daybreak, in fact they had stopped watching and missed GMTV so much. Oh dear!
The flight we were now booked on was delayed for a while so we had time to grab a bite to eat.
Away on the other side of the airport I could see the presidential aircraft waiting for their passengers.
Air Force 1 waiting for its passengers.
With its VIP load it jets into the grey windy Irish sky.
Air Force 2 taxis out to follow it.
Not long after President Obama, his wife Michelle and a lot of sun glass wearing secret service men left Ireland we were on our way.
Our flight arrived in London more than two hours late where we were confronted by another twenty minute delay when we sat waiting to get on to the parking stand.
The airport we had left was eerily quite and so was the one we arrived at.
Richard went off to get his car from the car park and I went in search of transport to my airport hotel. I ended up getting an expensive taxi to take me the relatively short journey to the Raddisson Edwardian.
It was getting close to 1 am by the time I checked in.
It had been a rather expensive, stressful but fruitless trip back to the Emerald Isle.
What would tomorrow bring with the winds pushing the ash cloud over Scotland.
