Portrush 1

I know we're in the Cairngorms, but that's *this* week! *Last* weekend we were in Portrush for a nice weekend up there with Scotty, Michele, Sarah & Steve.
On the Friday it was touch and go as to who was actually going to make it to Ireland at all - 3 couples, converging on Portrush, from diferent starting points....Sarah and Steve flying from Heathrow to Dublin, Liza & Dan flying from Leeds Bradford to Belfast City, and Scotty & Michele, flying from Southampton to Belfast International. The logistics were...initeresting.
Spanner in the works no 1
Sarah phoned on Thursday to tell me that Steve had sent his passport off to the Aussie Embassy to get his Visa - this *would* have been good news (Visa finally sent) apart from the fact that he didn't have a picture driving licence and therefore no other photo ID. Damn.
Spanner in the works no 2
On Friday at about 11:20 I got a call from S&M saying they were stuck on the M27 and could I check them in online...yup, no problem I said. What time is your flight leaving at....11.50! Onine check-in closes at 45 minutes before departure and even though the flight was aledgedly delayed a bit, there was nothing doing.
Oh My God, I thought....are Dan and I going to be kipping on the floor in the Harbour Bar tonight!????
It all came together though - I got a text from S&M saying that they were on the flight, and one from S&S saying that Steve had got through security OK (noone even checked his ID) and we got on our flight knowing that the guys were all en-route. S&S had hired a car down in Dublin and were driving up to Belfast (Sounds convoluted but the cheapest flights from Heathrow to Belfast were over £200 each!) to pick us up on the way to the north coast. Even with the airport restrictions (no stopping in front of the building) we managed to effect the smoothest pickup without (a) having to pay for car parking and (b) stopping...well nearly...and we were soon on our way to Portrush - after a relatively uneventful hour, were were pulling up the driveway and S&M were pouring the wine and serving up the pies (nice one Michele!) which were our tea. Fantastic welcome.