dublin

As soon as I am in an English-speaking country, I switch over to talking, writing and even dreaming in English. My German seems to be forgotten at an instant.
The first night in Dublin I slept sound and deep.
As I had not felt hungry throughout the whole day I had had nothing but breakfast. The arrival in Dublin at 11 p.m had been all of a sudden.
Out of nowhere I found myself in the busy nightlife around the airport. So different from the tranquility of the place where I live. I was lucky to get the last late bus to the centre. The busdriver, a middle-aged woman, was nervous. All the tourists with their backpacks asking too many questions, squeezing themselves and their luggage into the bus. The bus was crammed. “Take a seat, will you,” she yelled impatiently to all of us. Some Americans, not used to being in Europe, grabbed their belongings dragging them all the way up to the upper seating of the bus.
The journey only took half an hour.
Not far from the station there was a street with amounts of hotels and B&B places.
The first one I stumbled in was owned by a Czech who offered me a room for 50 Euro. “No warm water, though”, he informed me. “Problems with the electricity.”
Before I could say something, he added, “Ma’am, you’re in Dublin.”
I went on.
Outside a B&B place there sat an old man on the entrance steps. He looked grumpy. “Any vacancies?” I asked.
“70 per night”, he said.
As he could not change my 100 Euro note, I got the room for fifty. “The money”, he reminded me quickly when I took my suitcases heading for the room.
“May I see the room first? You are greedy”, I said smiling.
No reaction.
He showed me the room that was just round the corner of the hall and I handed him the 50Euro note.
"No shower any more", he mumbled.
"You cannot do that to me", I said and "Hold on a second, I have got something for you".
"I took two of "Mozart's balls" out of my bag and said, "Couldn't you make an exception once?".
He took the sweets, looked at them quickly and said, "Ah, Salzburg. Was there once, centuries ago. Nice place." Off he was.
Well, I took the shower.
And had one of "Mozart's balls" for late-night dinner.
At the breakfast table next morning, he brought me tea and toast and said, "You seem to be a spunky lady."
And he even seemed to smile a little.