I had arrived in County Cork in Ireland on the invitation from PJ Cooghan from 98FM radio after I had been interviewed by him whilst I was in Fort William, Scotland. I mentioned that I was heading to Ireland in late September and he asked me to drop into the studio to have a photo taken with the three of us.
Yes that is PJ, cardboard Paul and myself.
While I was visiting Cork for a few days, I decided to tour the area and headed to the Dingle Peninsula for the day, or that was the plan!
I strapped cardboard Paul in the front seat of the hire car with me for the fun adventure and off we went with google maps in hand to show me the right direction and unfortunately I became lost. To top this all off, I was busting to go to the toilet and veered off the route to find a local petrol station or public toilet. I was fortunate to find a petrol station in Kanturk that had a public toilet but also a Subway and small dining area. I stepped out of the hire car with just my phone and the key fob. As I stepped out of the car, the key fob flew out of my hand, vanished into thin air and locked the car. I searched everywhere under the car, but couldn’t find the key anywhere. To add drama to the situation, I just happened to park over a grilled water / oil pit and believe the key could have fallen into that. I was devastated and extremely upset to say the least. Why did these things always happen to me? Why did I continue to loose things whilst I travelled? The night before, I had cracked a tooth and lost half of it, so this was the second loss in two days!
I had two gentlemen (my Knights in Shining Armour) come and see if they could assist. No matter how much we looked and visualised the key reappearing, it wasn’t meant to be. Lucky I had my mobile on me and I then proceeded to contact the hire companies roadside assistance. After many phone calls and hours later, the key doctor arrived to unlock the vehicle and see if he could program in a new key for the car. In the meantime, I set up in the small dining area and both my knights came in and provided a cup of warm tea and also $50 euro to buy some food. I was extremely grateful by the generosity and started to cry. The key doctor had been there for half an hour and was able to open up the car, so I could get access to my purse to payback the money, but also a jacket as it had turned cold. Unfortunately the key doctor was unable to program a new key due to the newness of the vehicle, so a tow truck had to be organised to tow us back to Cork airport to drop off the broken down vehicle but also collect a new vehicle, as I had a few more days in Ireland with media commitments. Needless to say, I arrived back in Cork safely and swapped over vehicles with the help of Nigel the tow truck driver who I had an amazing conversation with for the hour and half it took to travel back into Cork airport.
My two Knights in shining Armor, Vinnie and Gerry
During all this drama, a few thoughts came to mind.
“Sometimes life has other plans and can stop you in your tracks whether we like it or not or whether it was planned or not. The outcome is how you manage the distraction or obstacles that are thrown at you. You can go with the flow or completely give up. I chose to move forward go with the flow and learn from the lesson.”
There may have been a reason why I was stopped in my tracks. I am not sure if I was meant to travel along the Dingle Peninsula, but we will never know.
Also the word Perseverance came to mind as Vinnie was persistent in trying to find the missing key, he never gave up looking and in fact removed the grill over the pit and preceded to climb in to search for the key. I suggested not to, as the water was disgusting and he would never find it and even if he did, it would be useless and wouldn’t work.
“Persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success” I thought of this word and how it relates to me and know that on my journey I am always persistent, no matter what drama is thrown at me especially in this scenario. I always have the courage to move forward.
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