A bridge too far for swan in flight?

ON May 10, a massive stretch of pre-cast roadway, topped by a huge, steel spike, arrived by barge at Dublin Port.

Constructed in Holland, it had been hauled through heavy seas from Rotterdam.

The Samuel Beckett Bridge, which will link Guild Street, north of the Liffey, to Macken Street, on the south, had arrived. It was conceived in 1999; we have waited a long time for Godot to come. The barge could get through the narrow opening of the East Link drawbridge on the May high tide, but storms held up the operation for two days; with Godot, delays are only to be expected. Then, the weather improved and the birth was induced. The Dublin tug, Deilginis, was midwife, while a Dutch one played the expectant father, fussing nervously. The half-hour delivery was smooth and painless.