Home and away: a lesson in relative value
People sat in bars and restaurants, enjoying a fag and a drink, and the sky didn’t fall in. Children under 18 socialised with their parents in the many bars of Puerto del Carmen until all hours, and the world didn’t end.
I bought fruit and juice in a supermarket and, horror of horrors, I got a free plastic carrier bag, and the island environment survived.
A meal in a top restaurant, including wine and complimentary brandies, cost E36 for two; a three-mile taxi ride cost E2.50.
We arrived home at 3am on Tuesday, May 4, a planeload of tired holidaymakers. Many of us queued for taxis at Cork airport and, you’ve guessed it, there were none.
Eventually, because we the customers began phoning around various companies, slowly cars began to arrive. The journey from the airport to Blackrock in the middle of the night: E9.50.
Welcome home to rip-off Ireland.
Tony Fitzpatrick,
9, Oakdene,
Skehard Road,
Blackrock,
Cork.
