Courage

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it."

In the midst of the Minx's general enthusiasm and, more specifically, her excitement about going to Dublin, it was all too easy to lose sight of the fact that she's not keen on flying. However, in the days leading up to our trip, I caught her on a couple of occasions watching YouTube clips like this one. Here, I realised, was someone who embraced her fears full on.

Indeed, in the early hours of this morning, as we travelled to the airport and waited for our flight, it transpired that she had determined the crosswind speeds at both Manchester (12mph) and Dublin (18mph). And it must be said that the landing in Dublin was of the oddly-angled, slightly bouncy, trouser-troubling variety. However, we were swiftly on terra firma and all the implausible physics of powered flight was safely behind us.

From thereon in, though, we had a splendid day: a bus tour around Dublin, drinks in our room and then a splendid meal at La Cave. (I took this photo from Ha'penny Bridge, just after we disembarked from the bus that brought us from the airport.)