'A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.' Ulysses (p. 243)

A letter to RyanAir:

'To whom it may concern,

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I never miss a flight. In fact, I have suffered regular humiliations from family and friends for my habit of turning up hours early at airports, apparently unnecessarily. Today was no exception. I arrived at Dublin Airport with hours of spare time, having crossed the city from Heuston Station, and did so - being a Corkman - as cheaply as I could. (Google Maps, in recommending excellent bus and pedestrian route combinations, deserves some of the credit here.)

The message boards at the airport told us that we were to get to the gate (103) for boarding at 18:50, and a 19:20 departure. When I arrived at the gate at 18:40 or thereabouts, the notice said the flight was delayed until 19:50 (by 30 minutes). Unperturbed, and upbeat, having had a successful week cleaning out my ageing mother’s decaying bungalow in Clara, Co. Offaly, I went off to enjoy the general gate atmosphere, and look at the views on what has in addition been a beautifully sunny day.

I hope you will agree that it is a measure of my good character that I have chosen to share this next morsel of information with you. Atypically I may have enjoyed one small expensive glass of cooled Heineken from a bar near the gate. This, by no means, had any effect on my decision-making powers, and I was back at the gate at 19:20, eager to experience the views from the sky, and get across to that playground that is England. But, to my consternation the gate had closed! Though I could see the plane outside with its steps still down, staff (understandably) could not let me board.

The same staff were sensitive and extremely helpful and booked me on to an early morning flight tomorrow. As we speak, I am at the airport preparing for what, I am sure you will agree, may prove to be an ‘interesting’ overnight stay, inside the security barriers. Though I am no longer a young man, the hours here I can cope with: as you will have gathered, I appreciate airports, not in the way of those baffling plane-spotters, but for their other charms. The downside however is that the whole misfortune, and needing to rebook, has cost me €100. I am a frequent RyanAir user, and, though, like most sane people, I have environmental qualms, I plan to fly with you again soon. In this case I believe the information at the gate was misleading. At least one other gentleman had the same bad luck as I. No loud announcement was made, nor were names called out. It is possible, that with age the ears were not up to the job but as a visual artist of some repute I would have been keeping my eye on things as well, literally.

I know that RyanAir had a name for laughable ruthlessness in the past, on matters such as this, but you seem to have made a turn for the better. Maybe that is so the famous Irish reputation for generosity, is seen to apply to RyanAir too. Cutting to the chase, and in that spirit, what possibility of a goodwill gesture and compensating me for today’s loss?

I do not wish to take the matter further it goes without saying, but one should not underestimate the power of artists and poets: think of the ancient fili who were rightly respected, and whom clan chiefs feared.

Yours Sincerely

 

Micheál O’Connell'