Ryanair - you're having a laugh
Tomorrow morning I am catching a flight, with my son, to Dublin to see England's Grand Slam match against Ireland.
I was rather lucky to get tickets. A friend of mine lives in Ireland and he just happens to know someone very close to the Irish rugby team and this person very kindly offered my friend tickets and he, even more kindly, gave them to me.
Anyway, I booked our Ryanair flights a few weeks ago and last night I was just about to print our boarding passes when I noticed that my booking had been registered in the name of 'Simon Philip' instead of 'Simon Clark' (Philip being my middle name).
I don't know how it happened. I have booked so many flights with Ryanair recently that I probably wasn't paying attention when I completed the online booking form. (Personally, I blame my 'smart' computer.)
To avoid any problem I thought I'd better change it before I arrive at Stansted tomorrow with a passport and boarding pass in different names. So I clicked on 'Manage Account', found the appropriate section, and changed the passenger name from 'Simon Philip' to 'Simon Clark'.
And you know what? Ryanair charged me £100 to do it!!!
I know, I know, Ryanair are famous for their additional costs. Well, I don't mind paying for extras like a gin and tonic, or even priority boarding (I love priority boarding!). But £100 to change my name?
They're having a laugh.
The Six Nations rugby kicks off at 5.00pm at the new Aviva Stadium. On Sunday we're planning to see Dublin v Mayo in the GAA Football League at Croke Park, Ireland's other national stadium.
The story of Croke Park, including the infamous Croke Park Massacre in 1920, is a fascinating one. I've been there once before, a few years ago when there was a capacity crowd of 80,000, and it was a wonderful experience.
I'm not sure that Dublin needs two large stadiums. Given Croke Park's history there was something wonderfully symbolic about Gaelic and 'English' games being played in the same arena while Lansdowne Road was being redeveloped.
Some people thought it would never happen but it did, and it was a great success. Practical too. The Aviva holds just 50,000. The black market will be busy tomorrow.