Well actually, it was yesterday June the 4th. It's past 12 am here, so I'm giving you old news, but it's still the 4th somewhere, right?
But either way, June the 4th 2017 I first signed up with Steem and have been here ever since.
WHOOP!

And how was this celebrated, you ask? By getting up at 4 a.m. to get us all ready for a 2 hour and 40-minute drive to Dublin for my passport. Yes, I've done the same trip last year, but that time it was for my ID card, because I still have some outstanding taxes in Holland, and I was afraid they would stop me from getting the passport, but they HAVE to give you your ID. But since this year's Steemfest will be in Thailand, I will need the passport. I thought I'd get it done early. If there are any issues, I will have the time to do something about it. According to my documents, I should be alright, since they don't put a passport ban on someone for an amount under EUR 5000,- and mine is (luckily) just under that. Unless they charge ridiculous interest of course, which I can't put past them either. BUT, I'm going to put my positivity mask on and go from the best, not the worst case scenario.

Anyway, after I switched the alarm off twice, I finally jumped out of bed at 4.30 (because that alarm was one you'd use to wake the dead), took a shower, made my coffee and got the kids up and ready for our trip. Of course, my printer just gave up on me, so I had to print something along the way. The only place I was passing with a copy shop didn't open till 9 a.m. and it's 1.5 hours from us, so no point getting everyone in the car by 6. So for once, we could actually take our time!

After my appointment at the Dutch embassy at 11 a.m. I didn't really want to drive back right away. It was a really shitty, rainy day so we decided to drive to Dundrum (Dublin) and spend some time in the mall.
Because we all needed a break for a bit, we found the first coffee shop we saw and went inside. In retrospect I should have checked out other places, but my thoughts were: it's just coffee. Well, I really should have walked on...

The first impression of the place wasn't very inviting, but there was an upstairs and I thought it would be better there.
I was wrong.
After I ordered my coffee and the kids their drinks, I thought they could do with a treat and they all chose cookies that were displayed in the counter window. This kinda surprised me, because I was expecting they'd get cake, but not this time.
The biggest surprise, however, was when I got the bill. I had to pay more than 21 Euro for one coffee, three soft drinks and three cookies! Stupid little me would usually ask what the cookies cost...but this time I thought: it can't be that bad.
Well, I thought wrong.
3.45 for one damn cookie! Times 3!

For THIS???

Now, WHEN did YOU ever spend 3.45 on a cookie? I wouldn't have spent it if it was in guilders, so let alone twice as much. I know we're way past the 'calculating back from EURO' stage, but for this occasion, I had to. This would have been more than 7 guilders for a cookie!!! WHAT??? Seven guilders back in the day would buy you lunch. Heck, 3.45 will buy ya at least a coffee and a cookie where I'm from. Even Starbucks doesn't charge that much.
My fault, I should have asked. So I decided to just let it go. At least we'd be able to enjoy it upstairs.
Wrong again. The place upstairs was possibly even less inviting. It was HOT. So hot even that we downed our drinks and left.

So Brambles cafe in Millpond Dundrum in Dublin gets a negative from me. We'll never be back here, that's for sure.

Luckily, the rest of the day was quite OK. It rained all day, so it was fun to be in 'the' city.

Just next time: no more cookies.
Now, keep your fingers crossed for my passport.
😬