A very young Irish girl doesn’t know it yet, but she has a 25-year free pass on Irish Rail. Railroad authorities gave it to her after she was born on a Galway-to-Dublin train last week.
The arrival was sudden, with the mother in distress in a lavatory cubicle on the train. An onboard-catering staff member heard her and called for help; two nurses took over before a doctor who was also on the train arrived. The doctor told the Irish Independent he wasn’t really needed; the nurses had it under control.
Mother and daughter were reported well after admission to hospital when the train reached Dublin.
I wonder who decided 25 years was generous? The first 5 years she’d ride free anyway, maybe the next 10 unlikely to ride without a paying companion, leaving effectively 10 years or so to really enjoy it. I think a lifetime pass would have been infinitely more appropriate.
I thought the same, but held my tongue. Perhaps I shouldn’t have!