Ireland day 1121. Wednesday 23 October 2024- EHICs

Today’s summary	Val was working at the Museum so I walked down to Portmarnock to get new EHICs (European Health Insurance Cards) for Val and me. The Primary Care Centre issued temporary ones on the spot and the “official” cards will come in the post in about 10 days. Very efficient and a nice walk in the sunshine too. Cup of coffee from Spar en route then an online lecture on Stonehenge and some vegetable soup when Val was back in the evening.
Today’s weather	Sunny and dry in the morning though clouded over a bit later in the afternoon. Very light southerly wind in the morning but picked up later in the day. Appx 14c

Today’s overview location (The grey mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): EHICs walk Portmarnock

Commentary

When you move to live in a new country, there’s lots of admin you need to do to ensure that you are properly integrated into the new country’s various systems. Driving licences, tax, national insurance to name but a few. I must admit I thought that after having been in Ireland for more than three years now, we had covered them all. But, as of this morning, I discovered that this was not actually the case.

One of the pieces of of national infrastructure that could be quite useful is a thing called an “EHIC” (for “European Health Insurance Card”) or “GHIC” if you are in the UK. You are supposed to have an EHIC issued by the country you’re living in, and if you have one it entitles you to free healthcare when overseas in a country with reciprocal arrangements with your own. Anyway, neither Val nor I had remembered to organise an Irish one and I thought with a trip coming up imminently, we ought to get them.

It turns out that to obtain one in Ireland, you have to go to a special centre (of which there are many around the country) in person, present various pieces of ID, and they will then arrange for the EHIC card to be sent to you in the post a few days later. In case of urgency, they will also issue you with a temporary cover note on the spot.

The process sounded a bit daunting, especially as we would have to do it twice – once for me today, and then once for Val at a later date, as she was doing a day working in the Museum so couldn’t join me on my EHIC quest.

Anyway, the good news was that I discovered that one of the EHIC offices was in Portmarnock Community Medical Centre, whose front door is right in the middle of one of my favourite circular walks. So I decided to combine admin with exercise, and see if I could get my EHIC sorted out while I was on my excursion. So I gathered the necessary ID documents, filled in the form, and set off. I reasoned that if it would work for me, it would also be quick for Val when she came to do it later on.

I was at the Centre after about an hour’s walk and was seen by the EHIC official immediately (I don’t think it’s their only job, by the way!). She was speedy and efficient and also said that if I had copies of Val’s documentation to hand – she could process both our applications together. Fortunately I had scans of Val’s documents as well as mine on my phone. So armed with the relevant bits of information, she set the wheels in motion to get our cards, which should be delivered to us by post sometime in the next ten days. She also issued us temporary paper EHICs which are valid for a month.

With that, thankfully and surprisingly successfully out of the way, I finished off my circular walk, returning to Malahide via the Velvet Strand and the Portmarnock Spar-cum-coffee halt. Refreshed by the coffee and the bright sunshine, and triumphant with my paperwork, I got back to Malahide with a spring in my step, ready to spend the rest of the afternoon tackling my Spanish homework. It has to be said that this week we have been given a double dose of it, since next week is the mid-term break, and even after two hours, I still hadn’t finished it. The rest will have to be despatched tomorrow.

Once Val was back to work, she dived into a phone catch up with friends back in Chester, UK, and I watched a webinar on the archaeology of Stonehenge. Absolutely fascinating. But now it’s time to down tools, perhaps to enjoy a decent glass of wine, and and to heat up some of Val’s delicious vegetable soup for dinner. An altogether very successful day.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Alongside the Bawn Grove. A beautiful morning	Fatsia Japonica, or false castor oil plant. It is a winter-flowering native of southern Japan and bizarrely (at least I think it’s bizarre) it will hybridise with common (European) ivy to create a new intergeneric genus, Fatshedera

Approaching Portmarnock beach along the boardwalk from near the golf course. The sea was remarkably calm today, and for once the beach wasn’t windswept	Tranquillity looking south to Howth

Aircraft appearing to imitate Icarus	My super-deluxe treat for the day

Starlings checking out the electrical system in Portmarnock. In Ireland (and the UK), I don’t think starlings are migratory – they stay here during the winter