Last post of 2009

This is it - the last post of the year 2009. In it I just want to include a couple of pictures that I took yesterday in Belfast. I went up there on a day trip from Dublin. I suppose I was looking for a change of scenery - something different.

The two cities are really not that far apart - Belfast is only 100 miles away and it doesn't take too long to drive on the motorway.



All that remains to say is I hope 2009 was good for you and that 2010 will be even better.

Cold, cold, cold

I left Cork on the 23 December to come to Dublin for Christmas. The weather in Cork was already turning nasty. It was getting colder and colder and ice was appearing everywhere - on my car roof as you can see and on the footpath outside my house which was scary. I had to walk on the road and that's dangerous at the best of times.

On the drive back to Dublin I stopped and took a photo of this field that I thought looked amazing. The light sprinkling of frost makes it look great I think.

Weird food

I don't know - maybe this is normal but I was surprised when I recently found ice on my egg!!

Icy egg!


The other day I cracked the shell on a hard boiled egg that was left in the fridge to keep it fresh. Yes ice just under the shell. It was in a dish under the freezer compartment in the fridge and that's probably where it came from. Another surprise I found was a clove of garlic that started to sprout fresh growth.

Garlic - growing a new one!

Musée Bourdelle, Paris

While in Paris in the summer of 2008, I visited the Musée Bourdelle. There, you can see the work of of the French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. As far as I know the museum is located where he lived and had his workshop.

The museum houses lots of models of his sculptures and the actual sculptures themselves and is near the massive Gare Montparnasse. The museum building is nearly as nice as the work collected there. It's a very simple, minimalist building so it doesn't overshadow the work on display. Go and see for yourself at 18, rue Antoine Bourdelle, 75015 Paris.

It's cold out there

I know it's snowing heavily in many places all over Europe, but it's not here yet. It is cold though. As you can see from these photos I took the other morning the fog makes things look different.

Cork is getting ready for Christmas

As you can see there are lots of signs around the city that santy is on his way.

Cork - back to normal?

I drove back to Cork from Dublin on Sunday 29 November '09. I heard that the water had been turned back on after it had been turned off following the floods. Yes it was back on, and a little colourful!!! when I turned it on at first. It soon turned crystal clear though, thankfully.

On the radio the other day I heard that flood warnings are in place this weekend 5 / 6th December. Some people in the city still have sand bags outside their houses and shops just in case.

The weather is still mostly rotten here, ie ; lots of rain and very cold too. Having said that, there is a good Christmas spirit around the city. There are lots of festive decorations and trees around the place and on Grand Parade the council have set up a christmas market. Today, when I went there there was a band playing music to get people in the mood. Let's just hope that we can get rid of the sand bags.

Cork flooding

This video clip shows some of the photos I took around the city on the day after the deluge. The city's water treatment plant was flooded as well as lots of other buildings so my water was totally cut off on Saturday 23 November. I decided to take refuge in my parents place in Dublin on the relatively dry East coast of Ireland far away from all the trouble on the west coast.

Floods in Cork

The weather in Cork has been pretty bad for the last few weeks, there's been a lot of rain and it's also been very windy in the last few days. The result is that some of the city streets have been flooded today. The sun is out now and that makes a big difference and somehow it doesn't seem so bad - unless of course your house or business are flooded. As you can see from these images the water is causing a lot of problems for some people. The army are now helping to evacuate people who are trapped because their houses are flooded. I heard on the radio that water was released from the Inniscarra dam and I can only imagine that this must have added to all the rain water that fell to cause the floods.

The western part of the city seems to be the worst affected area. The Mardyke area is badly flooded, so too is the cricket pitch and Fitzgerald's Park. Further on down the river towards the city the quay wall broke near the hospital and that caused floods on the ground floor of the hospital. Grand Parade was also affected, but when I saw it the council workers were getting it back to normal. There's some amount of work to be done I'm sure, good luck to them is all I can say.

Robert Fisk talk

I'm just back from a talk by the journalist Robert Fisk in UCC this evening. It was organised by the UCC Law Society and was very well attended with no spare seats in a lecture hall that holds about 400 people.

He spoke on various subjects at a podium for about 35 minutes, then sat down for a discussion with one of the professors of the university. Finally people from the audience were able to ask him questions. Who is he and What did he say?

I don't know an awful lot about him appart from the fact that he is an English journalist who covers the Middle East and has done so for the last 33 years (so he said at the talk).

US MID EAST POLICY

Fisk started off by talking about Obama and said that he doesn't really hold out much hope that Obama can change things for the better in the Middle East. Fisk said that instead of sending 40,000 extra troops to the area that it would be much better to send 40,000 teachers, engineers or doctors and defitely not 40,000 more soldiers.

INTERNET (modern communications)

Fisk thinks that the current internet age we live in what with all its instant, short and omnipresent communication tools like text messages, emails, and twitter etc, etc is destroying our ability to read deeply and that its doing something to the way we write and ultimately the way reporters report. So all of this is leading to problems with our communications, Fisk said.

JOURNALISM

Fisk said that "we should be neutral and unbaised on the side of those who suffer" when reporting.
When asked about the public's change from buying newspapers to surfing the internet for their news, Fisk said that American newspapers aren't failing because of the growth of the internet but because they weren't any good to begin with. American newspapers are afraid of upsetting the powers that be, so consequently they always have bland reporting. He said that as regards the UK newspapers including the Guardian, the Financial Times and (of course) his own paper The Independent have got some good journalists.

CHINA

Fisk was asked about China and what the future holds for us and them. He said that he visited Hong Kong recently and was stunned by what he saw. He said that he saw a great show of power / strength when he was there.
He said that China is an extraordinary phenomenon and that they've got the Middle East all figured out, insofar as they know what's going on there. I suppose they are good businessmen and for them to make investments there, they need to know who to deal with and who to avoid etc., but it shows their abilites and what to expect from them in the future.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

When the time came for questions from the floor, you had to sign your name on a sheet of paper going around. I signed my name on it because I had a question to put to Fisk.
I wanted to talk about Syria and the fact that they want to encourage tourism. I wanted to ask him if he thought that the influx of foreigners would help to open up the country, or maybe even democatrise it.

Unfortunately, my name was at the bottom of the list and it must have been decided to finish at a certain time so I was not called to ask a question. I was disappointed if a little relieved, because my heart was beating at about 10,000 beats a second at the thought of speaking through the microphone in front of all those people!

I was going to say that I was a tourist myself in Syria during the summer. I was also going to lighten the mood in the room, which was kind of serious (undestandable really given that Fisk was talking about war and the unfair situations that exist in the Middle East) by mentioning that when I was in Aleppo (Syria) during the summer that I saw a black and white clip of Eamon DeValera (Irish President) on an Arabic TV station - a surreal bizare experience at the time. I've no idea what the programme was about by the way, but to see an Irish president on Arabic TV - bizare.

Flotsam & Jetsam in Ringaskiddy

I drove out to Ringaskiddy on Sunday and here's a few pics of the flotsam and jetsam I found there. It's a coastal village just south of Cork city. WHAT did I find; well I found shells, rocks and pebbles, lots of them, small ones, big one, shiny ones, dull ones. I even collected some shells and brought them home. I found some wooden thing, and I'm not sure what it is, or was exactly. I also found seaweed and of course rubbish, though not too much really, just some old plastic bottles.

You can also see a video clip of the tide, coming and going as the tide does. I still find it amazing to see and to hear the swoosh of the tide. It's such a powerfull force, I suppose because you can't see how exactly the tide is rising and falling. It's mysterious really.

Jazz festival weekend 2009

Ok so I checked out the websites and then wandered around the city to see what exactly was going on. There was a great buzz around the place and I could hear lots of American and English accents.

Apparently, so a Cork woman told me Cork people head out of town when the whole jazz roadshow hits town. I can understand that I suppose - your city has just been invaded by loads of Jazz fans from all over the world and you would rather get out of town and just leave them to it. Anything for a quiet life!

I could hear music from my window and when I investigated it I found this band entertaining the crowds in Fitzgerald Park.

I then headed down to the main street, Patrick Street. There was a big screen set up and this is what it looked like. There was also lots of food stalls set up. One of them was roasting a full pig and they were carving it up and selling it. Not something you see everyday - I'm sorry I didn't get a photo of that!
In the evening I met up with my friend Cora and we went to McCurtain Street, that's where some of the key venues for the festival are - the Everyman Theatre and the Metropole Hotel. The Metropole was just crazy, absolutely jam packed full of people.
After a drink in the Metropole we went down to the Pavilion bar. It was really good there, pretty busy but they had live music - three musicians I think. A great end to the day.

Cork Jazz Festival

The Cork Jazz Festival is now in full swing. There seems to be lots of events happening all over the city. I'm going to have a look and see what I can find.

Man drowned in River Lee, Cork

I saw this little yellow boat on the River Lee one day and decided to photograph it because it looked so unusual just sitting there. I was really shocked a few days later when I heard that a 22 year old man had got into difficulty and drowned when he tried to swim out to it. He died on the night of the 29th September 2009.


It was moored on the river at Pope's Quay in the north channel of the Lee in front of St. Mary's Catholic Church by a Christian group. A very sad end to a young life.

Old Head - New Money

I visited the town of Kinsale on Sunday 27th September '09. It's 25km from Cork and always draws a lot of tourists because of its highly polished appearance. Admittedly it does have colourful houses, lots of nice picturesque little narrow streets and small alleyways but I don't really see the attraction myself. Maybe I just wasn't ready for the experience!

Anyway these photos make it look good. I think. Included is one of the French prison and also the church where some of the victims of the Lusitania are burried.


After leaving Kinsale I headed to a beautiful place not far from Kinsale called the Old Head of Kinsale. This is a short clip of the amazing scenery at the Old Head of Kinsale. Unfortunately you cant walk around the Old Head as since 1997 it's a golf course. It's a shame really because it is lovely and wild.

Cork Culture Night 2009

On Friday September 25th Cork city celebrated Culture Night. Lots of cultural venues (churches, libraries, galleries etc.) were open free to the public and events were arranged to show them off. I went to what used to be one of the tallest buildings in Ireland - Cork County Hall, where you could take the lift to the top and get an amazing view of the city. Have a look for yourself.

And here a few pictures so that you can see Cork from a different perspective.

Let's start with the building itself, County Hall, then Atkins Hall (the longest building in Ireland!) and then some other general shots of the Mardyke Arena, the Sunday's Well area and then the city in general.

New home

As I mentioned earlier I have moved to Cork to study at UCC (University College Cork). So take this as your warning - anything I write for the next while will be from a Cork perspective. I drove down and of course my car was packed full of lots of things that I will probably never use. This is a view of the road on the way down here. I don't know why but for some reason I love to see the mountains in the distance like that, like I'm going home!

I found a place to live pretty near to the university, which is also near the city. My place is up on a hill so I have this amazing view of the city and lots of greenery - I can see a park, a cricket pitch, a tennis club and lots of trees. Here are a few snaps to prove it.

Races at the Curragh

Off I goes to the races on the plains of the Curragh Racecourse in the County of Kildare. On a really beautiful sunny day - the 12th of September I went to the races - NO winners unfortunately. Here's a few snaps though and some video clips.

TITANIC

While I was up in Belfast for the Tall Ships event, I decided to have a look around to see if I could see anything else of interest.
And as you may (or may not) know the RMS Titanic, the ship known as unsinkable, the biggest and any other superlative you care to mention was designed and built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1911.

Here is a photo of a 'drawing room' in the building in which plans for Titanic were drawn up. As you can see it's showing its age but it's also complete with people dressed in period costumes.

The next photo shows the rails of the slipway down which Titanic would have gone where she was launched.This is the Nomadic, a ship of the White Star Line, just like Titanic. She was used as a tender to bring people out to Titanic.

The Tall Ships - Belfast

On the 15th of August 2009 I went off up to Belfast city with my brother to see the Tall Ships. The ships which were taking place in the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge had just arrived in Belfast from Halifax in Canada. They stayed in Belfast for a few days well earned rest. You could go onboard and have a look around if you wanted, but the queues were massive - so I didn't bother.

Well the city was jam packed full of people and there was a real buzz about the place. I had been to Belfast a good few times in the past few years but never did I see the same amount of people or feel so much excitement in the city.

Lots of things were organised for visitors to the event. Amusements, foods stalls, beer tents etc, etc were set up around the docks and you could just wander around. This is a video clip of the slingshot that catapults you skywards. Somehow I don't think I would have the stomach for it!

Limerick - you're a Lady !

On the 14th of August 2009 I stopped off in Limerick city on my way back home and had a look around the place. Did you know - it's the third largest city in Ireland and the river Shannon runs through it.

I hadn't really seen much of it before I don't think. This time I didn't spend too much time there either - I was eager to get on the road back to Dublin and didn't want to get caught up in heavy traffic or anything like that. It seems like a nice place, lots of history there and it's small and compact to wander around in. So here are a few pics of what I saw.

Kilmalkedar

On my way back to Limerick I stopped off at the ruined church at Kilmalkedar or Cill Maoilchéadair if you prefer.

It's really ancient! Well the present building dates from the 13th cent but it was built on the ruins of the old one that was built around the year 600 AD.