There is no shortage of car parking spaces in Cobh. At a wild guess the car park between the train station and the quay wall must be a mile long. Consequently it’s not totally helpful to arrange to meet at the car park. The fact that the “Normandy Princes” was disgorging some thousands of cruise passengers as we arrived was no help either. The demographic of the cruise folk seemed very similar to our own. On balance however we were more beautiful/handsome/charming etc. than the new arrivals. We joined them as we headed for the port exit and found our own tribe as we left.
Olivia Barry, our leader, deserved a standing ovation when she announced in notoriously hilly Cobh that our walk would be on the flat with the sea as our constant companion. A gentle sea breeze was the perfect partner on a spectacular early summer’s day. Olivia, as a Cobh native, filled us in on the evolution of her town from poor times to prosperity, to setbacks and the struggle for Independence, in a place where The Royal Navy’s pound sterling paid many people’s bills. Mary and PJ O’Brien also helped to flesh out the script. With Haulbowline (Inis Sionnach) and Spike Island (Inis Píc) in sight we empathised with the poor cigire who could not make an unexpected raid. Requiring a boat in, his due arrival was telegraphed to the schools and to the teachers who earned their “Island Allowance” usually toiling alone.
As we walked through Cobh it was easy to imagine “our cruise ship” had docked in some Mediterranean port – such was our weather.
Our meal at “The Water’s Edge” was excellent and the melodrama around paying almost back to normal “ding-dong” usage. One suspects the restaurant must have been stung by a group who did not pay in full. It seeems a pity that management reacted by slamming the stable door after that horse had bolted, metaphorically catching the fingers of totally honest RTAI members in the door slam.
Seán Ó Callanáin
RTAI CORK BLOG - Suíomh na Múinteoirí Scortha Chorcaí 