Last Look


Part of a condemned building on Cornmarket Street.
Naked figures have been displayed in those windows for years but I bet most people never noticed them.

The area is undergoing major rejuvenation. A pedestrian bridge was built across the river at the end of the street, Vibes and Scribes are moving to a new location on the quay, there’s a new building going up next door to this large warehouse which itself will probably be gone soon.
Post 531 of this discussion forum sheds some light on what’s happening down there:

Does anybody else think that OCP’s retail plans for Cornmarket Street, Paul Street, Half moon street and Lavitts Quay, Academy Street, Patrick Street and Emmet Place are spreading out of control?
What about existing boundaries, laneways and city blocks? OCP seem to be buying up anything at all that they can tenuously link to Paul Street.
Just a thought, don’t bite my head off

That forum looks like a good way of keeping up with what architects are doing in Cork.
From what I can gather by searching for “Guy and Company”, they must have been a printer? Books are listed with their name presumably as publisher, and as recently as 1996 they designed a new seal for Cork County Council.

An Ceili Mor – Part 1

The Ceile Mor was held in Cork City last Saturday in an attempt to break the world record for the largest Irish dancing event ever! The organisers hoped to get over 10,000 partipants, but as it was, they managed 8,371 which was enough to beat the previous record held by the town of Dublin in the USA! Here’s a few pictures from the day. Ryan has plenty more shots too!


Click for a larger panoramic image (432K)

The Irish Holocaust

The Irish Famine of 1847-48 resulted in a population decrease of millions. Before the Famine, there were some 10m people living here, afterwards only 6m.
The Irish Holocaust site has more.

Of the 100,000 who fled to Canada in 1847, only 60,000 were still alive one month after landing. Among the 40,000 dead was Henry Ford’s father’s mother who died en route from Cork or in quarantine on Quebec’s Grosse Ile.

Fun Lovin' Pictures

The Fun Lovin’ Criminals played last night in The Savoy in Cork. This is the second time I’ve seen them play. The last time was in the Show Grounds in Blackrock when I got down there early and into the enclosure in front of the stage. At the time I thought the performance was great but the sound quality was terrible!
Part of FLC’s attraction for me is the great lyrics. On their studio albums Huey’s voice can clearly be heard, but their live performances leave a lot to be desired. It was difficult to make out what song they were playing from time to time as the sound was so fuzzy and loud!
The concert was disappointing for me. They played several encores but I felt like leaving before they were finished. I still love their studio work but I don’t think I’ll be going to see them play live again.
Mel was there too and thinks the same about their sound quality.

Photos taken with my Panasonic FZ5, usually at 12x zoom. Sorry about the bad quality!