Rowan Tree and Red Thread

We're on the road back to Cork after a few days in Dublin seeing family and friends. In all, I'd say we had a good trip. We met up with several friends, ate well and Rowan got to bounce for Ireland.

She also introduced herself to Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy) as the little girl who really liked one of his early albums. He was suitably charmed to find out that Rowan sang along to "When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe" in the car. Hannon has a daughter of a similar age to Rowan, who is called Willow. There must have been a tree-meme going through expectant parents a few years back.

Nearly home now. We're entering Rathcormac, a small town near Cork that must warrant a couple of pixels in Google Maps, which is not far from the lovely Lee and the city of Cork.

And then to bed.

It's time for another of our irregular car trips up to Dublin to visit
family and friends. My mother, brother and sister-in-law all live in Dublin,
as do many of my oldest friends from my college days. E-mail, Skype and the
rest serve their purpose but sometimes you have hit the road and do the
rounds in person.

To my daughter's great delight and anticipation, our trip coincides with a
street party this weekend that will be held on the street where my mother
lives. At this party there will be a BOUNCY CASTLE. Rowan's joys were
unconfined. I only hope that it lives up to its promise.

So now we're on the road out of Cork heading for Fermoy, this first sizable
town on the Cork-Dublin road. Fermoy is famous (in my mind at least) for its
bottleneck and the endlessly delayed by-pass. I also recall the story of an
unfortunate lad from Fermoy who was the subject of a long and disgraceful
campaign of gay-bashing, so I'm afraid the town doesn't rate highly on my
list of the urban jewels of our republic.

After Fermoy there's Mitchelstown, famed for its cheese and, at last, its
brand-new by-pass. This will be our first encounter with this new wonder of
roads technology and I wait with bated breath to experience this marvel.

By-passes are a popular subject of conversation for the driving classes.
Cork and Dublin are separated by 261km according to my road map, but the
journey routinely takes 4 hours, in no small part due to the quality of the
roads and the number of towns that have to be passed through[1]. This means
that every working by-pass is welcomed by drivers, if hated by the merchants
of the newly by-passed towns, who can longer rely on a regular passing
trade.

We also like to talk[2] about house prices.



[1] The traffic doesn't help either, to be honest.

[2] I say talk. I mean complain.