Members of the crew of the F480 Comandante João Belo as the ship was known in 2005. In 2008 it was sold to Uruguay, with official transfer on 8th April 2008, renamed ROU-01 URUGUAY.

An Alpaca stared intently at me while he munched on some straw in Blarney on Saturday.

The single solitary donkey huddled among the Alpacas yesterday in Blarney.

Several Alpacas were in Blarney earlier as part of a Bothar promotion to encourage people to support them. The animals, including one donkey, were a big hit with the kids. I only had my 50mm lens with me so no wide angle shots, but I did get a couple of nice ones.

Supporting bars criss cross the arm of a crane on Cork’s Docklands in 2005. Probably the same crane I posted a few days ago.

Not so long ago these metal edifices defined the skyline in Cork and other Irish cities. They’re all gone in Cork now, but there’s still one left in Killarney, County Kerry. I hear tourists are taking photos of them now..

The Fregatte Köln docked in Cork Harbour in 2005. Glorious day for a photowalk!

Priestman are, or at least were, a brand of crane and excavator manufactured up until possibly the late 1990s. They have a long history according to this page. I found the logo above on a crane on the docks in Cork Harbour back in 2005. It’s probably still there! The Priestman story began when William…

County Hall in Cork, as it was in 2005. Not so long ago it was flooded but it looks vaguely impressive when seen from certain viewpoints since the facelift it received in this photo. Shame it’s built on a flood plain.

Flash back to 2005 if you will. Ireland is in the grip of the Celtic Tiger boom. Cork is undergoing a transformation. The city’s streets were dug up and remolded with apparently improved drainage (didn’t help recently unfortunately) and the revamping of the city centre was in full swing. Here’s the construction on Daunt Square,…

Crewmen on the Fregatte Köln when it visited Cork in 2005 kept a close eye on me, Ryan and AJ as we photographed every inch of the ship we could see. Looking back over these photos reminds me that this was the day the cheap memory card I used at the time failed on me…

Heineken. ’nuff said!