The sun sets on Ardmore Roundtower & Graveyard

We visited the graveyard adjoining the ruins of St. Declan’s Cathedral on our trip to Ardmore. The view from there out to sea and over the local town and beach is glorious!

The first time I visited here in 2005 I slipped while taking photos, my camera hit the ground hard and something broke inside it. Luckily I didn’t drop my camera this time, even though I did slip again. Only my leg was hurt but I kept my balance and stayed upright.

I found an informative walk through video made in the graveyard you should watch.


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Ashling Murphy Memorial

Flowers and candles on the ground on St. Patrick’s Street, Cork after a vigil in memory of Ashling Murphy, a 23 year old woman who was murdered on January 12th this year while out jogging in the middle of the afternoon.

Violence against women is still happening. I don’t think it will ever stop. Fergus Finlay wrote an excellent essay saying, “I have turned a blind eye to cheap, vulgar sexism — it is all men”.


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When the sun rises tomorrow…

It seems unreal but most of the Covid19 restrictions will be lifted in Ireland tomorrow morning at 6am.

  • Pubs and restaurant hours to return to normal.
  • Nightclubs reopen.
  • FULL attendance at indoor and outdoor events.
  • Covid pass requirement gone for hospitality.

You’ll still need the Covid digital cert (or I presume a negative PCR?) to travel on a plane though.

Today we had just over 11,000 new cases of Covid19, but it’s omicron, “the mild variant”. Our hospitals aren’t overflowing. The Taoiseach spoke this evening and acknowledged that case numbers will go up. Hopefully not too many of those extra people die or suffer long term disability.

Despite the frost on the ground in the photo above this has been a remarkably mild winter. If I go anywhere I’ll be eating and drinking outside for a good while yet.


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The hurler and the buses

The stunning mural of a hurler on the wall of a house on Anglesea Street and South Terrace stands watching passing traffic on a cold January evening. The mural by Dublin artist ACHES is amazing to look at during the day but I liked how the hurler is just visible between these passing buses.

You can read more about the mural in this Examiner interview with ACHES.

Q: People love to know the facts and figures of a job like this. Can you hit us with some numbers?

A: The dimensions of the wall were approximately 14.5 metres wide by 19 metres high.

I used roughly 205 cans of spray paint. The piece took 10 days to paint and I had to take two days off during this as the winds were too high to be on the lift as any winds over 45km/h are deemed unsafe to work in an elevated boom lift.

Q: What has the feedback been like?

A. The feedback has been great so far. As I was painting the mural I had numerous chats with passers by who were super friendly, often offering to buy me a coffee or some lunch and even in one instance a bottle of whiskey. I was also looked after well by the local businesses, Twenty Sandwich Bar and Cupcake Cottage who kept me fed and watered for the duration of my stay. After finishing the mural the feedback online has been great too, with multiple online resources sharing the image, which is great. It has also been photographed by a lot of people so far who have uploaded their own images of the wall online. Hopefully when the 5k limit lifts even more people can enjoy the piece.


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