Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Return to Cork

I paid a quick visit to Cork City last Friday (15th February) to deliver a one-day Tutorial for students taking the NCI Diploma in Business Analysis and Consultancy. I'm going to be back again three times over the next couple of months to deliver a full module on the same Diploma programme.

I travelled down the previous day which of course was Valentine's Day. I missed my darling Roma, but I had cleverly hidden a card and a small present for Roma under her pillow so that she would find it when she went to bed. Am I a romantic or what?

Unfortunately my surprise didn't work as she spotted that the bed had been made earlier in the evening and so she checked under the pillow. Am I like an open book or what?

In Cork that evening I stayed in Jurys on the Western Road which is almost at the centre of the city. I went for a walk and found that the city centre was very active with (mostly) young couples out for the evening. I took a long walk so see the city centre as I am not familiar with Cork. I walked up St Patrick's Street and was reminded of the occasion in the summer of 1971 when Mum and I went to Cork to get me a school uniform and sports gear for Trabolgan (see previous blog entry below). Cash's (now Brown Thomas) was the shop on St Patrick's St that had everything. We didn't have uniforms in Carnew National School, so this was a first for me - all very exciting. I remember that the colour of the jumpers was purple, and that the football jersey was the same colour (maroon) as the Galway GAA strip. I told my students this and they had a good laugh.

Cork has changed a lot since 1971 - a very cosmopolitan city. It also has a traffic problem - the Western Road and city centre are dire. I was stook in my car, wishing I had my Harley.

No comments:

Post a Comment