☕️The Friday View 25/04
New trees, new e-bikes, new bus routes. What's next? New public toilets. Not quite, but in the meantime please enjoy the Friday View and our round-up of what's on.
Hello and welcome to the Friday View. Let’s get to it.
Did you hear the one about the lad on the stag who lost his car? For nearly three weeks a Wicklow man was traversing the streets of Cork city looking for where he parked his car, until he eventually found it this week with a little help from listeners on the Neil Prenderville show.
Kieran (who wisely did not give his surname!) took to the show earlier this week to explain how he ‘lost’ his Skoda after parking up on April 4 after driving down to attend a stag night in the city. He couldn’t find parking in the city and ended up ditching the car in Ballyphehane on Tory Top Road. Come the next morning when it came time to pick it up, the poor lad had no idea where he’d left it.
"One of the boys stayed back with me and we drove around Cork, we were the guts of five hours driving around Cork, through estates and looking for this car. I put so much hours into finding this car, it’s actually the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. It’s just been a nightmare,” Kieran told the Red FM show.
In the intervening weeks-long search to find it, Kieran came back to Cork on the weekends and toured 59 estates (he wrote them all down), in the quest to find how Carlow-registered car.
As the Independent reported this week, “Listeners to the show found the vehicle within minutes of his plea going out on air, with local woman Susan Maguire spotting the Skoda on Tory Top Road in Ballyphehane.”
There’ll always be a special place for Cork in Kieran’s heart, and his car.
Toilets, again: One very noticeable public amenity missing from the multimillion-euro upgrade to the Marina Promenade on the Southside is toilets. On the face of it, it’s baffling that the City Council would not include a vital public health facility such as public toilets in such a key piece of infrastructure, but the local authority has form here. It’s also, unfortunately, not unique in this regard.
Local City Councillor Peter Horgan (Labour) told the Echo: “With the surge in visitors, particularly during weekends and good weather, the lack of public toilets has become a glaring omission and the most raised issue with the area,” he added.
“Toilets are not a luxury; they are a basic necessity.”
“If we’re serious about making the marina an inclusive, accessible destination for all, then adequate toilet facilities must be part of that vision.”
T+D’s long read on public toilets from 2021 counted three public toilets in the city centre. We could be wrong, but has the City Council opened any new public toilet facilities since then?
Cost is a key concern, as is local authorities’ reluctance to commit to managing a facility that is likely viewed as complex (think vandalism, hygiene, etc.). Implicit in all this is that private businesses are where people will spend a penny, or more.
Transport updates: The good news for cyclists in Cork who make use of TFI Bikes, the public bike rental network, is that the transport body is adding a fleet of 100 new e-bikes to the network in Cork city. There are currently a total of 36 stations in the city, with a fleet of 330 bikes. You have to register first via the TFI Bikes App to get motoring/cycling.
TFI also announced this month the launch of a new route connecting Knockraha to the city centre. Route 31 will run every 90 minutes from Knockraha via Glanmire to Parnell Place in the city centre, replacing the 214, with frequency increased from five daily trips to nine. The 31 comes into service this Sunday, 27 April. Now, Bus Éireann just needs to ensure they run like clockwork.
Also launching this Sunday, the frequency of the 220—which runs from Ovens in the west of the county to Crosshaven—will revert to every 15 minutes instead of 20, according to an update provided to Cllr Joe Lynch (Sinn Féin) by Bus Éireann.
The bus company told the councillor: “Routing will remain the same, with every second service operating to Carrigaline Primary Care/Camden. Sunday services have been adjusted to reflect the Monday-to-Friday routing.” It also noted that “as a result of ongoing intensive recruitment efforts, we have developed a strong pipeline joining our driver training school and are now in a position to resume full service on Route 220.
Cleaning and greening: The Cork Business Association (CBA) and Cork City Council, along with volunteers, will be gathering on North Main Street next week for Operation "Greening and Cleaning".
Announcing details of the new initiative on its website, the CBA stated: "Working closely with local businesses on the street and CBA volunteers, the initiative will focus on deep cleaning, power washing, removing algae, planting, and painting, with a drive to improve the overall streetscape. The CBA will provide cleaning supplies, gloves, litter pickers, brushes, and paint to support the works. Painting and cleaning contractors will also be on-site to assist."
One glaring omission was the dereliction on North Main Street. No amount of greening and cleaning can hide the derelict buildings at 61-65 North Main Street. The good news, however, is that the City Council has vested numbers 62, 63, 64, and 65, so hopefully it’s only a matter of time before they’re returned to the market. No. 61 could complicate matters, as it’s with a receiver.
You can still sign up to volunteer here.
Trees please: The City Council has been busy planting new trees in The Lough during April. Among them are several weeping willows. They've also been carrying out repairs to the footpaths.
Fun Lough fact: Some time ago, Guinness donated a black swan to The Lough. Seems like two local stout breweries missed a trick there!
For your calendar: Focal Archive, an online literary journal compiling the best new writing from UCC's Creative Writing Masters programme, will be launching their new journal on May 9 in the Hub in UCC. There’ll be readings on the night as well as refreshments. All welcome and free to attend. Book a spot here.
Out + About
Gothic country musician Ora Cogan is touring Europe, with gigs from Barcelona to Berlin, before finishing up in Cork at the end of the month. Support at the show in Nudes comes from Elaine Malone, who is back gigging in Ireland following a stint abroad. Tickets are available here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Sunday April 27, Dali, Lavitt’s Quay, Cork.
Lisa Blas is an American painter and educator with roots in Guam and Italy, working between New York and Brussels. She is currently in residency at the Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, exploring island life. An island is an oculus in reverse involves the development of a new imaginary archipelago using the southwest of Ireland as a guide. Focused on an artistic interest in the oculus, which is a portal connecting interior and exterior space from Renaissance and Baroque architecture, while observing the chromatic gradations over the sky and water, Blas made a connection between the oculus and islands. More information here.
Time, date, place: Thursday April 3 to Saturday May 17, Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen.
Polymath and quiz host Ronan Leonard returns to Callanan’s on George’s Quay for his monthly quiz night in aid of Save Cork City/Love the Lee. Is it the best pub quiz in town, or is it the best pub in town? Coincidentally, both are quiz questions on the night.
Time, date, place: 8am, Tuesday April 29, Callanan’s, George’s Quay
Conamara siblings Séamus and Caoimhe Uí Fhlatharta are noted for their sean nós singing and unique arrangements of both Irish and English language songs. They’re in Bantry this evening, performing in St. Brendan’s Church. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday April 25, St. Brendan’s Church, Wolfe Tone Street, Bantry.
CHROMA: Celebrating Colour is the latest exhibition at Market Gallery, in Douglas Village Shopping Centre, and is a celebration of all things bright and colourful featuring ten artists working across a range of media. There are abstract works in mixed media; wooden sculptures, incorporating found materials; origami, as well as traditional oil-on-canvas paintings. CHROMA is a kaleidoscope of artistic approaches, drawn together by a love and fascination with the rich world of colour.
Time, date, place: open daily, Chroma runs until May 18, Market Gallery, Douglas Shopping Centre
Paddy Hanna spent the last while on hiatus, but tours the country this month having recently released his new album, Oylegate. It includes a stop in Levis’ Corner House, Ballydehob, where he performs on Saturday. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Saturday April 26, Levis’, Ballydehob.
Reach out, Pull me closer is an exhibition by Murrough O’Donovan. It aims to construct a ritual space, where the viewer is drawn into the natural cycles of creation and destruction present in all living things, an also considers the loss of ritual in modern culture and how this has damaged our connection to the world around us. More information here, it runs for another two weeks.
Time, date, place: Friday April 18 - Friday May 16, Backwater Artists, Wandesford Quay, Cork.
The Cork World Book Fest is currently underway, primarily at the City Library and the Triskel, featuring author talks, conversations, and book launches. Festival highlights this weekend include an in conversation event between Cónal Creedon and Mairéad Hearne at the City Library today. Tomorrow morning, there is an Arabic storytelling session with Sanaa Khabbar and Meryem Idar. Later that day, Mercier Press launch a new edition of the famous sculptor Séamus Murphy’s Stone Mad at the Cork Public Museum with Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, followed by a walking tour with Eoghan Daltún. In the evening, Cónal Creedon and Gerry Murphy are doing readings in Callanan’s Bar. More information here.
Time, date, place: Tuesday April 22 - Sunday April 27, Across Cork City.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. As always, any tips, comments, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us at tripeanddrisheen@substack.com. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch. Have a lovely weekend.
From the archive:
When Nell McCafferty lived on Evergreen Street
When you distill it right down, nouns dictate what writers do. Invariably, they all write about a person, place, or thing—usually a combination of all three. And so it was that when Nell McCafferty, in her mid-thirties, found herself living on Evergreen Street, she was drawn to the characters of Evergreen Street, Barrack Street, and The Celtic Bar.