Michael Moynihan: Enough complaining — here are 40 things to love about Cork
Do yourself a favour and walk into town some morning early and watch from the bridge as the sun comes up. File picture: David Creedon / Anzenberger
I know what you’re thinking.
.
Fair enough. Though it does get a bit rough being right all the time (please, the people have spoken — ed), I’ll get into the spirit of Christmas.
Every year publishes its list of Things To Love About New York: this year, for instance, they came up with congestion pricing and the city's best restaurants, among other attractions. In the end they came up with 39 entries.
39? What happened to the work ethic?
Here are 39 Things To Love About Cork, with an extra one to go under the tree.
Do yourself a favour and walk into town some morning early and watch from the bridge as the sun comes up.
Turn around and look up to the Red City: that huge tree standing out against the sky is a favourite sight. In your face, Brooklyn!
Best coffee around. Take my word for it, but feel free to provide your own choices (you’re wrong, that’s all).
Don’t be sad it’s over, just be glad you were around to see it all happen right in front of you.
Enjoy the frictionless experience — minutes from landing to the bus or to get the car, no rambling for hours to get back to civilisation.
There’s a place here for everyone.
An institution for decades in Blackpool, Michael closed his business down recently. A huge loss, but we saw it at its best at least.
I couldn’t say I was all that familiar with the great man’s oeuvre before that night in August, but brought the house down.
Smallest hill in Ireland. Still.
He published a novel this year, but if he’d only ever written that would have been enough.
There may be second-hand bookshops in other cities which make a great welcome for themselves, but I can’t remember any of them providing some of the gems to be had in Vibes and Scribes (including, coincidentally, a selection of best pieces).
A haven in Academy Street, very sorry to see this great outlet closed down recently. Already much-missed.
Not so much because we have a ‘Posh Dunnes’ but because outsiders get fixated on it. Fools, you’re falling for our ruse!
Now upgraded by Cork City Council and a great addition to the city, the Marina has always been a jewel in the (don’t mention the toilet - ed). Bah.
Nowhere better for lunch provisions.
That all you got? We faced breezier in u14 games in the Tank Field.
Nicest college campus in Ireland, with its own river.
All-time great city motto.
We’re lucky in Cork to have so many good record stores relative to the size of the city. Music Zone in Togher tops my list; no wonder people come from all over Ireland to shop there.
I was at the funeral of Kenyon Jones Ginn earlier this week and they were a credit to all concerned. Just because you’re used to the yellow jackets, they shouldn’t be taken for granted
They exist.
That exists, too.
There can be only one right way, and everyone outside of Cork is doing it wrong, I’m afraid.
You know it, I know it.
Only right, after all.
See no. 25.
Many readers will know that Féile O’Sullivan from West Cork suffered a devastating tractor accident last summer that resulted in a double leg amputation and months of critical care. Thanks to her family, local GAA clubs, and her community and friends, over €775,000 had been raised at press time to fund life-saving treatment and rehabilitation.
I know, I shouldn’t.
Facts.
Some man for one man. And sings the song as his party piece, apparently.
You probably know that Cork’s hurlers and footballers lost out this year to the teams which ultimately won the All-Ireland title in those codes. You may have forgotten that both those counties had to appeal for their supporters to come and follow them, which is not something you have to do with Cork people.
It’s the time of the year for it but you forget that the warms expats all year long.
This is more of a deal than you might think. Forty years ago we didn’t have Christmas lights in Cork at all, which gives you a bit of a glimpse of where we were 40 years ago.
Those outside of Cork have neither the mental bandwidth nor the intestinal fortitude to deal with Dunkettle. For us it is simply another challenge to be dealt with.
Fair dues to Cork University Press and Mercier Press for keeping that flag flying. There are plenty of national publishers who are doing their best according to their lights, but let’s be honest. We all know what’s important.
Fota Wildlife Park was shut down for about 10 weeks this autumn-winter due to an outbreak of bird flu, which cost the entire operation hundreds of thousands of euro in lost income. Great spot. Deserves your support.
Not just a Cork man but acting as one of the ultimate Cork men in the movie Saipan. A rare example of double-Corking.
This year the hoary old chestnut of Dublin getting a market came up again. Don’t forget we have three of them here, folks: the English Market, the Marina Market, and the Black Market.
It’s getting fixed.
It’s getting fixed. You might as well fix gravity.
When the sportswriter Thomas Boswell was asked how long it took to write his famous ’99 reasons baseball is better than football’ column, he surprised many people by saying it didn’t take very long at all. The truth always come easy.
Enjoy your Christmas.
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