Monday, 18 July 2011

Just joking

An Irishman walked into a bar. That sort of thing happens all the time here.

We are staying right here in the dead centre of Cordal, across the road from the new cemetery. People are dying to get in. In fact, I think a pony asked me if he could come in too, but he was a little croaky and faint. I asked him to talk in a big voice, but he apologised that he was just a little hoarse.



Actually, today I got to clamber around in a ruined castle, which was pretty cool. That was lucky, because it took a fair bit of effort to do so. It's quite likely that my carbon footprint to get to the ruin today (not counting getting to where I started today from) was a fair bit bigger than was required for it's construction in the first place.

We got up in the rain, and drove in the rain to Tralee, where we we dropped Justine and the kids off at Toby World, a kind of indoor play centre on steroids. Given the type of week it is likely to be weatherwise, an indoor centre was the only real option.




Mum and I then drive in alternately heavy and very heavy rain around the Ring of Kerry to the town of Cahersiveen. I was hoping to pick up some film for the panoramic camera, but apparently the closest photographic shop was at Killarney, which is further away from Cahersiveen than where we a staying!


I'd heard about Ballycarbery Castle from the lady at the tourist info shop in Tralee. She gave the impression that you could just walk up to it, and then climb about on the ruin, up old stairs and into the structure itself. Coming from a country which has insurance companies, I thought that pretty unlikely, or at least that there would be the obligatory handrails and safety guards - but I was wrong. The is a paddock, there is the 15th century ruin, there are things that may once have been stairs up one side, and that is about it. If an insurance type person came along, I presume that they would have a coronary and die on the spot, thus allowing the whole thing to continue unmolested. If tourists fall off, there is plenty of room to just shove them in the undercroft area and the peat could do the rest.






Getting up into a ruin like that was pretty cool. It wasn't as amazing as I thought it might have been, but nonetheless it was a whole different perspective. The best part was a concealed staircase in the tower which provided access to the archer slits on the west wall. The stairs were accessed from above, went down and in a perilously dark and slippery way around the bottom corner, before emerging in an unprotected opening 8 foot above the ground in a large chamber on the ground floor. There were surprisingly few tourist bones at the bottom, and most of those were picked clean by something that it was better not to think about.


We then made a mad dash back to pick up Justine and Kiddos, who must have been close to played out after 4 hours, as they both just headed to get shoes on without putting up any sort of a fight. We then spa'd again, and in contravention to all known expectations got about 2 minutes of sunshine and a patch of blue sky! I kid you not, it was very exciting!

I don't have a lot of observations on Ireland yet, which surprises me. I think it is because it it so similar culturally to home that it feels more like being on holiday in my own culture / country than overseas. You can just talk to people, they drive on the same side of the road, signs are all legible, you know what you are buying at the Supa Value. I listened to 10 minutes of FM radio today, and the music, banter, news intro, sport news music and every other conceivable aspect were exactly (exactly!) the same as at home. After the past two weeks, I think that is a bit anticlimactic. We deliberately chose a place to go which was English-speaking to make it less stressful, and for the kids to be able to find their way round more easily. Perhaps this is a bit too easy? It is not a terrible thing, but it feels a little like a letdown to me.

We were also chatting tonight about the rural setting. I think this house could be really great if the weather allowed us to be out using the outdoor area and living around the spa and so on. As it is, it is very cosy with the fire, and tonight it is candle lit and charming.


However, it would be better again if it was connected to a bunch of other things we wanted to do. Having to get into the car to go to anything doesn't seem to be giving us as many options as we expected, and certainly isn't loved by Thing 1 and Thing 2. We are even talking about leaving here a night early and spending Friday night in either Limerick or Cork. Unfortunately, I can't think of a pun or decent joke about either of those towns, so we'll just have to move on.

We'll have to see, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last time we seek this type of rural setting. Part of the joy of a holiday is experiencing different things, learning about the world and about yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed noticing the different type of construction used in the defensive castle at Cahersiveen today (piled up shale rocks, essentially) to the ornate castle and abbeys (carved granite stones); and then just as much the conversation about where we have enjoyed staying, and why. There is never a dud experience, however frustrating they might seem at the time, but it is the time and mental space to explore them that I like from a holiday.

For the kids, it is more about being allowed to climb the walls without getting told not to. You should see the video!









Location:In Ireland

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