The Irish Theme Park
Things got a little more hectic in the last 48 hours.
My last ramble mentioned how knackered we were after early starts and the invasion of builders and electricians. Little did I know when I penned that that the craziness was far from over. Let’s just say that the same evening involved an ambulance and a long trip to a Dublin hospital where I not only got hopelessly lost in the maze of corridors but also managed to lose the car as well [I did eventually find it after a lot of walking and climbing up and down stairs].
So yesterday involved more trips to Dublin to the hospital. Luckily my mental mapping of the previous day meant I didn’t get lost as often and actually found the car straight away. This jaunt also took most of the day but all ended well with normality eventually returning.
But while I was preoccupied with my own little problems I notice that the world is getting crazier in my absence.
So Swiss women are successfully suing their gubmint for causing heatwaves and killing them early? Does the European Court of Civil Rights not realise that Switzerland doesn’t control either the weather or the climate? Switzerland could vanish off the planet and the climate wouldn’t notice in the slightest. The weather has scant regard for political boundaries.
Nearer to home, they are talking about a new International Airport here in Wicklow. Are they fucking serious? The only plausible explanation for that is the the story was probably originally started on the first of the month.
Sticking with my home county, they are going to build a “greenway” between Wicklow town and Greystones. This is to not only provide a great local amenity but is also going to be a great attraction for tourists, or so they think. I would like to point out the this “amenity” would consist of a shared cycle and pedestrian path that would have a railway on one side and a very shingly narrow beach on the other and would run for ten straight bland boring miles . Ten miles in which to view the same horizon and the odd [rare] train.
The latter item is just part of the obsession they have here of building “Greenways” everywhere. They are springing up all over the country under the impression that Ireland is going to attract hoards of cyclists from abroad. Everything these days seems to be tourist orientated. Greenways, interpretive centers, museums and visitor attractions are everywhere.
Welcome to Theme Park Ireland.
Wicklow International Airport? Well if Knock can do it so can Wicklow. All it needs is a local miracle. Or miracle worker.
Or some local Oracle.
By your header portrait, you are a shoo in.
So when the good people of Arklow get pissed off with the constant noise, they blame me? Thanks!
This is nothing to worry about. The larger problem you face is will the coffee shop you and Penny frequent still be there? Possibly they will move the shop to the new International Airport. Hell, it may even have some sort of Disney inspired theme.
I suspect that many modern councils and governments push for cycle paths and greenways so that the general populace, deprived of the cars by lunatic climate change polices, can have safe travel lanes. Where they can make suitable gestures of respect to the Powers That Be swanning past in their state provided limousines.
Cynical, moi?
The problem with the one they are proposing is that it is just an almost straight ten miles with no features or any points of interest. There is nothing there to attract tourists or even locals. I doubt there are very many who commute solely between the two towns as both are essentially satellite towns for Dublin. The poor old M11 will remain as choked with cars as ever.
I assume the ambulance was for herself, I hope she has recovered and now back home.
Yes indeed. It was just a precautionary thing and she was thrown out the following day.