One of my favourite places in Cork is the Marina, from the Pairc all the way down to Blackrock village. The serenity it offers to those who pound the cracked concrete there is second to none. It’s one of few places left in the city where you could imagine that you are in the countryside; the sounds of the lapping water and the wind that gushes up the river embankment and through the trees offer as soothing a melody as the crashing of waves against West Cork rocks. As you approach Blackrock, a fleeting glance across the river offers a stark contrast to this serenity, as consumerism and the pursuit of economic growth shows us its duller and more ugly side. Cargo comes and goes. Containers are lifted on and off of ships, as the sound of steel on steel fills the port, all the while the smell of diesel filling your nostrils. To those who regularly row up the river Lee, a glance from port to starboard side show two different worlds, on one side all of mans creations and desires, on the othe…
A place of reflection, since the beginning of my journey with M.E