Thomil's Random Ramblings

Well I’ll be damned! While I was busy pouring out righteous scorn over Cork City Council , the NTA and pretty much every other public body in existence here in Ireland, I completely missed that this blog, Thomils Random Ramblings, celebrated its tenth anniversary back on November 4th. On that day, ten years ago, I published the first post on this blog, which was originally only meant to keep a number of Canadian friends of my family up to date on our antics over here. Little did I know that only half a year after I’d started it, the focus of this blog would shift dramatically.   From little more than a side project, Thomils Random Ramblings has turned into my main outlet for observations about the world around me, product reviews, at least when I have the money for said products and travel reports, you know, when the world isn’t in the grip of a pandemic and a wave of mind-numbing stupidity. Its fortunes have waxed and waned over those ten years. Some blog posts smashed through ...

First cycling , now public transport, the last month or two have really been like a best-of of my favourite topics on this blog. Unfortunately, like so many developments in Cork, the news that broke in the first week of November 2021 have left a stale aftertaste in my mouth. What the hell I’m blabbering on about? BusConnects Cork, or rather the recent publication of their new network draft for Cork. But exactly what is BusConnects ? In broad terms, it is the brand name used by the National Transport Authority in Ireland for a series of major public transport improvements in Dublin as well as in all of Ireland’s major cities. The first phases of BusConnects in Dublin are currently being implemented, which isn’t surprising at all since those bloody guys always need to have everything first. BusConnects Cork on the other hand has been in the planning stages since 2019. On paper, BusConnects is certainly impressive: A complete redesign of the entire bus network, the constructions of dedic...

There’s no way to sugar coat it, Cork city is facing some major issues. Urban decay and dereliction are common features of the cityscape, while transport infrastructure across the city is falling apart. I’m not just talking bike lanes, bike stands or Coke Zero Bike s here, I’m talking about everything here. Potholed roads, lose pavement stones by the dozens, bike lanes that are clogged with debris or flooded outright. Basically, if it gets people from a to b in Cork, whether on foot or in a vehicle, chances are it’s falling apart and becoming a hazard. And that’s before we even talk about the non-enforcement of any parking regulation or the fact that the city centre seems to have become a safe haven for grifters and con artists with no sign that the city gives a damn about it, or any other issue. And it’s not just the city itself, large organisations in general are given free reign, as the latest attempted land grab by the GAA clearly shows.  In many cities, stories like these wou...

I just noticed that I haven’t really talked about cycling all that much on here in recent times. To be honest, there wasn’t really that much to write about recently. I don’t cycle much anymore, not least due to the continuing poor state of cycling infrastructure here in Cork, all thanks to a city council that doesn’t give a flying fuck. However, things have recently started changing and I think it’s high time to get back to that particular topic. Cork’s official bike rental system, officially Coca Cola Zero Bikes Cork after its main sponsor, has been a staple of the city ever since it was opened back in early 2015. I’ve been a customer of the system since day one and for a long time, the distinctive red and black bikes were part and parcel of my life on a weekly basis. However, within a year or so of its introduction, things started going downhill. There was no real maintenance and once the time for flashy photo opps was gone, Cork City Council predictably lost all interest in the sy...

Cork has undergone some pretty drastic changes since the beginning of the COVID lockdowns, there’s no denying that. Significant parts of the city centre are finally pedestrianised, particularly Oliver Plunkett Street and its side streets. A smattering of small side streets north of Patrick Street have also been given the pedestrian treatment. Outdoor dining is finally taking hold in Cork in a major way, with Princes Street in particular taking the lead here. Expansions of Cork’s nascent bike lane network have also taken place, with the South Mall bike corridor in particular being a prime example of what can happen if the city really puts some effort into things, while many existing cycle lanes have been secured against incursion by all but the most obnoxious and selfish motorists! Between “parklets” and the controversial City Trees , public seating has also increased across the city, making it feel less like a crumbling, poorly maintained strip mall and more like an actual city centre...

Well, the last eighteen months have been interesting, to say the least. Like most of the rest of the world, Ireland and its people found themselves effectively confined to quarters for over a year. We had to adapt our homes, find spare spaces to work from , and in some cases even needed to find a way to get our hands on basics like a desk or a decent chair. At times, it seemed as if this period would never end. Then, towards the summer of 2021, rumours began to swirl that Ireland, which had been slowly opening up retail & hospitality since May, would allow people back into the office, something which was confirmed in early September, when September 20th was set as the return date for office workers. My own employer announced the reopening of our own office, a brand-new property that had been sitting idle for months, shortly thereafter and so, by Monday, September 20th, I found myself on my way to the office for the first time in one and a half years!  Hey, hold on there! Looks...