Thomil's Random Ramblings

Ever since I moved to Ballincollig in the wake of my parents’ death in 2017, one of my regular relaxation spots has been the Regional Park, a stretch of open fields, woodlands and grasslands along the south bank of the River Lee that encompasses much of the former gunpowder mills that used to be so important for the town. Many of the buildings that used to form the gunpowder mills have long since crumbled into rubble, with only a few still remaining clearly distinguishable as buildings. Among these ruins is one that actually used to be intact until a few years ago: The Ballincollig Weir. These blast walls are some of the few remnants of the gunpowder mills that necessitated the building of the weir back in the 18th century. The extensive site was massively reshaped by the building of the mills. The proximity of the Lee ensured a constant and abundant supply of energy in the time before steam engines and electricity. The weir was originally constructed in 1795 to provide a constant stre

Apologies to Paradox Interactve for the horrible opening pun! So, for the first time in what seems like a long time, there have been some public realm improvements here in Ballincollig, the suburb of Cork where I live. It is, admittedly, a minor upgrade, but it's a nice step in the right direction. What the hell is that guy talking about now? Has he been smoking weird stuff again? Nope, no need, I’m stoned by nature. Seriously though, recently, a so-called Parklet was installed on Main Street. Parklets are essentially small public seating & planting structures designed to be slotted into a space not much larger than one or two car parking spaces. There's been one of these on Douglas Street in Cork City for quite some time. Finally, back in Fall of 2020, Cork City Council announced both the funding and later the location for ten additional parklets throughout the city, including the one on Main Street that was so recently installed. These parklets are being set up in coopera

It might be news to those out there who haven't seen me in person, but I'm not really a small person. I've been overweight to one degree or another for most of my adult life, and the lockdown didn't really improve things. I'm not quite at the point where an event horizon forms around me, but there's certainly some gravitational lensing going on. This also means that shopping for clothes is a bit of a challenge for me, especially here in Ireland, which is ironic given that this country has been battling with obesity for quite some time. Yet, there are very few stores that cater for this audience, and none of the large chain stores. What does all of this have to do with shopping local? Well, one of the only stores that cater to men of my size in Ireland is located on Cork's St. Patrick Street. While unassuming both from the outside and inside, this store certainly caters to men of size, offering everything from formal evening wear to the more casual style tha