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...