I spent last night in Skibbereen, A few days before I had received a call from "The Bull" asking of my plans and whereabouts, when I mentioned I was likely to be in 'Skibb" in a few days he remarked that the West Cork Hotel was the place to stay & eat, given "The Bull" is rarely far out when it comes to matters appertaining to licensed premises I took his advice, treating myself to hotel room rather than a B&B for the evening ! It was time to head to the bar for refreshments, I was welcomed with open arms, a pint duly poured, off to find a seat outside....
Outside the hotel is a bridge, which is no longer in use (given there is a hotel at the end of it, but from pictures I've seen in the hotel about 100 years ago, there was no hotel and trains were running over this, now it serves as a very pleasant way to pass the hours sat above the river with a nice pinty) As I boarded the bridge, there was a Swedish chap reading a book on the first table, I bid him "Good Evening", but received a very short "yes" in response, I continued along the bridge a little further, selected a spot, sat down to enjoy by beverage.
Shortly after an Irish Lady boarded the bridge and sat on the next table to the Swede..... To truly appreciate what happened next you need to visualise a scene, imagine the life long family pet, a golden labrador, say about 12 years old, he sitting in his favourite spot having a nap, eye's closed, (this character is the Swede), then in front of him comes the young upstart, the new family kitten, all it wants to do is play, so it sits right next to the dogs nose, (this is the Irish lady) and about once a minute it gently taps the dog on the nose to try and entice it to come play, each time the dog opens it's eyes, raises it's eye brows in distain, then closes it's eyes again and tries to regain composure.....OK, got that in your mind, the conversation went like this.....
Lady - "Good Evening"
Swede - "Yes" (as short as he was with me)
About a minute passes (first swipe of the kittens paw)....
Lady - "Are you reading a book ?"
Swede "Yes"
another minute passes
Lady "What's the book called ? "
Swede "It's Swedish"
about 2 minutes pass this time (He's lulled into a false sense of security by this)
Lady - "What's the book about?"
Swede - "Murder" (there's anger in his voice now)
back to a 1 minute silence
Lady "It's a lovely evening to be reading a book"
BANG ! The Swede looses it, slams his book closed, picks up his drink and storms off.......the kitten mean while turns round, a young couple have sat on her other side, someone new to play with.....
This morning starts with more glorious sunshine, and more wonderful driving along the amazing roads of County Cork.
Soon it was lunchtime, all this wonderful scenery works up an appetite, this place advertised "The Best Fish & Chips in West Cork"..... I have to say, I think they were right ! It was delicious
Now many of you will be aware that I am a frequent visitor to South Africa, partly as it's an amazing place (and the beer is about £1 a pint), but partly as I'm a supporter of an amazing education programme out there. For more than ten years LEAP has worked with marginalised children through the only network of independent, no-fee schools in South Africa. Our results show that 95% of our students have passed matric and 79% of LEAP students have degrees or diplomas or are continuing with higher education. We are proving the impossible: that no matter how deprived, any child in South Africa can graduate from high school, obtain a tertiary qualification and look forward to a fulfilling future. Given I've had a pretty captive audience with the blog for several weeks, I've been trying to work a way of weaving in a plug, but haven't really found the right place to do so, well until today, you can't imagine my surprise & delight when I discovered this was one of the town's I would drive through today....
For any of you who have been lucky enough to have visited Cape Town, isn't it amazing how the houses in Leap in Ireland resemble the colours of the Bo-Kaap
The charity was established 15 years ago, by 2 inspirational people, who have since become great friends, John Gilmore and Jenni Copeland. They work night and day often 7 days a week to ensure the kids in some of the poorest townships in South Africa can get a great education.
If you have enjoyed the blog to date, and are in a position to make a small contribution to the school, I know that not only I, but John, Jenni, and most importantly the kids will be extremely grateful.
We have recently established a fund within the London Community Foundation for LEAP, which allows people to donate here, rather than having to try and get a South African credit processed on your credit card, and it also qualifies for gift aid ! Link Below
https://giving.londoncf.org.uk/cf/LEAP
Thanks so much if you can help ! Until tomorrow my friends !
James