Coffee by the River
We’ve had such mixed weather of late. It’s miserable out there today. Fortunately the other day when I was meeting a friends for a rare coffee, it was nice out. I opted to park the opposite end of Claddagh Hall, giving me ample places to shoot on the walk to Coffeewerks & Press on Quay Street. Once we’d gotten coffee, we sat and chatted on Claddagh Quay, where the Mirror Pavilion was being finished before the official opening (which I believe is tomorrow). There was plenty going on, with a few boats coming up the river on the high tide.
One thing I wish Galway City Council would do is create a more tourist friendly barrier system along the Spanish Arch. The current use of orange plastic fencing is so ridiculously ugly. It really spoils the look of the whole area. It’s like there was a competition for the most unsightly additions to the area.
Between this and ‘The Slug’ for flood management, they’re really trying to drive tourism away. Why not use posts and chains in a similar way to along the canals? The slot in flood barriers that seem to be the potential solution to storm floods could have interesting stone posts that look great when the barriers are out. As a city of art and design, I’m sure we can come up with something that’s both fit for purpose and sits in harmoniously. I don’t mean it has to be rustic, after all we have a very modern museum building contrasting with the historic arches and city wall in front of it.
I’m glad that there’s a variety of colour on Long Walk again, as it can vary. I really think that we could have even more variety of colour to make it stand out even more, like Cobh or Tobermorey (aka Balamorey the TV show).