Spring mornings along the Lee

One of my favourite parts of Cork.

Three days a week, the Pumpkin goes to preschool, and the walk from school to the preschool takes us through the grounds of UCC, along the Lee. He starts up a new story every time we walk (do you want a story about fairies or bicycles, daytime or nighttime? and so on), and we weave our way through morning traffic, students, parents, workers, until we get to the UCC gate. These hours, I will not forget.

Turning right after the footbridge, there's a gorgeous 300m along the river, under the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, a most unusual building, (the bottom picture catches it), past fairy gardens, old trees, green lawns, burbling river, through another stone gate, over the river and along to the preschool. There's hardly ever anyone here as I pass through.

And all around, traffic crawls in Cork's dreadful streets, unchangedly awful after all these months. Constant mire of roadworks, closed lanes, tractors down the main streets in peak hour...

Today, it's getting green, bright, denser. Pink blossom, white blossom. All the trees have their tiniest, babiest green leaves out - birch and beech, woodthorn, even tiny baby green oak leaves. I get the same feeling as when I look at a new baby - new life, exciting new possibilities. And as I walk it on the way back, I too am filled with the possibilities of 3 hours childfree, podcasts from Sydney or New York in my ears, my step getting longer, my thoughts clearing.