Irish holiday

A holiday opposite Hungry Hill, in Ireland's Beara peninsula. A warm, wet place in late July- the summer sun and the moisture-laden winds from the Atlantic making for an alternation between grey downpour and barbecue weather. The landscape is similar to Scotland's, but when the sun comes out there is more heat.

The view is of the sheltered waters of Adrigole bay - a great place for beginner's sailing and kayaking and very beautiful also. To the left, out of the picture, is one of the open Atlantic. No more land between here and America. The lighthouse at the end of the Sheep's Head peninsula winking into the night is a signal that the sea is not to be taken lightly.

I don't know why Hungry Hill has that name. My Irish companions thought it might refer to a potential lack of agricultural fertility. It also crossed my mind that the name might have had something to do with the famine, but the famine affected much of Ireland, not just that hill or that area. By that logic, the should be hundreds of Hungry Hills and hungry valleys and plains too.

Ireland - a transitory golden age?

Ireland: So backward so recently; so modern so suddenly. My father visited in the late 1950's and the main form of transport in the part of rural Tipperary he visited was still horse and cart. I remember going there in 1990 and in a grand Georgian House close to the centre of Dublin, which had been subdivided into six flats, all had to share a single payphone in the hall. Dublin airport was full of children, testament to a high birth rate and not much to do. Ten years later the country was as rich as the UK, and is now (2008) by many measures richer. It is worrying to think that it is in a golden transition between backwardness and over-developed decadence, combining the best of the old ways - friendliness, courtesy, respect for society, with a modern economic dynamism. Someday, goes this strand of thought, the bad side of the modern world will intrude: the "me" culture, lots of divorce, contempt for society, drugs, gangs and a large angry underclass. Who will flip Ireland's burgers when the current generation is no longer grateful just for having a job? Hopefully this is too pessimistic and the country will find a way keep the best of its past while continuing to have a modern and prosperous economy.