Encouraged by Tadhg’s comment on my ‘Great Gate’ post on February 15th (it doesn’t take much, does it?), I’ve decided to start a series of posts entitled “Off the beaten track”. This is the first one so it has the figure 1 in brackets after it – the next one will have the figure 2, get the picture? get the pattern? The idea here is to post a photo of a place, or part of a place and to see will someone be able to identify it. It’s always good to start with something fairly simple so have a look at the photo below – if you think you know where it is leave a comment telling me where. This is open to everyone but people living in or around Cork should have a distinct advantage. No apologies for that, this is the ‘People’s Republic’ after all, even though I’m a Kerryman.

Starting with an easy one reminds me of watching the Late Late Show with my mother. The incredibly irritating Ryan Tubridy, the host, clicking his little cards on his shiny desk, looks into the camera and into the eyes of a nation bored senseless and says… “so to win the car Ladies and Gentlemen (a Renault of course, good man Bill!) answer this question –

What is the Capital of France? Is it…

A. Rome

B. Paris

C. Oslo

Where, on queue, my mother says “Quick, quick, have you got your phone, go on, call him and tell him – it’s Paris – does he think we’re awful egits?” My mother, who will be 90 this coming May gets most things and doesn’t care that it costs 60c per minute and they probably keep you waiting half an hour. She just thinks he’s stupid making the questions too easy. She’s right about the stupid Ryan Tubridy bit. But it would be the embarrassment of talking to him on the phone at the end of the show and letting everyone know how sad my life really is – would be the part that would kill me… Anyway, working on the same principal, I’m expecting loads of correct answers (sadly no 60 cents), but it’s the first correct answer, with an interesting fact about the place in the photograph, will be the one posted in the comment box.