Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Halloween in Cork


Back home we don't have much festivities on October 31st, the Eve of all Hallows. We usually use Carnival to dress up and express ourselves. But in Cork, Halloween has become a pretty big thing over the last few years with many people especially children dressing up and taking part in the festivities.
The high point I guess would have been the parade which passed right in front of our Church in the night. Although it was quite short lasting for only about 20mins, it was really something.

Fr Philip and some children in front of the church

Cork Jazz Festival


On the weekend of October 29th to 31st, the City of Cork was buzzing with activity as it was the weekend of the Guinness Jazz Festival. The event basically featured a number of bands performing in many locations across Cork. Some of the events were free and others weren't. I of course only went to the free ones.
I visited different pubs on Saturday afternoon (with my friend Etienne and one of his coworkers), Saturday night (with Gerard Dunne and Alan Hopkins) and Sunday Night (with Alan Hopkins and some girls from the Pope's Quay choir), I couldn't help but notice the extra couple thousand people on the streets of the City especially during the day which seemed to have more of a family oriented vibe with many children around.
I have to say that it was in fact a good experience and I was particularly happy that it just so happened that two of my favorite brothers in the province, Gerard and Alan were visiting Cork that weekend and graciously took me out.