Well, I have to hand it to Cork City Council. After years of roadworks, diversions, temporary traffic lights, and that perpetual stretch of Patrick Street that looked like a minor archaeological dig, they’ve finally revealed the masterplan and it’s magnificent. They’ve ripped out the tarmac entirely and restored the old channels of the River Lee that ran beneath the city centre for the past 240 years. St. Patrick Street is now navigable by motorboat, and Washington Street has a functioning canal service complete with what appears to be a narrowboat called the Oriel running a shuttle to the courthouse.

Parking signs have been replaced by mooring cleats. The 220 bus route now terminates at a floating pontoon outside Penneys. I’m told that Eason’s is doing a roaring trade in waterproof editions, and a new Dublin Bikes-style scheme called “Cork Canoes” launches next week, but knowing the council, the docking stations won’t be ready for another while yet.

In fairness, they’ve finally earned the title. Cork: the Venice of the North. Truly, the real capital at last.

Happy April Fools’ Day. These images were obviously generated using AI. Cork City Council has not, to my knowledge, flooded the city, but after some winters, nature has a good go at it herself.

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Donncha Ó Caoimh is a software developer at Automattic and WordPress plugin developer. He posts photos at In Photos and can also be found on Mastodon. View more posts