So here I still sit in Cork, waiting for plan b to unfold: we should be heading to Venice early tomorrow morning (flight departs at 6:05...aarggh), and from there we'll make our way to the Cinque Terre in the Liguria region.
***
Katherine and I have been lucky enough to see floods, an epic winter, and volcanoes, so why not the collapse of Europe's single currency? Quite a year, if you ask me. Unless you hide from the news, you've heard that Greece is "on the edge of the abyss" thanks to violent reaction over the country's near-default and subsequent bailout. The murmurs are that if the Greek bailout fails, then the future of the euro becomes highly uncertain.
The value of the currency has already plummeted in recent days. I would like to look at this from a selfish angle for a moment: Friggin' wonderful. When we bought euros so we could come to Europe, the dollar was weak and the currency conversion cost us dearly. Now when we head back to the States and need to sell our euros for greenbacks, we'll be taken deep again. How's that for timing? I guess this creates an incentive to spend all of our euros while in Europe (if the currency survives).
The value of the currency has already plummeted in recent days. I would like to look at this from a selfish angle for a moment: Friggin' wonderful. When we bought euros so we could come to Europe, the dollar was weak and the currency conversion cost us dearly. Now when we head back to the States and need to sell our euros for greenbacks, we'll be taken deep again. How's that for timing? I guess this creates an incentive to spend all of our euros while in Europe (if the currency survives).
***
Meanwhile, Cork is losing a landmark. A couple of days ago I noticed the dismemberment of the old Beamish brewery on the Lee, closed by Heineken over a year ago after almost 300 years of operation (also see this). Sure, the place has sat idle for fourteen months now, and there has been preliminary demolition work going on for some time. But it was still a shock seeing the tanks ripped up:
Bye-bye, Beamish. Wonder where they're taking the tanks?
Cashing them in for scrap?
Some locals looked on while they took the wrecking ball to the old girl.
After buying the historic Beamish & Crawford brewing company, Heineken
made a half-assed effort at getting rid of the "Crawford" (for some unknown reason).
The last photo is of the famous Beamish "counting house," a protected structure. Rumor has it that the building will be turned into condos, apartments, or some similar sort of abomination. (Another historic, and even more beautiful, building being turned into flats is the old Our Lady's Hospital––formerly Eglinton Mental Hospital––found just outside of the city. Now called "Atkins Hall".)
I bemoan all of this not because of some emotional attachment to Beamish. I prefer Murphy's anyway. Specifically I'm disturbed by the endless coalescing of international corporations we see in the food and drink industries. Guinness, which owns most Irish beers, is part of Diageo, a particuarly evil-sounding company (and also the largest beer and spirits company in the world). Beamish––and Murphy's too!––are owned by Heineken. That covers the famous Irish stouts. Another recent example is Cadbury's takeover by Kraft. How perverse things must be when people mourn the sale of Cadbury––a multi-billion-pound international operation––as the loss of another small independent operation.
To be fair, Beamish is still brewed in Cork, only about a half-mile away from the old location. It's made in the same facility as its former competitor, Murphy's. It still tastes the same. But it just feels dirty.
Bye-bye, Beamish. Wonder where they're taking the tanks?Cashing them in for scrap?
Some locals looked on while they took the wrecking ball to the old girl.
After buying the historic Beamish & Crawford brewing company, Heinekenmade a half-assed effort at getting rid of the "Crawford" (for some unknown reason).
The last photo is of the famous Beamish "counting house," a protected structure. Rumor has it that the building will be turned into condos, apartments, or some similar sort of abomination. (Another historic, and even more beautiful, building being turned into flats is the old Our Lady's Hospital––formerly Eglinton Mental Hospital––found just outside of the city. Now called "Atkins Hall".)
I bemoan all of this not because of some emotional attachment to Beamish. I prefer Murphy's anyway. Specifically I'm disturbed by the endless coalescing of international corporations we see in the food and drink industries. Guinness, which owns most Irish beers, is part of Diageo, a particuarly evil-sounding company (and also the largest beer and spirits company in the world). Beamish––and Murphy's too!––are owned by Heineken. That covers the famous Irish stouts. Another recent example is Cadbury's takeover by Kraft. How perverse things must be when people mourn the sale of Cadbury––a multi-billion-pound international operation––as the loss of another small independent operation.
To be fair, Beamish is still brewed in Cork, only about a half-mile away from the old location. It's made in the same facility as its former competitor, Murphy's. It still tastes the same. But it just feels dirty.
Let me know how you like Cinque Terre and Venice! I'm headed to each of those places myself in July, as side trips from a longer stay in Florence.
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