Christmas In Cork : The Jaywalkers

16th Dec 2002

Christmas in Cork with PeoplesRepublicOfCork.com
Whatever you associate with Christmas in Cork there are many characters that make Christmas on the streets of the City a very different experience to the rest of the year…

Jay Walkers
Jay walking is rampant in Cork all year around. We all do it and when we drive ourselves we curse all the gombeens who dare cross our path. Pana is by far the worst being more like a country road in West Cork strewn with carefree cattle and sheep who seem reluctant to get out of the way. Its funny though how most drivers seem to just acknowledge it.

Now with the Main Drainage AND City renewal works in full swing navigation of Pana is reserved strictly for the brave. One false move and you've got a compo claim that will strip you of your car, house and pets. The journey has become so tiring for some freight drivers that a planning application is currently being processed by the Corpo proposing service stations and driver rest areas along Pana to help drivers cope with the stressful journey. One service station proposed near Academy Street will house a drive thro' Lennox chipper and a park-and-lamp cinema in an effort to reduce stress among Cork's Pana bound drivers.
The jay walker's paradise has to be the route from Cash's (now Brown Thomas) diagonally across to the entrance of the Savoy. This thoroughfare is cleverly blocked by the law at Christmas with metal barriers but top jay walker Smokey Looney doesn't believe it will stop people. "They never stops me. Sure I always hops the fence biy! Pure gammy long legs up on me like"

During peak jay walking times at Christmas there can be up to 10,000 jaywalkers on Patrick St. at any one time *. "Its becoming more and more popular and proof of that is that there are now over 20 jay walking clubs around the City," says Mickey The Bags of the Sullivan's Quay Strollers, "with the pinnacle of every club's season being the Christmas period".

* statistic simply plucked from the sky