Culture Night 2018 — 10 Things I Think About

1. I Like Walking Tours

I think a wine walking tour of Cork was a great idea. I didn't know that Cork imported four times as much wine as London in the 1800s. The wine tour should be a regular occurrence. I wish Culture Night was every day.

2. Hello I’m John Meade

I think that I'd like to be John Meade at least one day a week. He generously gave me his ticket for the wine walking tour because he couldn’t go. It was great, I think I did a good John Meade impersonation, no one copped that I wasn’t John Meade. I asked lots of intelligent questions and collected valuable information to be doled out during long runs.

3. Customs House

I thinks it's a shame that the customs house is only open on Culture Night. It's a fantastical building. It's like something you’d find in a proper old city like Seville, there must be hidden places like this all over the city. Tourists would definitely pay lots of money to look at the lovely chandeliers, take photos for Instagram and then exit through the gift shop.

4. Michael Lynch

I didn’t know that the Michael Lynch Bordeaux wine that you can buy in SuperValu is actually because of a clever Cork man that emigrated to Bordeaux and married into a vineyard. I always thought he was from Kerry.

5. Berlin

I think I’d still like to be in Berlin, in between the Wine Geese Tour and the Tara Flynn Tour I went to Waterstones and read a book about Berlin. It was about Berlin today, I didn’t buy the book because it just confirmed what I already know, Berlin is great.

6. No Tickets, No Problem

I think it was a great idea to chance turning up for the Tara Flynn exhibition without tickets and hope for a few no shows. We got lucky, very lucky. It was my idea, I think.

7. Lost in Translation

I think the Italian guy from Bergamo May that I met in the queue for the no show tickets may have misunderstood that the tour of the Crawford with Tara Flynn was not a serious art tour. I don’t think he understood why everyone was laughing at the paintings. He wore a very puzzled look.

8. Pockets

I think that it’s terrible that dresses don’t have pockets. Tara showed us a painting of a women protesting about dresses not having pockets. They should, it’s not right.

9. Stonecutters

I think my new favourite place in Cork is the Freemasons Lodge. It’s fantastic. I’d love to be a Freemason. The lodge is like an Instagram factory, they have thrones and flags and swords and everything. The photos were brilliant for Instagram.

10. Harry Potter

I didn’t know that JK Rowling got the inspiration for Harry Potter from the Freemasons. It’s easy to see when you walk around the big room at the top. Lots of pageantry and flags. I might even read Harry Potter after it, well maybe not. I will go to Culture Night again though, an excellent night.