Dolphin Address 16 2003
July 20th 2003
Because I did not want to worry anyone I have not spoken about the following until now. For some people Dusty is not a gift of the ocean at all. They rather see her as a curse. Here is about why. When she had just come here, about 2,5 years ago, somebody local advertised in all national newspapers about the cottages for rent that were overlooking the dolphin.
The result was a stampede of people that parked criss-cross, jammed the only through road, left gates open, climbed stone walls down and left rubbish. But the apartments were hardly let. Then the county has applied double yellow lines on both sides of the most abused stretch of road, to stop parking. Since then they function as a landmark for where to see the dolphin. The nearest manned police station is in Ennistymon, 23 km away.
The neighbors themselves then started to make parking impossible outside the double yellow lines by erecting barricades in the parking space that was left open in front of their houses. The most used object was the car tire, preferably painted silver, with or without plant and interconnected by chains. Last year a German, who, as word has it, lives there for 3 weeks a year, had upright car tires dug into the verge in front of his house. Indeed he is looking over it so high that he can't even see the cars. This was the exit of the last parking strip on the through road.
Left over was a country road, called 'The Green Road' going up the Slieve Elva mountain. On the corner is the Bed&Breakfast 'The Crumlin Lodge'. Opposite the Green Road a trip track tumbles down to Pollenawatch.
On the 'Green Road', opposite the B&B, is a green shoulder that can harbor 3 to 4 cars. A week ago there were big chunks of rock spread out, with a battered sign saying 'Work in progress'. Because the same rocks have been laid down on a stretch of B&B lawn, good for one car,I assume the initiative for the operation originates there.
The only thing left and crazy, was to drive up the Green Road, halfway up the Slieve Elva. This meant to come back from an hour and a half in the water with Dusty and have an extra quarter of an hour walk up the mountain. And the worst is, that nothing whatsoever happened on that shoulder.
Now for many years I have been trying to be a nice guy, but one should not harass me. So I thought of throwing the rocks over the wall into the nettles. But I did not do it. Just after Fanore there was a badger, killed by a car, laying on the verge. Throwing it on the rocked spot would make a nice wordplay, but I turned it down. They would not even understand my badgering.
(to be continued)
Jan Ploeg, Fanore beach, July 20th 2003
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