And the river flows on
The river lee flows by the road right outside our place. It’s not exactly riverside property, but we can see a glimpse of it out our windows, and we walk by the river every day going to and fro. It’s walled up and has guard rails to prevent drunks from falling in, and it has loads of green slime growing up the walls. But it is still infinitely fascinating to me.
The river lee is unusual because it splits into two branches, which flow on either side of cork city centre. And the lee is a tidal river, which means that it rises and falls as the tide goes in and out. The difference between high and low tide is quite significant as well, about 8 feet. It’s like having four different rivers, really. two branches, and two phases of each branch.
But apart from that, the river brings all sorts of interesting things through the city, and it is never exactly the same from day to day. Today, for instance, there were lots of white birds floating down the river, picking at bits of fish or whatever else they eat in the river. Sometimes there are huge schools of dogfish swimming along. once, tom and I saw some pigeons flying low along the river just to wind up the fish, which would flap and splash in anxiety as they saw a bird shaped shadow fly overhead.
It’s not always so idyllic and full of life. quite often the river is least pleasant when it is at low tide, and the shopping carts that are covered in algae and rust poke up. one day there was a bicycle there that wasn’t there the day before. and of course, on monday morning there are usually more empty bottles floating along than fish. but even this is interesting, as it never seems to stay the same, and it all eventually gets carried out to the ocean.
Cork is doing a lot of work at the moment to get the city fixed up in time to be the 2005 european city of culture. and part of that work involves repairing the underground canals and waterways, which divert part of the river underneath the roads to prevent flooding. All this will improve the quality of the water, which should be up to bathing standard by 2005. the locals are skeptical of actually swimming in it, but I’m glad the effort is being made to improve the river.
The river can be quite pretty too, especially at night in high tide, with the moon shining and the fish splashing.
