Lafcadio

The years tick themselves off. Nine years ago, every Monday morning, I accompanied Pat the Salt, then 92y.o., to the Tramore Community Centre and Wheels-on-Wheels hub for sessions of The Heritage Club. The Big Room at the TCC looked out over a steep fall of trees and shrubs between Pond Road and Upper Branch Road. That woodland was making its +10-year transformation into the Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens.

On 8th June this year, we were down among The Great and The Good [aka The Olds] of Waterford to witness the official opening of the Kokoro Centre - an all-weather venue with a sweeping view over the rooftops of Tramore Bay and Brownstown Head.

Underneath the street-level room with terrace [seen above] is another auditorium which may comfortably seat 100 guests. That was where the dignitaries [minister, mayor, local TDs, senior trustee, ambassador] made their speeches.

Then it was outside [L] into the almost drizzle, for more [shorter] speeches and unveiling of plaque. Astutely, the management of the event had realised that The Minister would be late, so allocated the first hour to the distribution of tea & canapés, networking and wandering around the gardens. People who can take a couple of hours out of a Monday afternoon skew Old and you really do not want a flock of hangry pensioners loose on the premises and/or queuing for the t'ilets. The canapés were catered by Daoti Sushi which are in business on Queen Street not 200m from the gardens - that's how cosmopolitan Tramore is in 2026.

We were last on Kokoro business fully 20 months ago when the previous ambassador 'laid the foundation stone'. So building a 2½ room extension in the Gardens has been quicker than finishing the National Children's Hospital. But I must point out that the Empire State Building was opened on 1st May 1931, 18 months after foundations were sunk.