Writing for life

Published in the WOW! supplement of the Evening Echo 14/11/2007

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, it was a fine late-autumn day. We hadn’t been on a real family day out for some time, so on the spur of the moment we decided to head over to Killarney for the day. That is to say, as “on the spur of the moment” as you can with three children in tow. It took about two hours before we were all sitting in the car ready for the off.

Getting into the car is never as straightforward as simply getting into the car. We always have to endure the hokey-kokey “in-out-in-out-and shake it all about” version. First one girl needs the toilet, then the other, and then someone’s forgotten her favourite blanket, or a bag of crayons or any of the suite of accessories they insist on bringing on any excursion. Finally we were ready, and hit the road in high spirits.

As we drove I could see the clouds gathering on the horizon, and when we reached about the halfway mark the rain started. This wasn’t drizzle either – it was great globs of water dropping from the sky in torrents. Not the ideal weather for a family day out. But hey, we were having fun….

Whenever I drive into Kerry I’m always struck by the stark difference in the quality of the road surface. Crossing the county bounds is like making the transition from white-water kayaking to gliding across a tropical lagoon by hovercraft. It’s uncanny. I know Kerry must have its fair share of potholes, but the difference on that particular stretch of road always seems to stand out. Good old Cork County Council!

Sweeping along the smooth tarmac on the approach to Killarney, the girls remembered that they’d visited a pet-farm in the vicinity some years earlier. Children’s memories are incredibly selective… tell them something they don’t want to hear and they’ll forgot it instantly, and yet they have an astonishing capacity to remember the things you’d rather they forget.

“Can we go Dad?”

“Can we pleeeeaaaasssee Dad!”

“Yes, Dad, can we?”

So much for my idea of heading into the national park, and the prospect of perhaps encountering some rutting red deer stags. I turned off the road into Kennedy’s Pet Farm – about five miles on the Cork side of Killarney town – and the children let out a cheer of approval. As we parked up and headed for the entrance the clouds parted and let through a sliver of sunshine. It was an auspicious start.

When we got into the park it all seemed a bit shabbier than I remembered from our last visit, but the children didn’t seem to notice. They were in their element: there were puppies to cuddle, kittens to play with, mice to hold… and the highlight, a pony ride included in the €7 entrance fee (which is the same for adults and children – although in this instance I’d suggest they could perhaps offer a reduction for the adults).

There was a motley assortment of animals at the park – mostly domestic pets and farm animals, with the occasional “exotic” like chinchillas, chipmunks and lovebirds thrown in for good measure, and a couple of deer roaming around. While all of the animals seemed happy and well looked after, I couldn’t help feeling that conditions, on the whole, could have been better. But the children loved it, and I guess that’s why we were there.

A couple of hours later we left the farm – the adults glad to be leaving, the children happy with their experience. We had something forgettable to eat in town, made the obligatory stop at the outlet centre on the way home, and then got lost in the dark on the boreens of West Cork. All in all a very successful family day out!