A crystal experience
Trip Start
Mar 29, 2006
1
82
232
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
Waterford,
Ireland
Monday, July 17, 2006
The breakfast was just so good. I was offered and gobbled up some black pudding and some white pudding with my full English breakfast. Chatted for an hour and a half with a couple of Brisbanites and the lady of the house...none of whose names we learned. Blue skies again. Very warm. 22° already, according to the temperature gauge on the LCD display in the car.
Even the route out of town was attractive as we turned across the Blackwater at its northern end and looked back across the estuary to the town. There were an enormous number of fishing vessels moored in that bay. It was a very large harbour. No wonder it was so popular.
The N25 out of Youghal was great
Doesn't look like my drink cabinet !
. One of the best we had driven on. Straight, good surface, capable of doing the 110 kph and not too much traffic. We really made good time. The only town on the way of any significance was Dungarvan which was another water side town. The Waterford crystal factory was just off the N25 on the way in to town. We parked the car in their car park in the hot sun and walked over to the reception where we booked a factory tour. We did not have to wait long. We were transported to the start point by a mini bus accompanied by two young women hostesses. The tour was most interesting. A real factory tour this not just a quick demo, a sales pitch and a showroom.
A video first to show our small group a little of the company history. The screen was then withdrawn to reveal the New York millennium ball or at least one of three crystal orbs that were custom made to be lowered over Times Square in 2000. The tour was to take an hour and first off we were introduced to two guys making glass jugs. One collected the molten glass on the end of a hollow rod into which he then blew twisting and turning until he had the traditional shape. The other guy collected a smaller quantity of liquid glass, moulded a sausage shape and added it to the first guy's vessel to make the handle
The Ashes trophy
. You felt like applauding. It was done so quickly and skillfully by tradesmen who obviously knew their profession backwards. There was a bit of a holdup in the next section so we were entertained again as they made another jug. I was invited into the ring (we were roped off from the action) to look more closely into the furnace because I questioned the lack of protective wear. Not even a pair of safety glasses for these guys and that furnace was hot and very bright.
In the next room there were several teams making candlesticks and goblets. I was surprised that so much is still done by hand. They made use of cast iron moulds to get the first impression before they engaged in the glass blowing. I had thought that much of the glassware was cast with machinery and computer controlled but I was wrong.
Next came the cutting room where we watched as the skilled artisans scored the glassware with the traditional Waterford patterns of a diamond criss cross or the other more common swirls. Simplification, said the hostess, was the secret of the Waterford designs. It was an enormous room/shed with about 60 or more work stations but not all operating at same time
Trust me...I won't drop it
. On to the finer work of the engravers as they etched designs into the glassware, be they birds, a castle, a country scene or just text. Many of the sports trophies common around the world were made here a copy of which are permanently on show. They make three trophies. Two go to the tournament and one stays at Waterford in a secure showcase.[ Can you imagine Federer holding up the Wimbledon's Waterford crystal trophy and dropping it. That is why they have a backup. I wonder if, "You break it, you pay for it", would apply here. ] They are so complicated and unique yet they make three of them!
We were tempted but we did not buy anything from the showroom.
We drove into the town of Waterford and parked the car in a side street in what looked like free parking. There was no machine to take my Euros only a sign which said 'disc' parking. Having no idea what that meant I muttered, 'bugger it' and set off into town leaving the car there in the lap of the parking gods. I was lucky to get that spot but unlucky because there was a 40 Euro fine on the windscreen when we returned. It will be interesting to see if it catches up with me in Sydney via Alamo. ( It did )
We went to the post office to find a postpak but no joy. The post offices in Great Britain are not the huge retail outlets we are used to. We had lunch in a pub...cod and chips for me at last. We found an envelope eventually in a wonderful book store called the BOOK STORE which was in a converted cinema. The stage and screen were still visible and the stalls, dress and upper circles had been linked by stairs. Each level had a its own genre of books, stationery or music.
We headed north via Kilkenny where we visited Maccas and had a cup of coffee and an ice cream, mainly to give me a break from driving. I have noticed that at this time of the day between 3pm and 5pm my eyes start to close and I get perilously close to those dangerous micro sleeps we were warned about. After 5pm I'm fine. I could drive all night. On this afternoon I then drove non-stop back to Banagher. Not really very far in Aussie terms but still exhausting on these roads. Back at 6pm surprisingly. Slept well that night.
