Colm O'Regan: Whisper it now, but wonderful Waterford is going places

Irish Examiner

2 days ago

TO PRAISE anything in Ireland, as an outsider, is provocative. We're suspicious of outside praise. When a global survey accused us of being one of the happiest countries in the world, we were miserable. 'How DARE you say that?'
But I'm going to say it anyway as an outside, know-nothing Cork person: Waterford is the nicest city centre in the country.
A mainly pedestrian, beautifully restored and maintained historical patchwork of streets, south of the quays, with museums for practically everything, old buildings preserved and in good condition, a nice 'feel' to it, and no litter.
It doesn't seem to be built entirely around the whims of hedge-fund-owned shop chains, vulture funds or puking stags. It's not overpriced. Yet. And no sign of robot trees.
A fair amount of crap graffiti seems to have been shamed out of it by the Waterford Walls murals. You can't write your shitty initials with crayon when next to it, someone has covered the entire gable of a pub with a 30-foot photorealistic tiger.
Yes, I was there on the sunny, warm Saturday of the August bank holiday weekend. There was a festival feeling.
Like the old Billy Connolly joke, 'the Queen must think the world smells of fresh paint'. I did see it at its best. But still, there is less of the baffling dereliction that you see in Dublin and Cork.
(Waterford did its best with a giant empty shopping centre and at least two ruined hotels that could have been perfect filming locations for post-apocalyptic blockbusters. But even that 'Cork Convention-Centre-length saga may be about to end.)
I haven't spoken to enough Waterford people (I'm still sore about that 2004 Munster final defeat) to understand what Waterford got right.
But the few answers I got all said, in local government, there were the right people in the right jobs at the right time with the right attitude to change an Irish city for the better.
They seem to have a museum for nearly everything. Two of my favourites were the Wake Museum and The Museum of Time.
The Wake Museum is in a 500-year-old alms-house (a medieval nursing home). You get a 45-minute tour, talking you through Irish funeral traditions.
It's a great way to learn history — while thinking about who'll get the house in the will. It's full of reminders of what is being forgotten.
And it's also nicely spooky to be standing next to a laid-out mannequin while the guide is telling you why the mirrors in the house are covered during a wake (so the departing soul wouldn't get trapped in them).
It's my favourite type of museum — you learn a manageable amount of things and you finish it.
The Museum of Time can't be finished in 45 minutes. Drop in for a second and you'll stay for hours.
Ancient clocks and clockwork and very well-informed volunteer guides who helpfully mention some fascinating fact about 18th century Swiss adventurers setting up colonies in Passage East (New Geneva, look it up).
It is the museum that I'd say the most common sentence in it is 'You know who'd love this? My. Father.'
There's more to come. There's a new pedestrian bridge to the new North Quays. On the south quays, they will be cutting down on our national addiction to using waterfronts for parking.
I'm telling you — Waterford is going places.
Now don't all go there at once. It's not too expensive there. Ye'll only ruin it.
I'm sure some Waterford people will tell you, 'that's not the whole story', 'it took ages', 'it cost loads', 'it's the wrong stone on the paving', their 'favourite shop closed', 'it's all mouth and no trousers', etc etc.
Outsiders' judgements of your area are frequently wrong. But whatever. This is a really nice place to be mistaken.