Blood, Walking, Defiance, & Shooting the Shooter at Croí’s Hearty Walk

Blood profusely spurting from my face, I rush out the door to get into Eyre Square to capture participants at Croi’s 15 minute walk for World Heart Day. Having been tagged by them in a Tweet, I replied that I hoped to see them tomorrow to take some snaps of their event. They replied that it was TODAY which meant I had about 5 minutes to shave, Lynx myself up, and bound towards Eyre Square. Unfortunately, I sliced my face open in the process of my hurried shaving efforts. (Photos from the event here).

In my lifetime, people have called me a silly cow, and a stupid cow, but I have never been called an unreliable cow and today was not going to be the day that that was going to happen, no-sir-ee it wasn’t.

Breathless, I arrive in Eyre Square with minutes to spare before the start of the walk and somehow manage to capture maybe fifty people with my unique set of special skills. One of whom is our Mayor, Mr Noel Larkin.

As the walk gets underway, the town crier, Liam Silke, leads and rings his bell chanting things like, “Oh YAY, OH YAY, don’t drink too much beer today” and other things related to keeping your heart healthy.

The walkers go from Eyre Square down towards Quay Street and the Spanish Arch before looping back up to Eyre Square via Dominick Street and I spot the Galway Advertiser’s Joe O’Shaughnessy shooting the participants from the distance so, just for fun, I sneak up close to him and shoot him head on with my 35mm hand piece of photographic magic.

Back in Eyre Square I have the privilege of chatting to a man and his wife who cheerfully inform me that his wheeled walking aid is his croi-mobile and that two years ago, on April Fool’s Day after having a stroke, he was told by a member of the medical profession that he would never walk again.

“I’m an O’Leary and we don’t take that sort of thing,” he defiantly responded, and it is clearly apparent, from his current ability to walk, that they don’t.