st Cork is a place apart. In the last third of the last century it became something of a refuge for those hoping to forge – a suitably ambiguous verb – what used to be known as an “alternative lifestyle ”. There are still quite a few antiquated hippies down there, as well as a few artistic types and the odd retired media tycoon. Something of the old magic survives; step into the market in Skibbereen on a Saturday morning and, despite the rain and the
