Living Galway

Galway Before Galway Wakes Up

Galway City Centre

I've seen Galway at an hour when much of the city is still asleep.

Around 5:00 in the morning, before the shops open and before most people begin making their way into the city centre, another working day has already begun.

Galway City Council cleaning crews are out on the streets. Sweepers move through the city centre while streets are washed and yesterday's dirt is cleared away before another day begins.

At that hour Galway feels like a different place. The streets that will later fill with shoppers, workers, visitors, musicians and delivery vehicles are quieter, while a small number of people are already working to prepare them.

Most of us encounter the result without ever seeing the work.

By the time Galway wakes up, part of somebody else's working day has already happened.

Observation: Bam Artiste

Bam's Galway

I Went Looking for Galway — And Found Jamaica

St Nicholas' Collegiate Church, Galway City — 14 September 2026

I wasn't looking for Jamaica.

I was walking through Galway City when I wandered into the grounds of St Nicholas' Collegiate Church and began looking at some of the old memorials.

Then three words caught my attention.

“Island of Jamaica.”

The weathered memorial is dedicated to Mrs Isabella Copland, widow of William Copland, and describes her as formerly of the Island of Jamaica. She died on 10 March 1837, aged 71.

I stopped.

Jamaica is where I came from. Galway is where I now live. And here, in the middle of the city, I had unexpectedly stumbled across a connection between the two.

I don't know Isabella Copland's full story, or exactly what brought her from Jamaica into the history of Galway. The stone itself raises more questions than it answers.

But perhaps that is part of what makes walking through an old city interesting. Sometimes you go looking for Galway and find something you never expected to be looking for at all.

Photograph and observation: Bam Artiste

Galway Now

Investigating Tomorrow's Floods — In Today's Rain

Raven Terrace, Galway City — 14 September 2026

It had been raining in Galway all day when I walked down to Raven Terrace.

The road was closed. Red barriers stretched across the wet street, machinery occupied part of the roadway and workers in rain gear continued working while the rain came down around them.

There was a certain irony in what I was looking at.

The work taking place at Raven Terrace is part of site investigations connected with plans for flood relief in Galway — preparations intended to help the city deal with water in the future.

And here they were doing it in today's rain.

Galway City Council announced the temporary closure of Raven Terrace from 14 to 18 September to allow site investigation works for a flood relief system to be carried out.

Standing there made the official description feel much less abstract. The road surface was shining with rain. Water ran along the street. Workers moved between the barriers and equipment while pedestrians made their way around the works beneath umbrellas and hoods.

One of the workers noticed me taking photographs and, despite working outside in the rain, looked across and gave me a thumbs-up.

That small moment somehow suited the scene.

Flood protection is something usually discussed in plans, reports and future tense. But today, on Raven Terrace, part of that preparation was happening in front of me — barriers up, machinery working and Galway rain falling on everybody involved.

Photograph and observation: Bam Artiste