Captain Cavan

Recently I made a map of Ulster by cutting out the shape of each county from a thick slab of cork. For clarity I should explain that the cork I am referring to is the stuff you plug a bottle of wine with, nothing to do with the county in Munster.

When I want to use the map the nine cork counties are arranged, jigsaw-style, on a wall.

Uncanny ...  Cavan and Captain Caveman's club.

I have found that cutting out a county’s contours is a great way of getting to know it. County Cavan is a particularly interesting shape. For me it recalls cartoons and comics. It is like the stylised form a leg of chicken takes, the ones Fred Flintstone or his buddies like to eat. But most of all Cavan is like the club wielded by Captain Caveman, the bellowing neanderthal who had his own show on television when I was a child.