Novena shows no signs of recession

IT’S the close of the evening devotion at Galway Cathedral and a great luminous procession of cars leads outwards from the Cathedral in both directions, an electric red and white outpouring of community, snaking its way through the city as real and voluminous as the Corrib itself.As real as the Corrib perhaps, but definitely not as fluid.Traffic in the city slows to an interminable crawl just moments after a session ends. In freezing conditions, people sit patiently in their cars, undoubtedly having already spent an inordinate amount of time doing so on that day on the commute to work. Couples walk briskly through a cutting wind. Families dutifully clutch to elderly relatives, helping them with their footing on unforgiving granite steps, with the extra hazard of a possible frost in the air.