[extropy-chat] FWD [Skeptic] Re: Living in Ireland -the reality

[Mike Lorrey]

Sounds like your offense was being English on a rainy day.... ;)

Now, I am impressed when a Brit complains about bad plumbing (what
might the dentistry be like in Eire?) but the parts about no compulsory
public schooling, and a landlord pulling a shotgun sound downright
home-like to me. If I wasn't so set on the Free State, I might be
interested in checking it out.

--- Alex Ramonsky <alex at ramonsky.com> wrote:

> [Is this a leg pull? -twc]
> 
> 
> No, it isn't a leg pull. I still suffer back pain as a result of
> living 
> that way. This is what we experienced. I have photos, if you'd like,
> of 
> me coming from the well with buckets of water, etc. It was five years
> 
> ago, and it was in West Cork, Laois, Offaly, Kerry and Mayo (where my
> 
> son was born.) I am well aware that conditions in Dublin and the
> larger 
> cities are nothing like this, but we always lived in rural areas and
> it 
> was very unusual for an English person to be able to get a place to
> rent 
> with electricity etc. The only places we could find to rent were
> hovels. 
> We were not married at the time but had 2 kids, and the locals called
> my 
> wife a prostitute. One prospective landlord in West Cork pulled a 
> shotgun on me and our baby son when he found out we were English.
> Education is compulsory, school is not. Many people teach at home and
> 
> there is no problem with that. The weather was a lot worse than I
> have 
> experienced in the UK so far, on average two or three degrees colder
> and 
> a heck of a lot more rain.
> The locals were very, very friendly to tourists, who are after all a 
> major part of their income. They changed their attitude if you wanted
> to 
> live there. We were not travellers (the Irish call them 'Tinks',
> short 
> for Tinkers, and they are reknowned for stealing; hence the bad 
> reputation).
> Conditions may have changed a great deal during the last five years
> due 
> to EU subsidies, but I can give you the addresses of friends I still 
> have over there living in these conditions right now. My sons visited
> 
> them a month ago and they were mighty glad to come home to toilets
> and 
> hot water.
> There is a wonderful American couple over there who were my
> neighbors; 
> they'd be happy to tell you how they lived before they inherited a
> lot 
> of cash; check out Tony & Christa Lowes; Eskevaud, Allihies, West
> Cork, 
> Eire. I think they're on line these days. Tony fixed my well when it
> got 
> full of cow poo one winter  :  ) .
> Best,
> AR
> *********************
> 
> Terry W. Colvin wrote:
> 
> >On Friday, November 26, 2004 3:54 PM +10:30 Terry W. Colvin wrote:
> >
> >  
> >
> >>[AR]
> >>I know this is a response to a rather old post and I apologize for
> my 
> >>tardiness...
> >>I lived in various counties in Ireland (Not the same thing as 
> >>Northern 
> >>Ireland, BTW -there is no conflict in the South) from 1986 
> >>until 1999, 
> >>when I moved to the UK.
> >>The bad news:
> >>We had no electricity, no toilets, no running water. We were not 
> >>unusual. Most of our neighbors didn't either.
> >>Since we are not catholic, there was little chance of getting 
> >>employed 
> >>or a decent place to rent. We were treated as second class
> citizens, 
> >>known as  'blow-ins'. We were refused service in all catholic 
> >>pubs and 
> >>some shops and restaurants.
> >>We were stopped on the street by the cops regularly and 
> >>searched for no 
> >>apparent reason. We were ripped off by the locals at every 
> >>opportunity. There are drunks everywhere, and real mental 
> >>cases wandering around on 
> >>the streets accosting people for money/booze.
> >>Car insurance is prohibitively high. Irish roads (about the same 
> >>standards as much of Africa) meant we needed a new 
> >>gearbox/clutch/suspension every year or so.
> >>It rains almost every day, and the winds are icy and blasting 
> >>for much 
> >>of the year.
> >>The attitude to science? There were 5 religious education lessons
> per 
> >>week in our local high school and 2 science. Catholic prayers 
> >>had to be 
> >>done before and after every lesson, and in the mornings.
> >>The good news:
> >>You won't have to send your kids to school. (That's why we 
> >>did it). You 
> >>are very unlikely to get burgled, mugged, raped, beaten up or 
> >>murdered. Or indeed, acknowledged at all. Enjoy. :  ) AR
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >Sounds like rubbish to me, it would have to be a very isolated place
> to have
> >no water or electricity. As far as I found the locals are pretty
> friendly
> >(my relatives live in Ireland) and although they have their fair
> share of
> >drunks and catholics a lot of the drunks are tourists or visitors
> >(especially in Dublin :-)). Education is compulsory up to age 15.
> The
> >weather is no worse than the UK. And the roads aren't that bad
> either. That
> >isn't to say there aren't places like it somewhere in Ireland.
> >
> >Trev
> >
> >----------------------
> >
> >well, we visited a not particularily touristy far-away
> >Donegal last summer, staying at "St John's Point"
> >(look it up, peninsula hanging into the Atlantic)
> >And the place was friendly and prosperous
> >(besides being beautiful)
> >all the way (we drove from Dublin).
> >We haven't seen any overt religocity
> >or backwardness.
> >
> >Some survey just has found the Republic of Ireland 
> >the best place to live in the world, overtaking
> >the Scandinavians - even with the bad points
> >from the  weather.
> >(Which was cold, windy and wet about 70%
> >of the time, but it somehow suited the landscape...)
> >
> >
> >Eva
> >
> >------------------------
> >
> >I lived in the RoI for two years, moving to the U.S. just this past
> >May. The only Irish people who would be without plumbing and
> >electricity are Travelers, who are like the Gypsies of Eastern
> Europe.
> >Unfortunately, they are held in very low regard and are treated
> badly
> >by most of the Irish people I met.
> >
> > - Greg
> >
> >------------------------
> >
> >The only time I ever heard that term was when I watched the movie
> >Snatch. In my experience, the slang term for Travelers was
> "knackers".
> >
> > - Greg
> >
> >------------------------
> >
> >Travellers and Romany are PC, the only other
> >one I know is gypsy. And they are badly
> >treated everywhere in Europe.
> >Just yesterday there was an article (in G2)
> >about an exception - a permanent 
> >concreted site with facilities;
> >with fulltime (gypsy) caretakers made the site
> >clean and crime-free and the local community
> >accepting the people there. 
> >Interviews showed the hate that 
> >existed for decades and then slowly 
> >changed into acceptence
> >and even friendship.
> >
> >All our "democratic" and "freedom-loving"
> >west should adore them - their tanacity to cling
> >to their unsettled life. However, if, as above,
> >the sites they visit over the year are civilised -
> >they are behaving accordingly, sending their
> >kids in the local schools etc.
> >
> >Eva
> >
> >
> >  
> >
> 
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> 


=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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