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

[Terry W. Colvin]

On Friday, November 26, 2004 3:54 PM +10:30 Terry W. Colvin wrote:

> [Is this a leg pull? -twc]
> 
> 
> 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


-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
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