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

Alex Ramonsky alex at ramonsky.com
Mon Nov 29 07:12:12 UTC 2004


[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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