continental europe > ireland

Sam Vimes

ive been going across europe for the last two weeks and this is why its better than ireland:

1. the urinals have a sensor that make it flush as soon as you walk away

1a. the pedestrian crossings have sensors too. they know when there's a person standing there and change to green

2. traffic lights all go to flashing orange after 11 o clock so there's no waiting at a red light for ages while there's no cars or 6 miles

3. you don't have to run for the subway because there'll be another one in 6 minutes

4. there's a subway

5. it has stops every few hundred yards. we once got it the length of a street rather than walk

6. there are people on the train station platforms whose only job is to go up to people who look lost and ask if they need help

7. everything's 100000% cheaper

8. in munich in the hofbrauhaus the beer comes in litres and while it is expensive for germany (6.20 for basically 2 pints), it makes you realise that the beer they serve in ireland is generally piss

9. even the poorer areas have a fully operational tram system, and their one joins in the middle!!!

10. everything is done with a level of efficiency that's unfathomable in ireland. we shouldn't be ni a state where we EXPECT the govt to fcuk everything up

11. the police have guns and therefore some form of authority and the world didn't collapse when they were given them

12. the security around the world cup was amazing. the equivalent of the entire irish police force were on the streets and stopped any trouble before it started. there were no muck savages on power trips trying to be smart. they just got the job done.

13. everyone is incredibly helpful. three of us were looking for a particular place and the woman said that her car was around the corner and she'd give us a lift!!1!!

14. the tab system in bars. its so much simpler and it results the scabby bastard losing out rather than never having to buy a round.

15. the bars don't shut at 12:30 on the dot and the country still manages to chug along far better than ireland.

16. at every train station there's at least 30 taxis waiting. and you generally don't have to get taxis because you're never more than 100 yards from a subway stop.

17. did i mention i like the subway?

i'll add more as i think of them

cournioni

I totally agree.

Dragan

Just as a serious question, would you consider relocating after seeing what other countries have to offer?

jester77

And thats exactly why I live here

Same salary but goes a long long long way further, plus the Summer actually has sun for 4-5 months and a decent health system...well actually an amazing health system!!

Oh... and the autobahn rules

Plus I can go to take the trinksmarkt and buy 20 bottles of quality beer for €12 and get money back for bringing back the empties!

galah

OP - nice post, and Germany is GREAT for a holiday - but you would not want to live there - the bureaucracy would drive anyone mad! It's great to have a competent and strong police force - until you get your first fine for jay-walking, or riding a bicycle that does not have the correct lights on, and the list goes on...

To foreigners, Irish people are still very helpful as well, I mostly found an awful lot of grumpy people in Germany, who couldn't care less if you were lost or not. People in Germany generally don't apologize if thy bump into you, or if they're in the way or anything - somehting I find quite nice in Ireland!

Taxes are a lot higher as well, so in comparison, it's not all that cheap if you actually live in Germany.

The German government, although efficient, stuffs up an awful lot as well. It just means that the fcuk ups are done more efficiently...

The public traffic system is great in larger cities - try any smaller town, and it's the same cr*p as in any Irish town.

Admittedly, the health care system in Germany is fantastic (had to go to casualty one day, and after half an hour's wait, a nurse came over to apologize that we had to wait "so long" - I couldn't believe it!), but comes at a price, and driver's are way better educated - it's actually still fun to drive in Germany, cause people in cars know what they're doing, and for a journey of 200 km, you can calculate about 1.5 hours - not 4 like in Ireland...

But apart from that...

stevejazzx

galah wrote:

Taxes are a lot higher as well, so in comparison, it's not all that cheap if you actually live in Germany.

is this correct?
income tax lower in geramny is 15%
vat is 16%

r3nu4l

I agree with a lot of what you say but these countries have serious problems too.

Take the Metro in Paris for example, Pickpocketing is rife despite Armed police officers with attack dogs on some platforms!

Naples is also full of pickpockets at the central train station and taxi drivers there are often as bad as some of those in Dublin for ripping off their customers!

The smell of p1ss from the streets of central Rome at 6 am on a warm July morning is incredible

The Champs Elysses in Paris is wonderful especially if you sit outside for a Beer at night, only costs €11 (as of July 2005) if you are silly enough to stay and pay that!

Brussels gets as much if not more rain that Ireland and I would rather the Gardaí any day over their police force. They have had serial murders, massive paedophile scandals dwarfing our own and corruption that makes the Gardaís troubles look like a minor event.

Italy and political corruption go hand in hand to a greater extent that Ireland (CJH would have been a legend in Italy )

Those are just some of the problems...

Having said all of that, continental Europe is a wonderful place, I love it and we could learn a lot but let's not start saying that they have everything right and we have everything wrong!

And loathe as I am to admit this ...*choking* Britain has had special constables (volunteer reserves) for a few years now and it works well for them so *struggling to say this* we could do with taking a leaf out of their book. :eek:

So I say to you OP...

What's the matter you eh?
Gotta no respect...
...Itsa not so bad,
Itsa nica place
Ah shuddupa your face

Emmo

yeah but for the pig ignorant like me who dont speak German and whos French is passable could you work and live over there?

Emmo

Dyr

Commander Vimes wrote:

ive been going across europe for the last two weeks and this is why its better than ireland:



1a. the pedestrian crossings have sensors too. they know when there's a person standing there and change to green


11. the police have guns and therefore some form of authority and the world didn't collapse when they were given them

or eastern european version, the zebra crossing's have traffic lights on them (wtf why?) and the drivers still ignore both

the police have guns and their uniform (scruffy white polo shirts like a centra worker and overall bottoms) and general demeanour make them look binmen with an attitude. Really instills confidence

But yes indeed trams, public transport, crazy stuff that Ireland will never need, we can just zip everywhere in our ministerial mercs, those speed cops doing escort make sure we're never late. And if we're really late sure isnt that what govt jets are for? :mad:

RE*AC*TOR

A quick synopsis of the original post:

grumble grumble grumble public transport grumble grumble

As for beer in Ireland, there a plenty of good beers widely available in Ireland now, its no longer the situation of Carlsberg/Heineken/Budweiser/Miller/Smithwicks/Guinness. Speaking of which, Guinness is great. Its much more appropriate to our out in the middle of an ocean climate than a nice crisp pilsner.

galah

stevejazzx wrote:

is this correct?
income tax lower in geramny is 15%
vat is 16%

VAT will be raised to (I think) 19 % soon. And don't forget all the "funny" taxes, like church tax, rainwater tax (yes, it does exist! Houseowners pay a tax on the rainwater that falls on their property), property taxes, water taxes, council taxes, solidarity taxes, eco tax on fuel, etc etc...

r3nu4l

galah wrote:

VAT will be raised to (I think) 19 % soon. And don't forget all the "funny" taxes, like church tax, rainwater tax (yes, it does exist! Houseowners pay a tax on the rainwater that falls on their property), property taxes, water taxes, council taxes, solidarity taxes, eco tax on fuel, etc etc...

Yep income tax is not the thing to take into account at all. I know UK is not Continental Europe but I was chuffed to see that income tax was lower in the UK than in Ireland and was sure the cost of living would be cheaper in Cambridge than in Dublin yet I didn't take council tax or the other myriad of little charges into account and I am now earning more but saving far less than I was able to in Ireland AND I'm not even running a car over here! If I don't get the increase I want in January I may just return home!

mikedragon32

It's great going to German and using the public transport. You'd wonder why anyone would bother with a car then the busses and trains are so very efficient.

Then you head out on the Autobahn and you see why. Fantastic roads, even if they're not all free of speed limits anymore. Everyone knows how to use the autobahn properly, as far as I could tell, and even in Winter with snow falling drivers don't suddenly panic and slow down to 60kph like on Irish roads!

I love that you can go for a few beers and a bite to eat and still have change of from €20.

I love that even though my German is crap, bartenders, waiters, shop assistants etc. will humor me in my feeble attempts to buy something!

Anyway enough Gemany loving. Back to continent loving...

Isn't it great that you can get on a train in Paris after breakfast and be in Brussels for lunch? That you can drive across borders within the EU without need to stop and present passports, with the exception of occasional spot checks by customs?

Isn't it great that you can buy a can of beer in a supermarket for about the same price as a can of Coke? That when you go into a supermarket you can actually SMELL the food you're buying. That, if you want to, you can go to seperate shops for your bread, meat, cheese, poultry etc., without having to go to a shopping centre?

Why am I still here?

Ponster

r3nu4l wrote:

Take the Metro in Paris for example, Pickpocketing is rife despite Armed police officers with attack dogs on some platforms!

50 people pickpocketed on average per day out of 4,000,000 isn't that bad really.

The Champs Elysses in Paris is wonderful especially if you sit outside for a Beer at night, only costs €11 (as of July 2005) if you are silly enough to stay and pay that!

Indeed. If your that silly then you deserve it. You don't see any of the locals doing it

AnitaMcCluskey

I am currently living in Germany / France and I don't think they compare to our Green Homeland. Sure our transport system is below par but when we do try to improve it (LUAS) all people care about is the disruption to O'Connell Street. You can't win!

mikedragon32

r3nu4l wrote:

I agree with a lot of what you say but these countries have serious problems too.

Take the Metro in Paris for example, Pickpocketing is rife despite Armed police officers with attack dogs on some platforms!

Naples is also full of pickpockets at the central train station and taxi drivers there are often as bad as some of those in Dublin for ripping off their customers!

The smell of p1ss from the streets of central Rome at 6 am on a warm July morning is incredible

The Champs Elysses in Paris is wonderful especially if you sit outside for a Beer at night, only costs €11 (as of July 2005) if you are silly enough to stay and pay that!

Brussels gets as much if not more rain that Ireland and I would rather the Gardaí any day over their police force. They have had serial murders, massive paedophile scandals dwarfing our own and corruption that makes the Gardaís troubles look like a minor event.

Italy and political corruption go hand in hand to a greater extent that Ireland (CJH would have been a legend in Italy )

Those are just some of the problems...

Having said all of that, continental Europe is a wonderful place, I love it and we could learn a lot but let's not start saying that they have everything right and we have everything wrong!

And loathe as I am to admit this ...*choking* Britain has had special constables (volunteer reserves) for a few years now and it works well for them so *struggling to say this* we could do with taking a leaf out of their book. :eek:

So I say to you OP...

What's the matter you eh?
Gotta no respect...
...Itsa not so bad,
Itsa nica place
Ah shuddupa your face

Is it a coincidence that all the places you list are major Tourist destinations? I agree with your point though re pickpockets. While it's unpleasant, one only needs to take minor precautions to deter them. If it's even just slightly difficult for them to pick your pocket, they'll move on to someone else.

toomevara

to be honest I don't know why anyone bothers to live here...and why oh why is half the population of Europe queuing up to get in here and work, I mean its unfathomable.....oh wait...must be something to do with the rocketing economy, our totally open labour market, free and relatively uncorrupt political system and refreshing absence of bureacracy and state control (dont believe me... just try and open a business in France, or for that matter fire an incompetent employee, its about as easy as finding a pauper in the fianna fail tent at the Galway races) not to mention the vast personal wealth its possible to accumulate with a little hard work.

Oh and then there's the live and let live attitude of the vast majority of the people who live in this beknighted place...no society in western europe has ever undergone the type of demographic and cultural change Ireland has undergone in the past 10 years..we are a giant experiment my friends and guess what? We're doing really, really well. Now I know thats not what you want to hear but just 20 years ago this was to all intents and purposes a quasi-third world backwater with f**k all to offer except the ferry/plane out.

yeah yeah sure we've got problems, crap health sytem, feral skangers , huge growth in wealth disparity...but France..ha! economically stagnant and a racial timebomb (dont want to share their fabulous republican ideals with those dusky foreigners you see and if your under 25 a 1 in 4 chance of being unemployed, yep, i in 4, insane!!!!! Germany also stagnant and ageing with no social mobility. Italy...hopelessly corrupt and run by cartoon characters. appalling...
Yeah sure, the trains run on time but frankly so f**kin what....

All of old europe is failing, sure they may have nice transport services, but there is zero dynamism and only pessimism about the future....

....so yeah continental europe...its Great!!! Will the last one out of Ireland please turn out the lights....

AnitaMcCluskey

toomevara wrote:

to be honest I don't know why anyone bothers to live here...and why oh why is half the population of Europe queuing up to get in here and work, I mean its unfathomable.....oh wait...must be something to do with the rocketing economy, our totally open labour market, free and relatively uncorrupt political system and refreshing absence of bureacracy and state control (dont believe me... just try and open a business in France, or for that matter fire an incompetent employee, its about as easy as finding a pauper in the fianna fail tent at the Galway races) not to mention the vast personal wealth its possible to accumulate with a little hard work.

Oh and then there's the live and let live attitude of the vast majority of the people who live in this beknighted place...no society in western europe has ever undergone the type of demographic and cultural change Ireland has undergone in the past 10 years..we are a giant experiment my friends and guess what? We're doing really, really well. Now I know thats not what you want to hear but just 20 years ago this was to all intents and purposes a quasi-third world backwater with f**k all to offer except the ferry/plane out.

yeah yeah sure we've got problems, crap health sytem, feral skangers , huge growth in wealth disparity...but France..ha! economically stagnant and a racial timebomb (dont want to share their fabulous republican ideals with those dusky foreigners you see and if your under 25 a 1 in 4 chance of being unemployed, yep, i in 4, insane!!!!! Germany also stagnant and ageing with no social mobility. Italy...hopelessly corrupt and run by cartoon characters. appalling...
Yeah sure, the trains run on time but frankly so f**kin what....

All of old europe is failing, sure they may have nice transport services, but there is zero dynamism and only pessimism about the future....

....so yeah continental europe...its Great!!! Will the last one out of Ireland please turn out the lights....

Well said.

I applaud you

jester77

No matter where you live it's all about what you make of it. I lived in Galway before moving to Germany and loved it there. Now I am in Germany and I'm even happier. Yes there is alot of bureaucy but you get over that. There are lots of taxes but your salary is much larger and you end up taking home the same pay so it balances out. Plus everything is cheaper in shops but this will change from next year once VAT is raised to 19%
The one thing I don't like about Ireland now is the drinking culture, it was fun while I was in my early 20's but after so many years of getting hammered you just say enough is enough. I find it difficult to go out and have a normal night in Ireland, so much pressure to get hammered and if you don't everyone around you is and it's not much fun. It's so much more relaxed here on the continent and a much more pleasant atmosphere. I guess it's each to their own, or perhaps I'm just getting old and boring

toomevara

jester77 wrote:

I find it difficult to go out and have a normal night in Ireland, so much pressure to get hammered and if you don't everyone around you is and it's not much fun. It's so much more relaxed here on the continent and a much more pleasant atmosphere. I guess it's each to their own, or perhaps I'm just getting old and boring

I can definitely sympathise with that...irish binge drinking culture is insane, but then so is the UK's, much of scandinavia's and large chunks of Eastern Europe's. And from my travels in Germany well, lets just say there are some pretty big drinkers there too!!!! As a non drinking Irishman, yes we do exist...I dont allow other peoples perceptions or opinions of what constitues a good night out, i.e drinking oneself into a stupor and vomiting down a drain to affect me. I have an excellent social life, alcohol free....it can be done...its up to you to resist the peer pressure if you dont feel comfortable with it....

r3nu4l

Ponster wrote:

50 people pickpocketed on average per day out of 4,000,000 isn't that bad really.

1. Link?
2. Is that people caught, prosecuted successfully, incidents reported?
3. Remember that only a tiny fraction of successful pickpocket events are reported and many feel that they have simply lost their wallets, or whatever.
4. ...Lies, damn lies and statistics!

I witnessed four pickpockets in action in about thirty minutes spent on the RER platforms in Paris in a single day, as I'm safety concious I have never been pickpocketed.

So if I generate my own statistics, I could witness as many as 8 pickpocket events in one hour, or 96 in 12 hours, let's be generously conservative and say 150 in 24 hours. That's only what I witnessed, multiply that by other witnessed attempts plus the countless that go unnoticed and you have thousands per day. But as I said...lies, damn lies...etc. Remember 99% of convicted murderers have eaten bread, therefore bread must be a dangerous source of evil. :eek:

I'm simply pointing out that continental Europe has it's problems too and is not the perfect heaven-on-earth that people here seem to think it is. I agree Continental Europe is great, just not perfect.

They have as many problems and more (insome cases) than Ireland.

humanji

toomevara wrote:

I can definitely sympathise with that...irish binge drinking culture is insane, but then so is the UK's, much of scandinavia's and large chunks of Eastern Europe's. And from my travels in Germany well, lets just say there are some pretty big drinkers there too!!!! As a non drinking Irishman, yes we do exist...I dont allow other peoples perceptions or opinions of what constitues a good night out, i.e drinking oneself into a stupor and vomiting down a drain to affect me. I have an excellent social life, alcohol free....it can be done...its up to you to resist the peer pressure if you dont feel comfortable with it....

Yeah, but if you drink and then one night decided not to drink and everyone else is drunk it can get pretty annoying. A whole new language barrier comes into effect: those who speak english and those who gibber drunkenly.

But why is everyone comparing the two? Wouldn't it be better to take the best of the continent and try to apply them here? I mean, is anyone else sick of waiting half an hour for a dart only for an announcement to come on and say that it's been cancelled? If we had some of the efficency of the continent in that kind of regard, then Ireland would kick a hell of a lot more ass than it currently does! It's a nice country and it'll be great when it's finished

Joliegood

How come the former Eastern Bloc countries have outrageous taxi fares ?. Even higher than Dublin. Has put me off ever going back there.

1huge1

galah wrote:

OP - nice post, and Germany is GREAT for a holiday - but you would not want to live there - the bureaucracy would drive anyone mad! It's great to have a competent and strong police force - until you get your first fine for jay-walking, or riding a bicycle that does not have the correct lights on, and the list goes on...

To foreigners, Irish people are still very helpful as well, I mostly found an awful lot of grumpy people in Germany, who couldn't care less if you were lost or not. People in Germany generally don't apologize if thy bump into you, or if they're in the way or anything - somehting I find quite nice in Ireland!

Taxes are a lot higher as well, so in comparison, it's not all that cheap if you actually live in Germany.

The German government, although efficient, stuffs up an awful lot as well. It just means that the fcuk ups are done more efficiently...

The public traffic system is great in larger cities - try any smaller town, and it's the same cr*p as in any Irish town.

Admittedly, the health care system in Germany is fantastic (had to go to casualty one day, and after half an hour's wait, a nurse came over to apologize that we had to wait "so long" - I couldn't believe it!), but comes at a price, and driver's are way better educated - it's actually still fun to drive in Germany, cause people in cars know what they're doing, and for a journey of 200 km, you can calculate about 1.5 hours - not 4 like in Ireland...

But apart from that...

I agree with you that Germany has so many strict laws
but what I disagree with you is the transport system in smaller towns is like irish small towns, from my experience even the small towns have a brilliant road system and your never far from a motorway and theres always a train station close by, much more than you can say for a small irish town

toomevara

#Elites wrote:

Yes, when i finish School (19) Im of.

Cool.... and see as much of the world as you can, but believe you me, I've lived and worked in England, Italy, Portugal and Spain and I can tell you they've got as many problems and drawbacks as we have, only subtly different ones....Utopia does not exist, well not on this earth anyway, Ireland no better or worse than any of 'em.

toomevara

jomanji wrote:

I mean, is anyone else sick of waiting half an hour for a dart only for an announcement to come on and say that it's been cancelled? If we had some of the efficency of the continent in that kind of regard, then Ireland would kick a hell of a lot more ass than it currently does! It's a nice country and it'll be great when it's finished

Try the tube in london for 4 years if you want inefficiency and lack of customer care...you aint lived till you've spent 2 hours stuck in a northern line train in 33 degree heat, with absolutely no idea whats going on, and women and kids passing out all round you...Ireland will be great when its finished, so will everwhere else...perfection is not possible in this world...but we ain't doing too bad.

Ruu_Old

Have to agree with the transport in Germany is fantastic. I went around a couple of cities and used the trams in each city, cheap and fast.

Terry

Commander Vimes wrote:

1. the urinals have a sensor that make it flush as soon as you walk away

beavis and butthead were equally as impressed. uh huh huh.

Ponster

r3nu4l wrote:

1. Link?
2. Is that people caught, prosecuted successfully, incidents reported?
3. Remember that only a tiny fraction of successful pickpocket events are reported and many feel that they have simply lost their wallets, or whatever.
4. ...Lies, damn lies and statistics!

I witnessed four pickpockets in action in about thirty minutes spent on the RER platforms in Paris in a single day, as I'm safety concious I have never been pickpocketed.

It's incidents reported. I'll dig them up as we already had this discussion regarding the worst city in Europe for pickpockets. Rome I think had something like 180 per day being reported.

I've been living in Paris for 10 years now and have met 2 people living here that have been pickpocketed yet know of over 30 people who were visiting who were targeted.

humanji

toomevara wrote:

Try the tube in london for 4 years if you want inefficiency and lack of customer care...you aint lived till you've spent 2 hours stuck in a northern line train in 33 degree heat, with absolutely no idea whats going on, and women and kids passing out all round you...Ireland will be great when its finished, so will everwhere else...perfection is not possible in this world...but we ain't doing too bad.

Well that's no reason not to try. And yeah, the tube is pretty bad, but I don't think it really qualifies as transport

Feenikusu

I think I live in the wrong part of Germany.
The transport system here is terrible, if you miss a bus you have to wait a whole hour for the next one. And we don't have a subway. But my town is not that small, with 27.000 people. At least we have a train station, but the connections there are boring. You can only arrive 2 small citys from here and for the next train you have to wait half an hour.
In Cologne this is much better, or even in Bonn. But not everybody lives in big cities.

galah

that was my point exactly! My hometown has about 90 000 inhabitants, and public transport is pretty bad as well...maybe not as bad as in Galway, but pretty bad. Then again, we do have the autobahn really close by, and they're currently building a bypass (which took them 30 years to decide on, and to subsequently build) - there's a little Ireland even in the most German of towns...:D

But the trains are mostly on time!

jrey1981

Agree that transport is very good in Germany, but cannot really think of a single other good thing to say about the place, and yes, I have been there.

adonis

I witnessed four pickpockets in action in about thirty minutes spent on the RER platforms in Paris in a single day, as I'm safety concious I have never been pickpocketed.

were outside the peripherique per chance?

i have been in paris 4 times, never had any trouble..

The public transport system is to die for in the majority of europe
all those trains and tunnels
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

blorg

jester77 wrote:

And thats exactly why I live here

Same salary but goes a long long long way further, plus the Summer actually has sun for 4-5 months and a decent health system...well actually an amazing health system!!

Oh... and the autobahn rules

Plus I can go to take the trinksmarkt and buy 20 bottles of quality beer for €12 and get money back for bringing back the empties!

jester77
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Galway

Galway sounds great

blorg

I've also been to Paris countless times without issue. I've been pickpocketed in Madrid and Barcelona though, more than once, and have witnessed (and on occasion foiled) several other attempts in both cities. These are actually the only two places (besides Dublin) in over 20 countries that I've either fallen victim or witnessed pickpocketing (and this would include the likes of Naples and Tangiers.) Barcelona is certainly the single "dodgiest" place I've ever been with Madrid a close second; still love both cities.

Germany is amazingly underrated as a tourist destination; great food, great beer, great white wine, great shopping, friendly people and it's cheap. And I being a cyclist I just love the bike usage levels.

I wouldn't have thought taxis in eastern Europe more expensive than Dublin; it's just that they can have a tendency to not take you quite the most direct route (as anywhere can with foreigners.)

adonis

i lived in barcelona for a year
never any trouble ever!
i did see a couple of people being robbed/attacked though...it nearly happened to a mate of mine who had been living there for 4 years and can speak fluent spanish and catalan! so its not just tourists...
dunno why they never picked on me....
must have been the black panther i had on a leash with me...

pred racer

14. the tab system in bars. its so much simpler and it results the scabby bastard losing out rather than never having to buy a round.


I dont understand explain please?

Terry

adonis wrote:

i lived in barcelona for a year
never any trouble ever!
i did see a couple of people being robbed/attacked though...it nearly happened to a mate of mine who had been living there for 4 years and can speak fluent spanish and catalan! so its not just tourists...
dunno why they never picked on me....
must have been the black panther i had on a leash with me...

post of the year.

"never any trouble ever!"

well...except for those people who were mugged. other than that... oh yeah, my friend too.

LMFAO.

Guy:Incognito

mikedragon32 wrote:

I love that even though my German is crap, bartenders, waiters, shop assistants etc. will humor me in my feeble attempts to buy something!

English is part of the curriculum there, so the peoplehave a basic grasp. Plus it's a fairly international language.

mikedragon32 wrote:

Isn't it great that you can get on a train in Paris after breakfast and be in Brussels for lunch? That you can drive across borders within the EU without need to stop and present passports, with the exception of occasional spot checks by customs??

Are you actually complaining that we live on an island? spose we should blame ff for that one. We have the same laws re travel.

mikedragon32 wrote:

Isn't it great that you can buy a can of beer in a supermarket for about the same price as a can of Coke? That when you go into a supermarket you can actually SMELL the food you're buying. That, if you want to, you can go to seperate shops for your bread, meat, cheese, poultry etc., without having to go to a shopping centre?

We have bakeries, butchers off licences here too you know. I dotn know whether a cheese shop would make money here or not.

They dont have chippers.

Dont get me wrong , I'm half german and have spent a lot of time over there. It's just one of those place that it's nice to visit but I'd NEVER want to live there.

Sam Vimes

pred racer wrote:

14. the tab system in bars. its so much simpler and it results the scabby bastard losing out rather than never having to buy a round.


I dont understand explain please?

if you're down the pub with 5-6 lads there's always one who's last to buy a round and it always "coincidentally" ends up being the same person. they can't get away with it when everyone throws in at the end. and if they drink a pint or two less than the rest and the bill is just divided evenly they lose out

pred racer

thats it im opening a tab from now on, I know so many people like that:o
Do you not get the really sad gits trying to work out their share like when you are out for grub?

Paulj

Have to admit barcelona can be pretty dodgy. I was there for a month and a guy attempted robbing me, a mate of mine was succesfully robbed and i witnessed another attempted robbing. I talked to a guy who was robbed 3 times in the last few months alone. But having said that i think successful robberies are down to the victims stupidity or drunkiness.

I do think that the level of street violence is a lot less there though. I saw no violence at all while there, whereas i can walk down the street in my home town in ireland and be guaranteed to see many scraps. And in ireland you can't help but feel that if you get robbed there's a good chance you'll be stabbed as well. :mad:

mayhem#

toomevara wrote:

to be honest I don't know why anyone bothers to live here...and why oh why is half the population of Europe queuing up to get in here and work, I mean its unfathomable.....oh wait...must be something to do with the rocketing economy, our totally open labour market, free and relatively uncorrupt political system and refreshing absence of bureacracy and state control (dont believe me... just try and open a business in France, or for that matter fire an incompetent employee, its about as easy as finding a pauper in the fianna fail tent at the Galway races) not to mention the vast personal wealth its possible to accumulate with a little hard work.

Oh and then there's the live and let live attitude of the vast majority of the people who live in this beknighted place...no society in western europe has ever undergone the type of demographic and cultural change Ireland has undergone in the past 10 years..we are a giant experiment my friends and guess what? We're doing really, really well. Now I know thats not what you want to hear but just 20 years ago this was to all intents and purposes a quasi-third world backwater with f**k all to offer except the ferry/plane out.

yeah yeah sure we've got problems, crap health sytem, feral skangers , huge growth in wealth disparity...but France..ha! economically stagnant and a racial timebomb (dont want to share their fabulous republican ideals with those dusky foreigners you see and if your under 25 a 1 in 4 chance of being unemployed, yep, i in 4, insane!!!!! Germany also stagnant and ageing with no social mobility. Italy...hopelessly corrupt and run by cartoon characters. appalling...
Yeah sure, the trains run on time but frankly so f**kin what....

All of old europe is failing, sure they may have nice transport services, but there is zero dynamism and only pessimism about the future....

....so yeah continental europe...its Great!!! Will the last one out of Ireland please turn out the lights....

Well said!

E.

mayhem#

ive been going across europe for the last two weeks and this is why its better than ireland:

1. the urinals have a sensor that make it flush as soon as you walk away

Plenty of those in Ireland...

1a. the pedestrian crossings have sensors too. they know when there's a person standing there and change to green

I lived in several countries across the continent and these are quite rare..

2. traffic lights all go to flashing orange after 11 o clock so there's no waiting at a red light for ages while there's no cars or 6 miles

See previous comment....

3. you don't have to run for the subway because there'll be another one in 6 minutes

Subway?? What subway?

4. there's a subway

I refer to my above statement...

5. it has stops every few hundred yards. we once got it the length of a street rather than walk

Lazy fecker!

6. there are people on the train station platforms whose only job is to go up to people who look lost and ask if they need help

There's plenty hanging around waiting to rob you also...

7. everything's 100000% cheaper

True!

8. in munich in the hofbrauhaus the beer comes in litres and while it is expensive for germany (6.20 for basically 2 pints), it makes you realise that the beer they serve in ireland is generally piss

Also true.

9. even the poorer areas have a fully operational tram system, and their one joins in the middle!!!

Great, that's how the scums get to the better neighbourhoods...

10. everything is done with a level of efficiency that's unfathomable in ireland. we shouldn't be ni a state where we EXPECT the govt to fcuk everything up

I presume they are also to blame for your poor spelling?
Believe me, other governements in Europe are just as good or better than the Irish governement at ****ing things up. Differenc is that they are better at not getting caught...

11. the police have guns and therefore some form of authority and the world didn't collapse when they were given them

Having looked down the barrel of a police service weapon I can provide expert witness to the fact that while it is good having armed police that this should aslo come with adequate training...

12. the security around the world cup was amazing. the equivalent of the entire irish police force were on the streets and stopped any trouble before it started. there were no muck savages on power trips trying to be smart. they just got the job done.

Leave that to the Germans. Makes you wonder why they lost so many wars...

13. everyone is incredibly helpful. three of us were looking for a particular place and the woman said that her car was around the corner and she'd give us a lift!!1!!

Germans are indeed very polite and helpfull. This in contrast to the Belgians, Dutch, French etc..

14. the tab system in bars. its so much simpler and it results the scabby bastard losing out rather than never having to buy a round.

Yup, I hate nothing more than having to pull out my wallet every time I order a round. Much prefer to pay it all at the end..

15. the bars don't shut at 12:30 on the dot and the country still manages to chug along far better than ireland.

True, more time to drink seems to equate in less people pissed out of their heads causing trouble...

16. at every train station there's at least 30 taxis waiting. and you generally don't have to get taxis because you're never more than 100 yards from a subway stop.

Not true everywhere...

As much as I agree with most of your sentiments, your experience of continental Europe is limited to say the least...

E.

Royale with Cheese

Living in Cologne at the moment, but I'm moving back home for good in 2 weeks (was just studying here for a year). It has almost the exact same population as Dublin so I guess it's good for a comparison.

Transport is so much better, there's just no point comparing it with Dublin. I won't even bother.

Food etc. in supermarkets is alot cheaper, as is eating out. Booze in supermarkets is ridiculously cheap. 25c for 500ml, tastes a hell of alot better than Hollandia as well. Drinking in pubs isn't that cheap, a pint could cost you around €4.50 but sometimes about €3.60. Depends where you go really. However if you want to go out on a big booze up then this is the country for you. Just buy some cheap beer before you go out (like you would in Ireland, except not €10 for 6 bottles). You can drink on the train, in the streets. Buy beer from Kiosks and drink it outside clubs before you go in, the bouncers don't care. It's common practice. As a student you can go out and spend about €10 here and have a great night. Also the beer here is 50 times better than anything you get in Ireland. I will most certainly never drink Miller again. I much prefer going out in Dublin for the atmosphere though. The pubs here have no atmosphere whatsoever.

Managed not to get in trouble with the police (did come close on a couple of occasions), and avoided a trip to the hospital so I can't comment on that.

The people? Wouldn't say anything about them either way. Seem a normal bunch of city folk. Too much is made of 'this race is friendly, and this country is full of assholes' because somebody went to a country once and had one or two good/bad experiences with the locals. A bad experience being one person slightly bumping into you and not apologising for it. There are assholes everywhere, there are nice people everywhere. I've never had a bad experience with the locals nor have I had a great one. You do get knackers over here, and the german-turk youth population can be a pain in the ass but compared to the amount of knackers you get in Dublin it's not much to worry about.

I haven't been working here so I can't comment about tax or wages. The economy does kind of suck in Germany so I suppose that would be a big con for the country if I were looking for a job. I can tell you UCD is actually 10 times more organised than the University of Cologne. German efficiency is a myth, in Cologne anyway.

I'm a big football fan and will miss watching Fc Koeln, very nice to have a top division team with a great stadium you can watch every 2 weeks.

I wouldn't say one country is better than the other, and I'm only comparing Dublin and Cologne here. There are things I prefer about Dublin and things I prefer about Cologne. But I reckon most people who go on about how shít Ireland is are just whiney bastards (probably in the age group 18-21) looking for an excuse for having a boring, shít life. Or they just like moaning in general and Ireland is an easy target. Every country/city in the world has problems. The only thing we have a real right to complain about in Ireland is the weather, that does suck.

Terry

9. even the poorer areas have a fully operational tram system, and their one joins in the middle!!!

Great, that's how the scums get to the better neighbourhoods...

so scum only come from poorer areas. interesting to know that.
i think i'll move out of this council estate that i have called home for 30 years and move to one of the private estates up the road. i really need to get away from all my neighbours. i mean, they live in a council estate, so they must be scum.
oh crap. wait. that must mean...

mayhem#

julep wrote:

so scum only come from poorer areas. interesting to know that.
i think i'll move out of this council estate that i have called home for 30 years and move to one of the private estates up the road. i really need to get away from all my neighbours. i mean, they live in a council estate, so they must be scum.
oh crap. wait. that must mean...

The Sweeper

It's all swings and roundabouts. The comparative cost of a basket of groceries in the UK is far cheaper than in Ireland. The public transport system is better. But you pay council tax (try paying over £100 a month for ten months of the year just for living somewhere), your public transport costs are FAR higher than they are in Ireland and cigarettes and petrol cost more.

Rent is about the same price between Dublin and London now - scary, considering you can get a far higher wage in London. Foreign countries just seem to work better than Ireland does.

All in all, its not the money that keeps me out of Ireland. It's the stinking attitude. I've never had to deal with people working for utilities or government departments in any other country (and I've had to deal with places like Africa and China, mind) where "Oh, oh no, that's not my area, you're onto the wrong place. It's not me!" is an apparently acceptable response to a query. I mean, how about taking the initiative to suggest an alternative, or giving me a different phone number?

"No, no, not me."

Right, sorry for bothering you there on the helpdesk, my bad, thought you were there to help, how foolish am I, eh? I'll just fuck off then, shall I? All the way to another country.

sioda

Whenever this arguement comes up its always people talking about big cities but lets honest big european cities are enormous when put up against anything but Dublin and Dublin is coming up in the world. Ok here in Limerick the transport system is sh!te but i bet if you look at a town in europe of a similar size you will see the same.

Rite we always give out about stuff its the Irish way but again you cant be comparing beer now i mean the substance not the price Stout suits Ireland and lets be honest weak god awful lager suits the sunnier climbs in europe. Personally I dont think a pint of plain would be very nice in a 40 degree heat.

Ok the Gards aren't armed but does anyone really see crime going down if they were I personally dont.

Brian Capture

r3nu4l wrote:

And loathe as I am to admit this ...*choking* Britain has had special constables (volunteer reserves) for a few years now and it works well for them so *struggling to say this* we could do with taking a leaf out of their book. :eek:

Why is it so hard for you to compliment England on this issue?

Indeed, why are you living there as you obviously have a severe difficulty / problem with England and English people?