Surviving the Famine

CrazyPJ

Fratton Fred wrote:

sounds like a day in the life of the world bank :rolleyes:

I suppose equating 800 years of oppression, torture and murder with Wolfowitz losing his job could only come from a brit who in his heart thinks we deserved all we got.

Fratton Fred

CrazyPJ wrote:

I suppose equating 800 years of oppression, torture and murder with Wolfowitz losing his job could only come from a brit who in his heart thinks we deserved all we got.

Tell me, do you get back ache carrying that massive chip around like that?

CrazyPJ

Fratton Fred wrote:

Tell me, do you get back ache carrying that massive chip around like that?

Just like blacks then are we, eh fred?

brianthebard

The blacks dont b!tch as much as you do PJ.

CrazyPJ

brianthebard wrote:

The blacks dont b!tch as much as you do PJ.

I aint bitchin at all. Just stating the facts as I see them. maybe you feel guilt by association but nobody on here holds you responsible fred. relax

CrazyPJ

brianthebard wrote:

The blacks dont b!tch as much as you do PJ.

Oh, brianthefraud has ducked in

brianthebard

Did you have to reply twice? Or did you forget to include a casual insult the first time?

CrazyPJ

brianthebard wrote:

Did you have to reply twice? Or did you forget to include a casual insult the first time?

And thrice I insult thee thou wimpled rampallian codpiece!

brianthebard

uh huh. Sounds like an insult that didn't make the grade for Henry IV part II tbh. I don't care at this stage, cause I've finished my exams and I have a bottle of scotch, but seriously, can't you see the whole unionist bashing thing wearing thin?

SpitfireIV

csk wrote:

I thought as a Nation we were supposed to have matured...

I thought that too CSK, but looking at the goings on in this thread now you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise! Give it over guys!!

CrazyPJ

brianthebard wrote:

uh huh. Sounds like an insult that didn't make the grade for Henry IV part II tbh. I don't care at this stage, cause I've finished my exams and I have a bottle of scotch, but seriously, can't you see the whole unionist bashing thing wearing thin?

Thats not my angle at all. I believe in acknowledging the truth, learning from it and moving on. And as for it being irrelevant now, I believe that some of the social problems that exist in Ireland today can be linked to our historic experience. Did you know for instance that a survey of mental health in the Europe in the eighties found the west of Ireland was the blackspot. To me thats no coincidence. Its reverberations are still being felt imo, and as a nation we are still healing ourselves. The only way to heal ourselves is to acknowledge the truth. No bashing anyone at all.

Fratton Fred

CrazyPJ wrote:

Thats not my angle at all. I believe in acknowledging the truth, learning from it and moving on. And as for it being irrelevant now, I believe that some of the social problems that exist in Ireland today can be linked to our historic experience. Did you know for instance that a survey of mental health in the Europe in the eighties found the west of Ireland was the blackspot. To me thats no coincidence. Its reverberations are still being felt imo, and as a nation we are still healing ourselves. The only way to heal ourselves is to acknowledge the truth. No bashing anyone at all.

But your posts don't give the impresion of not bashing anyone, it just comes accross that you are intent on blaming Britain for every problem Ireland has ever had.

I see three major factors to where Ireland is today, British occupation, The Irish themselves and the Catholic Church. Which of those three factors contributed most to the mental health of people in the 1980s?

csk

CroppyBoy1798 wrote:

I thought that too CSK, but looking at the goings on in this thread now you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise! Give it over guys!!

Well it is easy to get that impression with all the puppets on a string, the straw man tactics and the multiple accounts etc. etc.

So I don't think there is any need for you to complain I would have thought that this is exactly what was wanted.

It is sad, though, that this type of carry on is allowed.

patnor1011

luckat wrote: »

Fishing from currachs just wasn't possible for people already weak from starvation; you need great strength to row and steer a currach in rough seas.

The seas close to shore were quickly fished out; those who had heavier boats were mostly mortgaged up to the hilt for them, and since no one could afford to buy or trade for their fish, they lost the boats.

Creative ways: I heard of a mother and daughters who were accused of witchcraft; it transpired that they were eating slugs and snails.

Many people survived by emigrating; as today with eastern Europeans after the collapse of communism, many were thrown into prostitution as the only way to survive.

hehe...
I am originally from slovakia. prostitution is say ;regulated; and semi-legal, you can see that in brothels which are doing bussiness as massage saloons or striptease bars. It is not by any means "the only way to survive"...

I want to recommend you to go for visit to bratislava, prague or krakow as there are cheap fly tickets available... You will be amazed and might you will see that this countries have bit better infrastructure, roads etc... than here. Ireland is beautifull country, but most of the people forget about past - like what was here about 10-15 years ago. Lots of young think that they are living in paradise where they can earn thousands with not much effort and there will be lots of jobs and so... But we must start think about one question: For how long? Signs of slowdown can be seen everywhere and we or you should concentrate on to maintain your living on at least the same level. If things will go wrong what will happend is taht 90% of those who came in last 4 years will move somewhere else - that polish, lithuanian, chech or slovak. Who will stay? More than half of that 10% are people who have nowhere to go and prefer to stay than go back to nigeria, ghana, bangladesh or pakistan. And what is for sure is that there will be cheap rent here then becouse of tens of thousands of empty houses and apartments...

History tends to repeat from time to time and while in past most of the population depends on potatoes there was at least will to produce them. Now it seems that we are in nearly the same position with people happilly eating stuf from all over of the world becouse its so easy and cheap to get them in tesco... What is the difference? The cheap food era is over and if you will not have money you will not be able to buy anything. Your former field/garden/farm was sold and there are some housing estate there. And yeah - the last thing is that we forget actually how to grow vegetables, potatos.......

btw -sorry for my english...

jman0

Just wanted to add my voice, i too would like to see brianthebard provide a source for his claim that more food was imported into Ireland during the famine, than was exported.

I understand he provided a quote about grains and cereals but ireland was never a particularly large exporter of cereals because they are not very suitable crops for our wet climate. That's why ireland always raised lots of cattle and pigs.

I've always read things that ireland was exporting food during the famine and it was British policy that food exports shouldn't be effected even tho people were starving.

djmc

To try to answer the orinagal question about trying to find food to keep from starving
When I was young my father told me about a trick his father showed him back in the 1930s that could have been used during the famine
At that time every stream in ireland would have been full of fish before pollution
They built a wall or dam across the river or stream at the end of a deep pool
where there would be lots of fish
they would then get a half sack of lime from a lime kil and start dipping it in and out of the river just upstream of the pool the pool would turn white and
the fish would run out of oxygen and float belly up within minutes the dam of
stones would let water through but catch the fish to be eaten
A quick way of getting lots of fish quick.
there was also ways of lamping and gaffing fish
Lot of wild eadable foods have been forgoten about over the years
eg. elderberrys sloe berrys fraukeans(wild bog berrys) black berrys,nettles and
some types of leaves can be eatan
rabbits snared hares blackbirds trapped etc were also common foods

gillyfromlyre

brianthebard wrote: »

People always used food sources that were available, like fish obviously, but there was a huge overdependence on the potato. A tenth of the entire country was planted with potatoes, and the average man/person ate 12kg of spuds a day! If you are eating one food on that sort of level its hard to replace it. Although as always you have to remember it was the disease that went with famine that killed the vast majority.

12kg of spuds a day, the women must have looked like meatloaf back then

guinnessdrinker

gillyfromlyre wrote: »

12kg of spuds a day, the women must have looked like meatloaf back then

Whoah! 12Kg a day! That does seem like an awful lot by any standard.

Blackjack

ROFL!. 12 Kg of spuds is 26 and a half pounds of spuds - I'd believe it if it referenced what an entire Family ate in spuds a day, but if each Man/person ate 26.5 pounds of spuds a day they'd have enough in reserves of Fat to outlive any Famine!.:D

True what the say about a high percentage of statistics being made up on the spot here methinks!.:rolleyes:

Condon

Does anyone think tat the irish famine was more lik a Genocide, because the british had control over our imports and exports?

apprently ireland had enough crops such barley and wheat to feed to country 3fold, only the british force them to b exported as well as many of the potatos not hit with blight