Do you feel a difference between North and South?

2 stroke

Claregirl wrote: »

Do Northern cars come without indicators?

Does this stem from paranoia about being followed?

Nearly rear-ended a few cars on my last trip up north!

Norn drivers only indicate when they are in the wrong lane. Sometimes.

fasttalkerchat

Claregirl wrote: »

Do Northern cars come without indicators?

Does this stem from paranoia about being followed?

Nearly rear-ended a few cars on my last trip up north!

Ever seen a free state car at a roundabout??

fasttalkerchat

Mr_Spaceman wrote: »

I've never been able to get red lemonade in Norn Iron.

I can't remember if brown lemonade is available in the south, though?

It is banned under UK rules but still sold in corner shops etc. because they have the same suppliers both sides of the border.

jill_valentine

Wait, whoa, brown lemonade?!?! What sorcery is this?!?!

Dubhlinner

instead of curry chips they eat gravy chips. they're a bit more racist up there on other issues too

Mr_Spaceman

jill_valentine wrote: »

Wait, whoa, brown lemonade?!?! What sorcery is this?!?!

It's good stuff you know!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_lemonade

Lapin

You know you're back in the republic when the cycle lane comes to an end.

Derry Donegal border.

Dr Turk Turkelton

To be honest you really have to feel for the nordies-it's like driving into a third world country when you get there.
The roads are crap the people bitter it's like Biafra looking for indepence from Nigeria in the 70's.
The shops are cheap and the people are so downtrodden looking.
Never mind a penny for the black babies we should all be donating a penny for the poor Nordie babies.

Mr_Spaceman

Lapin wrote: »

You know you're back in the republic when the cycle lane comes to an end.

Derry Donegal border.

That's both an excellent observation and exactly the kind of thing this thread is all about. Interesting pic.

Irish Government's anti-cycling stance exposed!

pontia

Jonah42 wrote: »

Some southern accents are just cringy - particularly midlands and Connaught.

Maybe only something I've noticed but I think people down south are generally taller???

thats because the chips on their shoulders are weighing them down

Mr_Spaceman

Cuchulainn1. wrote: »

To be honest you really have to feel for the nordies-it's like driving into a third world country when you get there.
The roads are crap the people bitter it's like Biafra looking for indepence from Nigeria in the 70's.
The shops are cheap and the people are so downtrodden looking.
Never mind a penny for the black babies we should all be donating a penny for the poor Nordie babies.

I can see you're obviously trolling but I'll bite.

That will be those famously tatty stores like Sainsbury's and M&S which see folk from the south flooding into every weekend - and Christmas in particular.

Downtrodden looking? You've never been to Tallaght or Ballymun then?

oranbhoy67

poeticseraphim wrote: »

But it is a separate and independant country from us in the republic and they always will be.

It wont Always be

the Nationalist population is growing a lot more than the Unionist,, as soon as the Nationalist are the majority there than i have every confidence they will vote for a United Ireland.


Just because it has been that way for nearly 100 years does not make it right or natural or mean it will always be like that.


its none of these things.

LordSutch

oranbhoy67 wrote: »

It wont Always be

the Nationalist population is growing a lot more than the Unionist,, as soon as the Nationalist are the majority there than i have every confidence they will vote for a United Ireland.

Just because it has been that way for nearly 100 years does not make it right or natural or mean it will always be like that.

Of course its impossible to say what will happen with Ireland, and even if Nationalists became the majority in NI would they automatically vote to leave the Union? look at Scotland for example, will she leave the Union, or will she stay? or might there even be a new form of Union among the countries of these islands in the next hundred years? and looking further afield, will Italy break into two seperate countries like it has alway been threatening to? or will it remain as one, but always in a state of flux?

Nobody can say for sure.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

oranbhoy67 wrote: »

It wont Always be

the Nationalist population is growing a lot more than the Unionist,, as soon as the Nationalist are the majority there than i have every confidence they will vote for a United Ireland.


Just because it has been that way for nearly 100 years does not make it right or natural or mean it will always be like that.


its none of these things.

In 100 years, six guys from Cork will attempt to take the local post office and force a republic. The Dail will send the army in in force but later be forced to negotiate. Cork will be give the modern equivalent of home rule, but then embark on a tragic civil war over whether or not this is in their own best interests. They'll take it, gain full independence for most of the county some time later, but then create a terrorist (sorry "guerilla" army) to force out the last of the "Jackeen scum" (even thought they are referring to the full 31 counties with this).

Another 50 years after that and this will still be ongoing.

That or the entire country will have become an Islamic republic, wich Chrsitians being the minority .

Or, as another thread is saying, robots.

lawhec

Don't really get this thing about the roads in the south being infinitely better than the north. There's been quite a bit invested in N roads in the south in the last 20 years to bring them up to scratch and those which have benefited from this are now arguably better than most northern A roads, but I can't say that the R roads are any better than the B roads up here from my experience. Also in terms of investment, the Dungannon to Ballygawley part of the A4 was rebuilt and opened two years ago as a dual carriageway, the bits of the A5 (A5/N2 Derry to Donegal route) between Ballygawley to Omagh and Newbuildings to Derry are to be upgraded to a dual carriageway with work starting shortly barring a legal challenge - along the same road in the last 20 years there's been bypasses or throughpasses constructed next to Strabane, Newtownstewart and Omagh etc. A lot of work regarding main road upgrades west of the Bann has been some 50 years or so in the making, delays mainly coming from broken promises and deliberate neglect from the old Stormont parliament, the 70's oil crises and the Troubles. Through traffic in towns and cities up here, that's another matter entirely thanks to some bad planning.

I'd agree that there is a more socially conservative outlook in life among the population in NI compared to the south in general (though not too far out of place with say parts of Connacht), but again I don't get the class thing - it's much less pronounced up here compared to say most of England and the days of the Celtic Tiger boom led to more snobbish attitudes among many in the Republic even after that bubble burst. The cost of living in much of the south is significantly higher in the south in most areas, from groceries to pubs/restaurants to leisure activities. Parts of Northern Ireland can feel completely different from each other depending on what "community" is more dominant in a said village or part of the town/city. Other than that there are plenty of similarities, we watch much of the same television, follow similar sporting interests, speak the same language etc.

Oh, I suppose there is the Magners/Bulmers thing too.

Edit: Also with the sectarian head count, an increasing proportion of people born Catholic up here compared to Protestants isn't doing much to ensure the north and south being reunited outside the UK. There has been for quite some time a significant part of the Catholic population (at least one third) that are happy for NI to stay in the UK (the derogatory term "Castle Catholics" is often used to describe them) and many more are fairly passive about the border question, not really caring too much one way or the other. There are plenty who vote for Sinn Fein or the SDLP who aren't that fully committed to the idea of a united Ireland, more that they vote on identity and vague policy lines. Not too far away from the idea that many SNP voters in Scotland returned them to Holyrood not because they want Scotland to break away from the UK but rather that they were doing a decent job in power. In public most republican & nationalist politicians don't talk much about this or simply dismiss this idea, but in private there is a sense of lamentable resignation, particularly with quite a few of the Shinners.

Carlos Orange

LordSutch wrote: »

Of course its impossible to say what will happen with Ireland, and even if Nationalists became the majority in NI would they automatically vote to leave the Union? look at Scotland for example, will she leave the Union, or will she stay? or might there even be a new form of Union among the countries of these islands in the next hundred years? and looking further afield, will Italy break into two seperate countries like it has alway been threatening to? or will it remain as one, but always in a state of flux?

Nobody can say for sure.

Presumably we would get a vote about letting them in.
Could be well awkward if they voted out of the UK and the republic didn't let them in.

Little My

Public service is actually staffed by people who want to serve the public.

Drivers have actually passed a driving test.

You pay rates to a council who actually provide services to residents.

Your uncle doesn't have to be high up in some public sector position to get a job in the public sector.

People are actually less hung up about religion, having not been ruled by priests for decades.

There was no state sanctioned abuse in magdalen laundries and industrial schools.

getz

psinno wrote: »

Presumably we would get a vote about letting them in.
Could be well awkward if they voted out of the UK and the republic didn't let them in.

it may never come up in our lifetime,as the united ireland want is now on the back burner for most in the north,the last poll by the belfast telegraph in june ,came up with some strange numbers, the poll taken on the BORDER came up with,only 7% of all voters would go for a united ireland,significantly the proportion of the catholic populantion that favours unity now or in 20 years time has dropped dramatically to just 48%,..63% including 44% of catholics now want northern ireland to remain a separate entity even after 2032,

Crooked Jack

xDramaxQueenx wrote: »

The main thing for me is the accent.

What accent? Is there one uniform accent for everybody as soon as you cross the border?
Is there one uniform accent down south?
Accents in Ireland change every five miles.

Qualitymark

Similar people, but with more old-fashioned attitudes in many things.

Different jurisdiction, which is why a lot of these 'island of Ireland' things are nonsense - like the idea of training gardaí in Northern Ireland, equivalent to training gendarmes in Germany.

montyrebel

free healthcare for everything up north

Qualitymark

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Ever seen a free state car at a roundabout??

They give out state cars at roundabouts in Northern Ireland? Wow!

swimming in a sea

Maybe the roads debate should be left to those who are\were professional drivers, like me been driving both sides of the border for 5 years.

The motorways are better in the republic but i presume that is simply because they are newer, outside of the motorways the roads in Northern Ireland are far better, traffic lights are better and road signs make more common sense.

Sound of Silence

Little My wrote: »

People are actually less hung up about religion, having not been ruled by priests for decades.

Are you 'avin a laugh?

i went to see the stone roses in belfast.

there were no psni oficers anywhere to be seen on the way in, we went to the nearest pub to the concert, no huge crowds, just normal people having easy few drinks. no hassle, no queuing for 20 mins, then spilling your drinks over hundreds of other people trying to get a drink.
very nice and relaxed people, having few drinks and having a chat.

nobody hammered out of their minds in the concert, absolutley no fights or rorws, no one getting sick.

after the concert, 8 psni standing aound, having the craic, no one causing hassle, no fights, everyone dispered within an hour.

will go up north for concert again, brilliant

Cú Giobach

Lapin wrote: »

You know you're back in the republic when the cycle lane comes to an end.

Derry Donegal border.

Meanwhile a little further down the road, How about 100 yards into NI here,
and 100 yards into the ROI here.

Sleepy

I find a lot of the men to be more tight-lipped with their opinions, politics is certainly a non starter as pub conversation. The women tend to have less hang-ups about casual sex. Both are more likely to work in civil service positions and, as such, have very different attitudes to careers than us in the republic. Cars tend to be better minded yet large sections of the population seem to enjoy graffiti and painting their pavements...

It's no more similar to the Republic than England, Scotland or Wales are in my experience.

El Siglo

poeticseraphim wrote: »

It is a seprate country....totally different...we should respect that.

We are very different. I think it would be nice if we could get on..


But it is a separate and independant country from us in the republic and they always will be. We should make it clear we respect and acknowledge that and that it always will be. I think it would make a difference.

I like the 26 counties...and the six ..i think it's nice that they are separate ..somewhere to visit.

Culurally we are very different ..anyone i have ever met from the north has been a really nice person actually and i have had great friends from there. The whole thing never came into it...they were just good friends.

I'd say they'd love to hear that in Cushendall or Newry... :rolleyes:

Seriously, how different can people be on the same fucking island? Ireland (the entire island, not the state) isn't a big place (81,640 sq km), it's just slightly over half the size of the State of Georgia (153,900 sq km) in the US. Apart from the super jaffas who like marching and parading, and the super ra heads who also like a march/riot there isn't that much of a difference. It's like that joke by Dara O'Briain about a mixed marriage of a Catholic and a Protestant. The only big differences I've ever found is that nationalists will know more about GAA and more or less where you come from in south. Unionists won't know the 26 counties, which isn't more of a reflection of their schools political intransigence as opposed to their own personal feelings. By and large southerners have a lot in common with people in the north, but of course it's easy to focus on the 5% of difference than on the 95% of commonalities.

Sleepy

How different are the English and the Scottish? the Scottish and the Welsh? Dubs and Corkonians?

Very easy to have major cultural differences between the inhabitants of an island.

Duggys Housemate

Little My wrote: »

Public service is actually staffed by people who want to serve the public.

Drivers have actually passed a driving test.

You pay rates to a council who actually provide services to residents.

Your uncle doesn't have to be high up in some public sector position to get a job in the public sector.

People are actually less hung up about religion, having not been ruled by priests for decades.

There was no state sanctioned abuse in magdalen laundries and industrial schools.

Jesus wept, this is the most fact free post ever. NI is "less hung up about religion". Really? REALLY?

Everything else is wrong too.