Would you like to live on an island?

SafeSurfer

Recently a friend who lives in Ireland said they would love to live on an island. When I pointed out that they did. in fact, live on an island,i.e. the island of Ireland, they were dismissive and said, no, they meant a real island.

I live on the Atlantic coast but rarely if ever get the sense of living on an island.

How small would an island have to be for one to feel like an “islander”?

Aran Mor?, Ibiza?, Malta?

I Am Nobody

Spike Island maybe?

Gregor Samsa

I think it would take knowing that you had to take a ferry to get to a supermarket or hospital to really feel like you were on an island. On the Aran Islands, you’re very conscious that you’re on an island. The Balearics or Malta, not so much.

murpho999

I get what they mean as places like Australia could be argued as being an island, but it's a continent, and it's just too big.

I think people get an island feeling of they're not an independent country but part of another and therefore feel separated both physically and culturally from their mainland bretheren.

That's why people from Ireland, UK, Iceland etc just don't feel like Islanders.

Ipso

It's only an island when you look at it from the water.

We've just come out of a period where we had to stay inside a 2km radius, and going beyond it might have entailed a Garda checkpoint. So imagine your 2km radius was surrounded by 10km of sea.

It would just be a pain in the arse tbh. Garda checkpoints were bad enough, going for milk. Imagine having to get the boat. The novelty would soon ware off.

barneystinson

murpho999 wrote: »

places like Australia could be argued as being an island, but it's a continent, and it's just two big.

It's way bigger than two, I'd say it's closer to 27.

I often thought about
Living on an island
Looking at another line
Waiting for my friend to come
And we'll get high

fr336

I like my island the problem is the 60 million other people living on it.

Leg End Reject

If getting essentials like bread and milk is dependent on the weather being safe for a ferry to bring you to the mainland - that's what island living means to me.

I know I live on a small island on the western edge of Europe, but I can get anywhere within this island, and easily source what I need, by car within at most a couple of hours, but usually within minutes.

Strumms

I remember as a kid being taken to a guesthouse on the arran islands for two nights... it was the 80’s granted but I’ve never been so well... bereft of stuff to do. The weather was crap, wind, rain and 16 degrees in the middle of June... so that kind of put me off the whole island thing...

The highlight was meeting and making friends with a donkey, although initially he hissed at me then bit my shoulder, we made up after I gave him a chewing gum.

Vita nova

OP, I know what your friend was talking about. To have a real sense of living on an island, I do think it needs to be a small island like a lake island or even a desert island.

I wouldn't like to live long term on such an island but a few months of the year wouldn't be bad, especially if you're trying to do something creative and want the minimum of distractions from the outside world.

Yeats wrote a nice poem (below) about living on Innisfree, a lake isle on Lough Gill. If you haven't already and you're in the North West, I'd definitely recommend the boat trip on Lough Gill. By the way, Innisfree is tiny and I doubt Yeats actually lived there but his poem makes it sound idyllic.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree
BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

Leg End Reject

A small island off the west coast of Ireland would be an entirely different experience to one in the Mediterranean.

I think I'd choose the latter ...

The_Kew_Tour

Yes, I already live in one.:p

Kylta

SafeSurfer wrote: »

Recently a friend who lives in Ireland said they would love to live on an island. When I pointed out that they did. in fact, live on an island,i.e. the island of Ireland, they were dismissive and said, no, they meant a real island.

I live on the Atlantic coast but rarely if ever get the sense of living on an island.

How small would an island have to be for one to feel like an “islander”?

Aran Mor?, Ibiza?, Malta?

Maybe your friend wants to be a hermit

Harry Palmr

Someone just paid about 5.5m for a chunk of flat rock in Roaringwater Bay so they must like the idea.

biko

I wouldn't mind this one

murpho999

barneystinson wrote: »

It's way bigger than two, I'd say it's closer to 27.

Ha ha, what a silly typo I made, corrected now thanks!

Calahonda52

murpho999 wrote: »

Ha ha, what a silly typo I made, corrected now thanks!

you are two kind:D

AMKC

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Someone just paid about 5.5m for a chunk of flat rock in Roaringwater Bay so they must like the idea.

Or maybe they just of more money than sense.