Was Ireland always this bleek/depressing, or is it just me?

Andrewf20

Ireland was a grim place in the 70s / 80s as we all know but a good imagination and good family / friends could lift things out of the doldrums. As an 80s kid we had very little money but I still had a very happy childhood. Part of me actually thinks that our childhoods and teen years were more happy than the current generation.

Happy4all

I read the first sentence and thought, is this Michael Flatley....

And then gave up.

DrSerious3

Alia Wrong Soil wrote: »

Holy smokes.

I visited some relatives over the weekend, from the old country, hadn't seen them in the longest time.

It's weird I was completely overcome with nostalgia.

Reminds me of when I was growing up, that environment.

I think we forget what a rain soaked dump Ireland was before had billions of euros pumped into our economy and became a home for multinational companies, by way of joining the european union.

Memories from childhood - a poorly insulated ice box house, dreary dull atmosphere, insane loco wildchild kids running about, raining outside and not a neon light for miles around.

See I ditched Ireland at every opportunity and bounced entirely when I was afforded the opportunity to do so.
Not saying other cultures are necessarily a whole lot better, but Christ - I mean, I feel like that ruralism (which largely defines Ireland) needs to be injected with an eye rolling dose of meth.

I can't express my detest and loathing of the advocacy for that underdevelopment and quiet, cold, isolated rural living.

The most lively, upbeat, forward thinking, positive, productive atmosphere and fun city I've ever been is not Rome, not London, not New York - no.

But Amsterdam.

What separates Amsterdam as being in my mind, the optimized city, the optimized culture?
It's not Dutch culture - hell no - rolling wheels of cheese through shopping malls and clopping along in wooden shoes - no.

It's that Amsterdam reflects a culture not of Holland, but a culture of integration.

What underpins this integration, is the collective attitude that defines city - which is to have fun; open minded, liberal, but controlled, well kept, and well policed.

......

My point being, I hate historical Irish dullness and I think state legitimization of prostitution by way of a potential upcoming bill spearheaded by the Irish department of justice via Helen McEntee - could spark the most profound cultural revolution in the entire, bleek, oppressive history of our rain soaked little Atlantic Isle.

......

:eek:

Don't let the door hit your arse on the way out.

hurikane

Alia Wrong Soil wrote: »

"She wants muh willy!!" - how many times I've heard that expression adorned with a celtic accent, around the red parts, the ramparts.

"Good man!!"

"Great craic!!"

"Let's go for pints!!"

.....

I hate this culture. Integration is the only way for me.

You’re some creep, perving on Irish lads getting their hole in the red light district.

bertiebomber

COVID wrote: »

Was Ireland always this bleek/depressing, or is it just me?

its just you

bertiebomber

traitor - yes indeed go out after midnight in Amsterdammed and see how much you like it . I hate people who trash their own heritage / country for few smokes of weed and a few dutch beers & easy women. You are cheaply bought, do stay there you and your condescending attitude.

"So what did you do this evening, dear?"

"I made a new thread on boards slagging off Ireland. And it's already got a heck of a lot of replies."

"That's nice, dear. Now run along and wash your face and brush your teeth. It's getting late."

"Mommmmm."

Montage of Feck

Half the planet is either on fire or ravaged by storms and floods, be grateful the weather were doesn't want you dead.

yer man!

Ireland may be a fairly wet and windy place, sure I was reared next to the sea in Galway! Funnily enough I live in Zuid Holland now and I have to say I would probably trade Ireland for this. The reason is no different from what others have said, the scenery and the people. I find the language barrier is still an issue here and the humour or lightheartedness of the Irish is not as prevalent. It's always a shock when I board an Aerlingus flight in schiphol and hear the cabin crew roaring laughing about something minor down in the galley, it's that quality that just makes me yearn for Ireland.

riclad

Ireland is much more modern and open to other cultures. Its no longer ruled by the church. Walk around Dublin, you will see people from many other country's
The 80s was not all bad. Rents were low. Anyone who worked could buy a house. There was not a major homeless crisis.
We were not obsessed with phones or social media. People were friendly, neighbours helped each other.
Yes some people left the country to work in the UK or USA. But many people came back as the economy improved.
Maybe you should visit poland or Russia or Turkey see what life is like in country's rules by fascist right wing governments where freedom of speech is very limited.
In comparison Ireland is a good country to live in.
Living in small rural towns can be boring , it does not suit everyone.
So many young people move to Dublin or other places

I noticed this on various threads and other online platforms a bit. Irish nationals resident in the Netherlands extolling the virtues of their adopted country, while ridiculing their country of birth. All the while posting extensively on Irish topics/ boards etc. Must be no one worth talking to there

the_syco

Alia Wrong Soil wrote: »

It's that Amsterdam reflects a culture not of Holland, but a culture of integration.

I admire how the Dutch was able to throw all the scum into scum cities. That wouldn't work over her, sadly. Do they also still demand any caravans sign a piece of paper authorising their caravan to be searched? Again, wouldn't work over here.

=-=

Comparing the middle of nowhere rural Ireland to Amsterdam is a bit of a stretch, though!

dxhound2005

riclad wrote: »

The 80s was not all bad. Rents were low. Anyone who worked could buy a house. There was not a major homeless crisis.
We were not obsessed with phones or social media. People were friendly, neighbours helped each other.
Yes some people left the country to work in the UK or USA. But many people came back as the economy improved.

What were the bad bits?

yer man!

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I noticed this on various threads and other online platforms a bit. Irish nationals resident in the Netherlands extolling the virtues of their adopted country, while ridiculing their country of birth. All the while posting extensively on Irish topics/ boards etc. Must be no one worth talking to there

Well I hope I don't come across as ridiculing ireland anymore than I used to when I lived there... As I do love the place and want to return. But yes, Dutchies are not easy to make friends with and I can understand as they feel comfortable speaking their native language and it's a bother for them to switch sometimes. This kinda leaves you to make friends with other expats which is grand but sometimes you just want to connect with someone that understands your culture without having to explain it, every, single, time (of course this is just my experience).

Also, there's a lot of us here now really missing a visit home too to get our fix of everything Irish.

Blondini

Ireland is a great country to live in.
Yes it rains, but other than that it's great.

Safe, clean and green.

bo0li5eumx12kp

riclad wrote: »

Ireland is much more modern and open to other cultures. Its no longer ruled by the church. Walk around Dublin, you will see people from many other country's
The 80s was not all bad. Rents were low. Anyone who worked could buy a house. There was not a major homeless crisis.
We were not obsessed with phones or social media. People were friendly, neighbours helped each other.
Yes some people left the country to work in the UK or USA. But many people came back as the economy improved.
Maybe you should visit poland or Russia or Turkey see what life is like in country's rules by fascist right wing governments where freedom of speech is very limited.
In comparison Ireland is a good country to live in.
Living in small rural towns can be boring , it does not suit everyone.
So many young people move to Dublin or other places

It's an interesting point...

Especially the dark text - what a freakin' nightmare to live in those dumps - AW LAWD!!

Still though, rural Ireland is an ongoing issue in Irish government as is the rent crisis in Dublin, the entire country wants to move there.

So, it's not like it's a completely invalid point.

There's unquestionably some work to do.

bo0li5eumx12kp

the_syco wrote: »

I admire how the Dutch was able to throw all the scum into scum cities. That wouldn't work over her, sadly. Do they also still demand any caravans sign a piece of paper authorising their caravan to be searched? Again, wouldn't work over here.

=-=

Comparing the middle of nowhere rural Ireland to Amsterdam is a bit of a stretch, though!

Forward thinking bruh.

See the rural Ireland issue, Rose of Tralee now MEP Maria Walsh is on the case, but their approach is not going to solve teh problem.

Think of it like this:

Would you compare Miami or New York to a place in the middle of the desert in America?

Of course not - until someone did.

They build a city on prostitution and neon lights - and that city is called Las Vegas.

It's like it defies gravity - a baron region in the middle of the desert isn't meant to be "the place to be" or a youth demographic hot spot.

But they took the culture, applied it there; this is what Ireland needs - the Ireland that exists outside of Dublin - and parts of Dublin also, let's face it.

Integration - by way of fun.

bo0li5eumx12kp

bertiebomber wrote: »

traitor - yes indeed go out after midnight in Amsterdammed and see how much you like it . I hate people who trash their own heritage / country for few smokes of weed and a few dutch beers & easy women. You are cheaply bought, do stay there you and your condescending attitude.

What happens after midnight?

hurikane

Alia Wrong Soil wrote: »

What happens after midnight?

You’ll have a feed of clunge and multiply.

dxhound2005

There is a huge housing crisis in the Netherlands. In the major cities, finding a place to live is expensive and difficult. But, particularly for people who want to buy their first homes, the market has become a nightmare over the last five years. A combination of regulations, population growth, and economics has left the Netherlands with way less housing than it needs.

In order for the Netherlands to have enough housing for its growing population, Minister for Home Affairs Kasja Ollongren says that 845,000 homes need to be built by 2030, when she presented the 2020 report on the state of the housing market to parliament in June 2020. By 2030, the Netherlands will have about 18.8 million inhabitants, so not only does the Netherlands need to take that into account when they’re planning for the future, but they also need to build extra to make up for the current shortage.

1990sman

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Ireland was a grim place in the 70s / 80s as we all know but a good imagination and good family / friends could lift things out of the doldrums. As an 80s kid we had very little money but I still had a very happy childhood. Part of me actually thinks that our childhoods and teen years were more happy than the current generation.

abso-feckin-lutely!

strange it's become fashionable to speak derogatorily (?) about ireland, so much greatness goin back, more lightness than dark bits for sure.

a lot of people sadly take their historical aspect through television and its programming.

ta.

Atlantic Dawn

The 80's in Ireland was bleek, how sucide wasn't going through the roof then is beyond me. The country now might be heading to complete bankrupcy but it's grand compared to the 80's back then the prime bad bits were...

• No internet
• Crooked incompetent state owned companies ripping people off because of zero competition, Ryanair being formed was like the country being liberated from an occupying oppressor
• Feck all tv channels to watch, RTE would actually go off air with Irish anthem before midnight
• Owning a video recorder was not far off owning a Range Rover today
• Everyone was on strike making the place a complete kip to do business in
• The public service that was complete and utter trash, going in to the motor taxation office to tax your car was like appying to run an oil pipeline to Zaire
• Mid 80's everything was closing down, Rainbow Rapids closing hit me hard
• Politicians lining their pockets from the the fat of the land, decades later that corruption is still causing problems, the dim gombeen fooks only got penny's compared to the tens of millions those bribing them made, idiots.

Valresnick

Ireland maybe a lot of things, bleak, depressing, what was the third thing you said ?

1990sman

Alia Wrong Soil wrote: »

Forward thinking bruh.

See the rural Ireland issue, Rose of Tralee now MEP Maria Walsh is on the case, but their approach is not going to solve teh problem.

Think of it like this:

Would you compare Miami or New York to a place in the middle of the desert in America?

Of course not - until someone did.

They build a city on prostitution and neon lights - and that city is called Las Vegas.

It's like it defies gravity - a baron region in the middle of the desert isn't meant to be "the place to be" or a youth demographic hot spot.

But they took the culture, applied it there; this is what Ireland needs - the Ireland that exists outside of Dublin - and parts of Dublin also, let's face it.

Integration - by way of fun.

absolute diarrhea.

https://youtu.be/iYgPznBrjiA

Manach

Just you OP. The Ireland of my youth, while suffering economic bad times had a shared sence of nationality and faith that weathered various crises and recessions without the seemly fragility and rigid governmental control that is a halllmark of today's culture.

Mendelsohn33

Manach wrote: »

Just you OP. The Ireland of my youth, while suffering economic bad times had a shared sence of nationality and faith that weathered various crises and recessions without the seemly fragility and rigid governmental control that is a halllmark of today's culture.

It's 50-50 at this stage.
I mean I am very buttblasted and sore about orange trump being president.
I was a moderator on a political discussion board in 2015 2016 and I bet all my eggs on hillary
Now nobody respects my opinion on political matters
So ya
I will ban anybody
Co's I was wrong.

I need to buy some trump butt salve cream because I was so wrong
And every body sees it

dd973

Don't you find Amsterdam too Anglo-Americanised OP? I much prefer Dutch cities like Nijmegen, Maastricht and Den Bosch, can't argue with the infrastructure and organisation over there, I think it's so deeply ingrained due to historic Calvinism, mercantilism and of course, the biggie, half the place shouldn't be there, the entire province of Flevoland is reclaimed from the sea.

That said, going to the Dam rates higher for me than ending up in that London s**thole. The London-Irish, first and second generation and some of the newer post 2008 crash arrivals of recent years are a seriously boring demographic.

Aongus Von Bismarck

I'm an Irish expat working in Germany. One of the things that has become apparent to me about the country of my birth is how blind the average Irish person is to just how good they have it.

Third on the UN HDI index, just behind Norway and Switzerland, and ahead of countries like Sweden, Denmark, Germany (yes, we have many of the same issues - ICU capacity made the frontpage of our main broadsheet only this week), Australia, NZ, and Canada. That's ranked on access to education, life expectancy at birth, and standards of living.

You are some of the luckiest people who have ever lived. We are the 1%. Our post war social democracies delivered the EU and a quality of life that would amaze our forefathers.

Ireland is an absolutely fantastic place in which to live.

Spanish Eyes

Flights are still going over the the Dam you know.

1990sman

i see the foreign bots are glitchin out, it's the damp.