Does England feel like a foreign country to you?

Nqp15hhu

Nqp15hhu wrote: »

What’s a real unionist? Who are you to dismiss my political views?

From unionist stock.

must be very discombobulating for a unionist to feel that England is a foreign country!

Nqp15hhu

Now you’re antagonising me along with him...

con___manx1

The brittish sense of humor is much more similar to ours than the Americans for example.
A good example of what the op said about the Irish being more direct would be Roy Keane on sky sports 😂

Necro

Nqp15hhu wrote: »

So you’re sectarian and antagonising me. Thankfully you play no part in Northern Ireland.

I am a Unionist and you’re not going to stop that. Bigot

Deleted User wrote: »

You are just a bit confused. Acting out.

Nqp15hhu wrote: »

Bugger off

Mod:

Both of you take a day off this thread seeing as you cannot be civil towards each other

BlitzKrieg

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

My viewpoint is that Ireland is a lot, lot closer to English culture than many care to admit for obvious historical reasons.

My brother lives over there (London) and has become 'assimilated'. He has a bit of a Johnny Giles hybrid type accent at this stage. With added London - 'yeah yeah's' at the end of sentences. Ironically he started listening to Joe Duffy when he was over there - loves listening to it.

The bit that shocked me with London is the nodding of heads as a greeting to strangers was not the done thing. Besides that there was not much difference to Ireland if I am honest. Except I would not touch the Guinness over there.

I will say after 10 years living in London that London is not England, it's very much its own thing and it's very easy to assimilate into london cause it's so open internationally and career focused for the most part that a lot of people have a head down focus on their own thing, let people do their own thing it's no bother to any of us approach. Which means you get a lot of diversity in London thats just background noise to a lot of people. I've met people who lived in London who've never gone to the notting hill carnival or eaten a curry on brick lane, but they dont complain about either, it's just something thats not come up for them as they focused on their own thing.

I've moved out of London since, and I've noticed that difference more since moving out. Even moving to somewhere like Bristol which is very liberal, it feels like that liberal with heavy influence of Wales from just over the border (a heavy influence of Wales, seriously half the time I feel like the Welsh should just claim Bristol as it's newest city and most of the residents would be in support) I felt a lot more similarities between my time in Bristol and my brief time in Manchester then either city with London.


Also it only takes a day in any of the Scottish cities to see it's a different country. Glasgow felt closer to Dublin for me then London.

bitofabind

I've lived in London for seven years so all of these things have become normal, and are more "London" things instead of "UK" things which probably are two different things entirely. But the big differences for me:

- the anonymity which lends itself to not knowing (or caring about) thy neighbour and a lot of associated behaviours. People don't tend to acknowledge each other, "nod" at each other or give a damn about what people are doing as much as they do in Ireland.

- a lot less traditional than folks at home. You might be married with mortgage and kids by 35, or you might be single and living with flatmates and going to festivals every other weekend (pre Covid of course), or you might be divorced and dating or doing something else entirely. No-one really bats an eye either way.

- Their education system is different. So things that are common knowledge in Ireland, people haven't a clue about over here and vice versa. Northern Irish politics and the Troubles being case in point. They don't learn about it and haven't a pig's notion.

- Less apologetic in a general sense. I always get a bit of reverse culture shock when I'm home and "sorry" this, "sorry" that seems to be some sort of social currency. When I have my London head on my I'm a lot more direct and assertive, don't think twice about speaking up whether I'm in a restaurant or batting my way through the tube or whatever.

BlitzKrieg

- Their education system is different. So things that are common knowledge in Ireland, people haven't a clue about over here and vice versa. Northern Irish politics and the Troubles being case in point. They don't learn about it and haven't a pig's notion.

oh the troubles is entirely not their problem in the UK, thats not a london problem, that's an english problem.

I remember my first year in University in cambridge and a Geography student was talking to me about Ireland and I am not kidding he thought Belfast was the capitol of Ireland, not the North, but all of Ireland. He was actually confused when I pointed out Northern Ireland was still park of the UK.

And he was not the last.


Also Cambridge's idea of celebrating Paddy's day is playing Bewitched at the nightclubs.

ughhh

As for your other points, yep they are primarily London points and I agree with them (they're not necessarily negative imho)

suicide_circus

Feels foreign bit in a familiar way. The north feels the same to me.

Tyrone212

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

I suppose in summary I would view England as Ireland's big brother (whether people like it or not). Similar to a Germany v Austria. I know the dynamic is not exactly the same but it is close imo.

It was England who was the only crowd who ever successfully United Ireland. They set up Common Law Jurisprudence. Created the counties which we see today. Put in place the English language. England will always be intertwined with Ireland. It is not a true 'foreign country' the ties and history is too strong.

Nevermind all the superficial stuff and flag waving, there is damn all difference

What a load of nonsense. "Put in place the language" What a way to white wash History. Revisionism at its worst. Enforced the discriminatory Penal laws against the Irish you mean
"Catholics could not hold commission in the army, enter a profession, or own a horse worth more than five pounds. Catholics could not possess weaponry and arms, could not study law or medicine, and could not speak or read Gaelic or play Irish music." How Brotherly.

Another Brotherly action was the Land act "By 1870, only 3% of Irish farmers owned their own land while 97% were tenants. By 1929, this ratio had been reversed with 97.4% of farmers holding their farms."

And let's not even get started on the genocide. What weird brotherly experiences you must have had. Perhaps that explains your damaged take.

chrissb8

There are some similarities but for those who say we're the same, we're really not.

I lived in England for 2 years and have a few observations:

-The quality of life in Ireland is vastly better. Our food, our basic living standards, social welfare and most importantly our education is vastly superior. When living in England this becomes easily apparent. There are many living in poverty. That includes poverty in wealth and most importantly IMO poverty in mind. Their education is just awful and the gaps in their history and what they learn is quite shocking. You need to be lucky to get a good education in England.

-English life as a whole, can be boring. When I mentioned the quality of life, I also want to include the fact that in Ireland people enjoy their free time more. In our pubs, the way we talk, our ability to let go and have fun. All of these I found an absence in a lot of English people. Take a night out for example. Meeting up happened at 9 pm and people would be looking to head off most times just over 11. This was starkly evident when I would come back to Ireland to visit and just notice people meeting up and mingling with strangers and having a bit of fun. Tends to be the case when we are out to have fun in Ireland we make the time for that and rightly so. Weddings being a famous example if you need one.

-I know this might be a bit controversial but I found English people a lot more tolerant than Irish people in some ways. We are a nation of moaners, I'm sorry, I included. We big up our issues and compare ourselves to other countries as if we're to be embarrassed when a scandal or something happens. And give out endlessly about our government, which yes are far from great, but on a whole, the country is run well and from the outside looking in you realise this. In England, people are more accepting of when things don't go right or there is yet again, another F up in government. In fact, there's humour in it and I find that extends to a lot of hardships in their life. They can be laid back and easier to accept things. But.....

-This has a flip side of being bad as in England, people tend to not complain or express emotions which come about in many forms. Including, faffing about saying what they really want to say. Being afraid to offend and padding a complaint with politeness and build up until they get to the point they're trying to make. Worse yet, just not complaining. It's maddening to deal with and at least in Ireland if someone is asked if they enjoyed the food they will tell you if it was s**** they will say it outright.

-The most striking and huge difference is there is a rigid class system in England. This touches back on my point above about people in Ireland making big issues in Ireland and comparing ourselves to other countries. I have heard a lot of the "poor" not having a chance. This just simply isn't true. There is no real class system here, sure there are people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

But will you have to worry about not eating if your school lunches/dinners are cut? If you want to get an education beyond 2nd level do you really have to worry about getting a grant or extortionate fees being a barrier? Is your ruling political party the preserve of the upper gentry who have had a firm grip on the country for centuries?

If you want to see what being poor is then try to live under €100 a week and the ladder to even get out of such a situation has been pulled up by those at the top. While throwing down a scrap every once in a while to make sure they're seen doing something to "help".

Simply put in Ireland, we are new to money. Anyone who is rich has not been rich through generations and if they have, it would be a select few of that kind. You can laugh at the bogger TD going on about the right to drive with 3 pints on them but that is much more preferable, having a representative government with a mishmash of people from all sorts of background is what any country should strive for.

We do not have a class structure in Ireland, not like England anyway. You can rise above your station and avenues that are only open/easier to the upper class in England are realistically obtainable to most here. This is an essential difference that makes us, us. We aren't separated from each other in the way in England they are. Where literally, as someone from an upper-class background you could pretty much go your life never having to talk to anyone from a lower socio-economic background.


Anyway, it certainly felt like a different country when I lived in it. You may not notice on a fleeting visit the differences but spend enough time and all reveals itself. We are absolutely different in a lot of fundamental ways.

Don't get my post wrong though. There is actually a lot of good in England and I had an incredible amount of fun and met some lovely people. Ireland needs more chicken shops!!

murpho999

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

My viewpoint is that Ireland is a lot, lot closer to English culture than many care to admit for obvious historical reasons.

My brother lives over there (London) and has become 'assimilated'. He has a bit of a Johnny Giles hybrid type accent at this stage. With added London - 'yeah yeah's' at the end of sentences. Ironically he started listening to Joe Duffy when he was over there - loves listening to it.

The bit that shocked me with London is the nodding of heads as a greeting to strangers was not the done thing. Besides that there was not much difference to Ireland if I am honest. Except I would not touch the Guinness over there.

I always find it fairly ironic that the die hard Unionists describe Ireland as 'Eire' to emphasise it's foreignness. An Irish person never does that.

The difference between Irish and English people of the same demographic is negligible. Especially the working class who would read the same tabloids, watch the same telly and support the same teams. Same language spoken and so on.

I know this will drive a lot of people mad but I would not view England as an out and out foreign country like the likes of China, Russia etc.
A lot of the same cultural norms are observed.

I suppose in summary I would view England as Ireland's big brother (whether people like it or not). Similar to a Germany v Austria. I know the dynamic is not exactly the same but it is close imo.

It was England who was the only crowd who ever successfully United Ireland. They set up Common Law Jurisprudence. Created the counties which we see today. Put in place the English language. England will always be intertwined with Ireland. It is not a true 'foreign country' the ties and history is too strong.

Nevermind all the superficial stuff and flag waving, there is damn all difference

I find this post wrong on a few levels, how on the one hand can you say we're closer but on the other hand say that your brother lives in London and is assimilating. To me that means that means he's losing what makes him different to the people there.
Why is he different in the beginning? Is that because he's from a different culture.

You mention the nodding heads thing but London is a huge city with a lot of people. You must have been going around like a nodding dog as there were that many strangers around so no wonder people didn't respond.:p

But seriously I find your definition of culture/ identity to be tied to football teams, TV or newspapers to be totally wrong as it is not in my mind what makes Ireland different to England.
Firstly we have our own versions of media and sport and you can't say on one hand that we watch English football makes us more similar whilst watching GAA does not make us different.

Your summary of Irish history in thinking that England unified Ireland with a legal system or gave us a language is brushing over a lot of facts and omitting years of subjugation, colonialism and conflict.

I find Irish people have very different outlooks on life and a very different outward opinion of the world and this can be evidenced by how Brexit has unfolded over the years and that just wouldn't happen in Ireland as we have a completely different view of the world.
You mentioned working class and I would argue that England is a much more class driven society that permeates it today and we do not have an upper class in Ireland like there and England is arguably the most socially unequal in Europe.
Whenever I'm in England (or even when I cross the border into NI) I find everything looks and feels different. The roads, money,accents, place names, flags everywhere, monarchy influence even the food,all just makes my feel like I'm not in Ireland and there's a definite difference with the people too.

The atmosphere is very different. Outside of Covid, a night out in the UK, often feels like you're in places and towns where it can kick off at any moment and you just don't get that in pubs in Ireland, where the aim is to have a good time. Evidenced also with football team as England fans (not all of course) go and cause trouble whilst Irish drink beer, sing songs and even change tyres. Just a very different mindset behind it all.

Hamsterchops

Nqp15hhu wrote: »

Why do you feel Northern Ireland is foreign?

More foreign than the South of England is what I was referring to. Why? well for a start it's difficult to understand a bloody word the Nordies are saying, then there's the religious thing (what camp are you in), I mean they are very clannish in NI aren't they, which is very different to the South of England which is much more open and progressive don't you think ......

PTH2009

Sure there still celebrating winning the Battle of Trafalgar

I do like visiting England and the UK esp Scotland, i don't find them much different compared to us.

JupiterKid

Without going into a very detailed piece on the many, many differences between England and Ireland one that struck me from being over there for pleasure, visiting relatives and friends or for work over the years is the very dull and drab towns and cities of the midlands, rather dull people too in many cases - there is a “plainness” to many English people you don’t get as much with the Irish.

The class system is still very much alive and well in England and about 30 per cent of farmers over there are still tenant farmers, renting their land from the local landlord - because England never had the sweeping land reforms we had in Ireland between 1870 and 1930.

The gap between the wealthy Southeast and the deeply impoverished North, where the economy dependant on the old heavy industry and coal mining never recovered from economic restructuring in the 1960s and 1970s and then the death blow delivered by the 1980s Thatcher government. The gap between the North and South in England in wealth is actually rather shocking for a developed country. It’s like a reverse Italy situation.

London is no longer really an English city - it is a global world city in every single respect. I have always found English people to be very polite but much more reserved than us and pretty ignorant of Irish history and the wider world in general.

ojnab

From experience of extended family and many acquaintance's (north and south England, respectively), superiority complex is rampant.

Yyhhuuu

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

My viewpoint is that Ireland is a lot, lot closer to English culture than many care to admit for obvious historical reasons.

My brother lives over there (London) and has become 'assimilated'. He has a bit of a Johnny Giles hybrid type accent at this stage. With added London - 'yeah yeah's' at the end of sentences. Ironically he started listening to Joe Duffy when he was over there - loves listening to it.

The bit that shocked me with London is the nodding of heads as a greeting to strangers was not the done thing. Besides that there was not much difference to Ireland if I am honest. Except I would not touch the Guinness over there.

I always find it fairly ironic that the die hard Unionists describe Ireland as 'Eire' to emphasise it's foreignness. An Irish person never does that.

The difference between Irish and English people of the same demographic is negligible. Especially the working class who would read the same tabloids, watch the same telly and support the same teams. Same language spoken and so on.

I know this will drive a lot of people mad but I would not view England as an out and out foreign country like the likes of China, Russia etc.
A lot of the same cultural norms are observed.

I suppose in summary I would view England as Ireland's big brother (whether people like it or not). Similar to a Germany v Austria. I know the dynamic is not exactly the same but it is close imo.

It was England who was the only crowd who ever successfully United Ireland. They set up Common Law Jurisprudence. Created the counties which we see today. Put in place the English language. England will always be intertwined with Ireland. It is not a true 'foreign country' the ties and history is too strong.

Nevermind all the superficial stuff and flag waving, there is damn all difference

You said something quite nonsensical:

"Describing Ireland as "Éire" to emphasise its foreigners, an Irish person never does that"

Well that's Quite bizarre because I regularly refer to my county as Éire because this is precisely its official name in Bunreacht Na hÉireann, ( which incidentally my grandfather helped to draft).

Gaoth Laidir

I've never heard an Irish person refer to here as Éire. I've only ever heard English do it.

ancapailldorcha

I marked 10 years of living here last month and, yes, it has always felt like a foreign country to me. There's a lot of cultural overlap but I've always felt foreign here which is to be expected.

Tony EH

England is a foreign country. That's why it feels foreign. There are numerous similarities, of course, but it's a different place. Even within England there's great difference. Up North is another country altogether and the people have different views and ways than people in the South. And London is about as non-English a city that I can imagine. You could throw stones at a crowd of people for hours and not hit an English person. It's funny when I visit there and go see the war museums there. They harken back to an England that truly no longer exists outside of their doors.

Concerning English people, I probably prefer the Northerns than the Southerners. I find them more straightforward and honest. They are also less likely to try and look down their noses at you. I think we share a lot more common ground with Northerners than we do with people in the South.

But, in saying that, the vast majority of English people that I've met have been perfectly fine and London is one of my favourite cities in the world. Although I did have the crap knocked out of me there for being a "mick" one time, which wasn't pleasant to say the least.

Beechwoodspark

chrissb8 wrote: »

There are some similarities but for those who say we're the same, we're really not.

I lived in England for 2 years


Anyway, it certainly felt like a different country when I lived in it. You may not notice on a fleeting visit the differences but spend enough time and all reveals itself. We are absolutely different in a lot of fundamental ways.

Don't get my post wrong though. There is actually a lot of good in England and I had an incredible amount of fun and met some lovely people. Ireland needs more chicken shops!!

Never got the chicken shops thing over there.

Maybe there are some good ones but lots of them I found were unhygienic, unpleasant places which felt unsafe. And the food itself not great at all

Same with the kebab shops. Vast vast majority are kips

eddie

Nqp15hhu wrote: »

I am not talking about the fact that it is a separate country, but purely from the standpoint of life and culture.

I am Northern Irish, so we are in the U.K. I lived in East Anglia and felt at times that the society was different, not from a stand point of infrastructure, food or day to day things but more the way of life in terms of cultural attitudes and communication.

The reservedness and inability to be direct and up front was something that I struggled to adapt to. I found it odd how the locals would avert eye contact, almost as if eye contact is a negative thing. I couldn’t get past the indirectness in communication; when communicating with English people I found it took a while to actually get down to the main point of what they were trying to say. Whilst here in Northern Ireland we just come out with it - (and I think that they did not like that approach).

If you visualise a politician being asked a question and not answering it. That is how the English communicate, with platitudes and indirectness... not actually getting to the point.

The very early closure of shops was also something that I found odd; 6pm shutters down everyday of the week, I’m not sure what it’s like in the south but here we would have shops open to 9pm at least a few days a week. To me closing that early is a very archaic practise, I know I struggled to get things done with such closing times, I’m not sure how working people are supposed to juggle such restrictive opening hours? Other things that stood out, would be the over reliance on public transport (most of my course mates at university had only started driving lessons, many were not intending to drive), small houses and large urban population.

So for me, yes certain aspects feel foreign, others don’t. Obviously for me it wouldn’t quite be the same as going to Spain etc.

Not wishing to start a row or anything but I find the "Northern Irish" to be equally alien and quick to rise to the bait and probably a lot more culturally different than the English . I am amazed to hear NI people described as "Irish" as if they were culturally like "southern Irish" - when they could not be more different.. going to be an interesting few years when the national issue is looked at and apart from the gigantic financial cost for the Republic and cultuiral clash with the NI of both denominations and the "southern Irish" it will certainly be interesting.. to see how we can integrate the likes of "protesters" we have seen on the news this last few weeks..

Eddie

Gaoth Laidir

eddie wrote: »

Not wishing to start a row or anything but I find the "Northern Irish" to be equally alien and quick to rise to the bait and probably a lot more culturally different than the English . I am amazed to hear NI people described as "Irish" as if they were culturally like "southern Irish" - when they could not be more different.. going to be an interesting few years when the national issue is looked at and apart from the gigantic financial cost for the Republic and cultuiral clash with the NI of both denominations and the "southern Irish" it will certainly be interesting.. to see how we can integrate the likes of "protesters" we have seen on the news this last few weeks..

Eddie

As golfer Darren Clarke once said when he was called Irish; "I'm Northern Irish. There's a big difference".

comedown

Lived in UK a number of years. Have to echo some posters sentiments with regards to education. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the privately educated types were particularly tone-deaf and clueless as to anything regarding Ireland.

chrissb8

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Never got the chicken shops thing over there.

Maybe there are some good ones but lots of them I found were unhygienic, unpleasant places which felt unsafe. And the food itself not great at all

Same with the kebab shops. Vast vast majority are kips

You gotta sift through a lot of bad chicken shops until you find the one. Where the hygiene is great, the chicken looks exactly like it does on the menu board. And most importantly, they call you boss.

Kaybaykwah

murpho999 /
The atmosphere is very different. Outside of Covid, a night out in the UK, often feels like you're in places and towns where it can kick off at any moment and you just don't get that in pubs in Ireland, where the aim is to have a good time. Evidenced also with football team as England fans (not all of course) go and cause trouble whilst Irish drink beer, sing songs and even change tyres. Just a very different mindset behind it all.

...and yet, whenever there is a ruckus, the English are quick to put it on the "hooligans", thereby passing on the fault to a perceived Irish hand in it. Lol

indioblack

Tony EH wrote: »

England is a foreign country. That's why it feels foreign. There are numerous similarities, of course, but it's a different place. Even within England there's great difference. Up North is another country altogether and the people have different views and ways than people in the South. And London is about as non-English a city that I can imagine. You could throw stones at a crowd of people for hours and not hit an English person. It's funny when I visit there and go see the war museums there. They harken back to an England that truly no longer exists outside of their doors.

Concerning English people, I probably prefer the Northerns than the Southerners. I find them more straightforward and honest. They are also less likely to try and look down their noses at you. I think we share a lot more common ground with Northerners than we do with people in the South.

But, in saying that, the vast majority of English people that I've met have been perfectly fine and London is one of my favourite cities in the world. Although I did have the crap knocked out of me there for being a "mick" one time, which wasn't pleasant to say the least.

In the case of "war museums ", they're more likely to represent the past.
This north/south business is usually oversimplified - probably unavoidably.
I've met some grand types from the north of England. Also encountered some miserable, arrogant ones too.
"Sound as a pound ".
"Salt of the earth".
Often the person describing northeners this way is from the north themselves.

gormdubhgorm

CelticRambler wrote: »

While it depends on your definition of "successfully", if you check your history books, I think you'll find it was Norman England that forced the disparate tribes of Ireland together - so effectively that was the French. But of course, Ireland today isn't United, and funnily enough those in the far North East celebrate - as the most defining characteristic of their Britishness - their loyalty to the Dutch House of Orange.

Every so often on these kind of threads, it's claimed that Ireland's culture is overwhelmingly aligned with and/or derived from English culture. For the most part, that demonstrates a dismal lack of (a) how "continental" much of English culture is; and (b) how much of Irish culture is derived from and contributed to continental history and culture.

Even the "English" language owes about half of its vocabulary to French (or Latin), so England is only intertwined with Ireland to the same extent that throughout its history, England has been deeply intertwined with the rest of Western Europe.

Well the act of Union in 1800 worked fairly well, Brian Boru was the closest an Irishman ever got to a UI. Unless you count the Confederation of Kilkenny. But that was only because The British were rowing among themselves.

In threads like these I always find the Irish Language and the Irish people's relationship with it an issue. Contrasting with their sense of Irishness. And more importantly the Irish people's relationship with English popular culture, sports and so on.

In many cases even Republicans neglect the Irish language (some are fluent no doubt) but many have mere conversational Irish or none at all. The only sense of difference that many such Irish person seems to create to show their sense of Irishness and how 'not-English' they are is to be anti-partition to various degrees.

As language cannot be used as the differentiator because many people know in their heart of hearts they neglected the language or only care about the symbolism of it at best.

Yet such people have to try and show how 'Irish' they are in some manner while still falling in love with English pastimes (Soccer teams, music, soaps, entertainment and so on)

I always find it funny to watch such people and laugh at the contradictions.

The ties between Ireland and England is so strong even many die hard Republican 'look how Irish I am' people cannot shake it off. For instance Martin McGuinness as well as supporting the two Derry teams in GAA, and soccer. He also supported another soccer team Manchester United! The same city the IRA bombed in 1996.

http://pogmogoal.com/culture/be-here-now-martin-mcguinness-and-manchester-united/24538/

Hamsterchops

comedown wrote: »

Lived in UK a number of years. Have to echo some posters sentiments with regards to education. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the privately educated types were particularly tone-deaf and clueless as to anything regarding Ireland.

Arlene Foster also lives in the UK ....

England is very specific.

AlphabetCards

-The most striking and huge difference is there is a rigid class system in England. This touches back on my point above about people in Ireland making big issues in Ireland and comparing ourselves to other countries. I have heard a lot of the "poor" not having a chance. This just simply isn't true. There is no real class system here, sure there are people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

I'd actually say that Ireland and India - former colonial countries in general - hold on to the class system more than England do. You just haven't met the true aristocracy of Ireland.

bitofabind wrote: »

I've lived in London for seven years so all of these things have become normal, and are more "London" things instead of "UK" things which probably are two different things entirely. But the big differences for me:

- the anonymity which lends itself to not knowing (or caring about) thy neighbour and a lot of associated behaviours. People don't tend to acknowledge each other, "nod" at each other or give a damn about what people are doing as much as they do in Ireland.

- a lot less traditional than folks at home. You might be married with mortgage and kids by 35, or you might be single and living with flatmates and going to festivals every other weekend (pre Covid of course), or you might be divorced and dating or doing something else entirely. No-one really bats an eye either way.

- Their education system is different. So things that are common knowledge in Ireland, people haven't a clue about over here and vice versa. Northern Irish politics and the Troubles being case in point. They don't learn about it and haven't a pig's notion.

- Less apologetic in a general sense. I always get a bit of reverse culture shock when I'm home and "sorry" this, "sorry" that seems to be some sort of social currency. When I have my London head on my I'm a lot more direct and assertive, don't think twice about speaking up whether I'm in a restaurant or batting my way through the tube or whatever.

London is abysmal, the anonymity drove me insane. Every friendship or relationship there is either work-related, or transient. Many people make friends there but I have noticed that most of the relationships surround the joint effort of going to pubs after work before grabbing the tube home.