Dubliners

Exit · 17-12-2003 6:28pm #1

Hope this hasn't been done before.
What are your favourite and least favourite things about the city?

I'll get the ball rolling.

Favourite - The history of the place. I love walking down streets where Wilde or Joyce have walked before me, and vikings and other ancestors before that. I love the old buildings.

Least Favourite - The fact that's becoming (if not already) a very dangerous city. Little scumbag thugs ready to fight anyone who walks near them, just the whole threatening and abusive behaviour of these people really pisses me off about this city. And the litter is also a big problem, nobody has enough respect for the city to throw something into a bin.

Littletinyman · 17-12-2003 8:26pm

The place is a f*cking dive. Maybe if you weren't such a Wilde-idolising dickweed you'd wake up and smell the coffee!

SantaHoe · 17-12-2003 10:03pm

Hmmm, probably the laughter I get from seeing what people will dump out onto the middle of the footpath... One time I saw a toilet brush encrusted with poo... just sitting there all day on the path outside someones house.
Then another time there was a severed car door propped up against a tree for no apparent reason... took a few days for that to be taken away.
Yeah, you really have to wonder about those people...

Exit · 18-12-2003 4:52pm

Originally posted by Littletinyman
The place is a f*cking dive. Maybe if you weren't such a Wilde-idolising dickweed you'd wake up and smell the coffee!

Dickweed? What are you? 8?

TacT · 18-12-2003 7:11pm

nope, he's banned

Exit · 18-12-2003 9:36pm

Fair play to whoever banned him!

Dr. Loon · 19-12-2003 11:52am

I like - The history also, I like little cosy pubs, and the architecture of the old buildings. I like the proper "salt of the earth" Dubliners who have the strong accent and are sound and full of kindness. They're few and far between nowadays though.

I dislike - the stink, the vomit covered streets on a weekend night, the litter, the scumbags.

Walter Ego · 19-12-2003 12:05pm

There are serious litter problems in Dublin, but remember there is a huge transient population of non-Dubliners who contribute to it.

You only have to drive around the countryside to see the respect non-Dubliners have for their own environment. I regularly pass full black sacks thrown in to hedges. Our country towns are just as badly littered on a pro-rata basis. Take a look outside any chipper and see empty pint glasses, burger wrappers and pavement pizzas.

The various councils have a lot to answer for. Litter bins are all too often filled to overflowing due to not being emptied. As for taking litter home with you, that has become just a bit bit more difficult now that handy plastic bags are now longer available.

From what I can gather there is a huge resentment towards Dublin as a whole and non-Dubliners seem to want to contribute to its downfall.

For those of you who are a bit slow on the uptake, non-Dubliner=culchie.

LFCFan · 07-01-2004 4:18pm

There are too many scangers in the city that have no respect to people or property and certainly don't give a toss about throwing stuff in the bins. I got laughed at once because I threw something in a bin but it came back out and then when I picked it up again and put it back in a couple of skanger tramps slagged me off for being a **** just because I wanted to throw something in the bin. They backed up their ignorance by throwing a crisp packet on the ground in front of me. It's people like this that have Dublin in the mess it's in. If you go to a city that is spotless you will see everyone using the bins because they feel they should but when people come to Dublin they see the mess it's already in and don't care where they put their rubbish.

Exit · 07-01-2004 6:33pm

Yeah, I ****ing hate when these sort of **** throw rubbish on the ground whilst they're standing a few feet away from a bin!

Winters · 10-01-2004 6:41pm

I hate dublin scumbags. There are so many of them that should just be rounded up and sent away. Remember all those Primetime episodes where they shoed scumbags of 14 with more then 40 or 50 convictions. And all they do is get told off and put in some nice home. Only to run away form it and go off breakin' the law again.

That annoys me a lot. The extremly large amount of pure inbread scum.... Also idiots annoy me. There are way too many of them and too many stories to tell of that. Its annoying to walk doen Temple Bar at 2am and half of it is filled with drunken kids and scumbags.

I do like the .... eh? pretty flowers...

I'll come back to that later. Though i dont think i can really move out of Dublin perminantly, its like some sort of addiction.

Walter Ego · 11-01-2004 3:48pm

Originally posted by Winters
Though i dont think i can really move out of Dublin perminantly, its like some sort of addiction.

Here's your coat, what's your hurry?

projectmayhem · 30-01-2004 11:38am

good: the city center. it's a nice place, if you remove the dirt and crap from the ground

bad: the people.

Dr. Loon · 30-01-2004 11:43am

Originally posted by project-mayhem

bad: the people.

Generalisation???

Stark · 30-01-2004 11:55am

Like: having access to facilities that you wouldn't have easy access to down the country. Not having to travel to music concerts etc. The IFI cinema

Dislike: The congestion, the scumbags(though we have those in cork too).

seamus · 30-01-2004 12:13pm

Like: As k.oriordan said, the access to everything. The 24 hour nature of the place.

Dislike: Scumbags. The cost of living.

MDR · 18-02-2004 12:34pm

Like : The feeling of permanence, a 1000 years of culture, history and tradition, alive and well. The winding narrow streets, the broad boulevards, the pavements, the ancient stone slabs, the picture sellers on Sunday mornings, the flower sellers, the busker's, the buzz, the crack, the people power, the quite hours of the morning, it is a city best sampled at this time. The people, the warmth, the swift pint, the art, the music, the theater, the film, the National Gallery, the Phoenix Park, the Phoenix Park's tea rooms, the Spire on a sunny day, the innovation, the bookshops ...

Dislikes : The poverty, the testosterone, the vanity, the inflated sense of importance, the lack of civic education, the lack of civic pride, the feeling the city owes you something, the apathy, the litter, the alcoholism, the dis-enfranchised, the homelessness, the under-investment, the infrastructure deficit, the constant un-relenting defeatism, the democratic deficit, the cost of living, the 'Not in my back yard' attidute, the lack of empathy, but most of all, and I repeat my the APATHY.

Too many ?

LFCFan · 18-02-2004 1:39pm

Originally posted by MDR
Like : The feeling of permanence, a 1000 years of culture, history and tradition, alive and well. The winding narrow streets, the broad boulevards, the pavements, the ancient stone slabs, the picture sellers on Sunday mornings, the flower sellers, the busker's, the buzz, the crack, the people power, the quite hours of the morning, it is a city best sampled at this time. The people, the warmth, the swift pint, the art, the music, the theater, the film, the National Gallery, the Phoenix Park, the Phoenix Park's tea rooms, the Spire on a sunny day, the innovation, the bookshops ...

Dislikes : The poverty, the testosterone, the vanity, the inflated sense of importance, the lack of civic education, the lack of civic pride, the feeling the city owes you something, the apathy, the litter, the alcoholism, the dis-enfranchised, the homelessness, the under-investment, the infrastructure deficit, the constant un-relenting defeatism, the democratic deficit, the cost of living, the 'Not in my back yard' attidute, the lack of empathy, but most of all, and I repeat my the APATHY.

Too many ?

Agree with that MDR. Unfortunatly the Dislikes far outweigh the likes

MDR · 18-02-2004 1:45pm

Unfortunatly the Dislikes far outweigh the likes

Is the glass half empty or half full, perhaps your outlook is biased ?
I see it as being more 50/50 ...

LFCFan · 18-02-2004 1:50pm

Originally posted by MDR
Is the glass half empty or half full, perhaps your outlook is biased ?
I see it as being more 50/50 ...

Tee rooms in the park, permanence and winding streets are all good and well but when you've got alcoholism, litter, corruption, apathy etc etc on the other side of the coin you can see where I'm coming from. It's lucky that there are the pros of living in Dublin because it would be a real hell hole otherwise.

BendiBus · 18-02-2004 2:09pm

Originally posted by LFCFan
It's lucky that there are the pros of living in Dublin because it would be a real hell
hole otherwise.

Isn't that sort of stating the obvious? "If it wasn't for the good things, then everything would be bad"

The best thing is the energy. There's a huge sense of development and change. The place is so alive. Nowhere compares at the moment. That's what cities should be about - energy.

I think the scumbags are the biggest problem the city has. They have a total lack of respect for everything.

And sometimes Dublin just doesn't feel big enough. But thats a purely personal thing, not a fault of the city itself. I'm sure some would think small is beautiful. I love the anonymity one can enjoy in a big city like London.

MDR · 18-02-2004 3:14pm

Tee rooms in the park, permanence and winding streets are all good and well but when you've got alcoholism, litter, corruption, apathy etc etc on the other side of the coin you can see where I'm coming from.

I do see where you are coming from, I see it as a trap, one I fall into regularly myself, its a trap of defeatism, you attach more weight to the negatives than you do to the positives, and thus the positives will always be outweighed by that which is negative.

To me the positives are more important, that doesn't mean I don't attach sufficient weight to the negatives, to enable them to be dealt with, i.e. what do mean there is a litter problem, look at our culture, of course no, but I am making a conscious choice to make a balanced judgment, and not let defeatism cloud my opinions.

LFCFan · 18-02-2004 6:32pm

Originally posted by MDR
I do see where you are coming from, I see it as a trap, one I fall into regularly myself, its a trap of defeatism, you attach more weight to the negatives than you do to the positives, and thus the positives will always be outweighed by that which is negative.

To me the positives are more important, that doesn't mean I don't attach sufficient weight to the negatives, to enable them to be dealt with, i.e. what do mean there is a litter problem, look at our culture, of course no, but I am making a conscious choice to make a balanced judgment, and not let defeatism cloud my opinions.

I understand where you're coming from. Positive attitudes and all that. It's very hard to remain positive about so many aspects of Irish life when you've just come back from another country. Underneath all the corruption and the scumbags and the apathy and the litter etc etc there is a wonderful country screaming to get out.

MDR · 18-02-2004 6:41pm

I was like that for a long time after I came back from Paris, I am coming down from the North soon after being here for quite a few years. What I realised after long consideration is this.

The truth is that everywhere has problems, ok some places more so than others I will concide, but we tend to be less forgiving of problems created by our own people. I look back at Paris, London (and I suppose soon the North) with rose coloured spectecles (quote Yeats), I rarely remember what was bad about these places, I only remember what was good, and I am reminded daily of Dublin's problems, so Dublin pales in comparision. When I lived in those places similarily I only remembered what was good about Dublin ....

Exit · 19-02-2004 2:31am

That's the same for me. I was in Canada for a few months there during the summer, and after a while I missed certain things about Dublin. I was in Calgary which is a really beautiful, peaceful city but for a while all I could see was what it was missing that Dublin had. Then when I got home, coming back from the airport I remembered all the ****ty things about Dublin as I saw bad driving, litter, little skangers walking the streets, bangers going off everywhere (it was Halloween) and I immediately wanted to be back in Calgary.

I still think Dublin is a hellhole. It has many things that I really like and enjoy (MDR's post reminded me of a lot of them) but I feel it's completely ruined by the locals who couldn't give a **** about their city. I was in the Garden of Remembrance the other day, had it all to myself. Now I'm no Republican but I recognise that I wouldn't be living the life I'm living if it wasn't for the people who sacrificed their lives for us. Yet, the wall at the back was covered in graffiti like 'Anto loves Bernie' and crap like that. It's the disrespect for Dublin and its people that annoys me.

Oriel · 19-02-2004 3:14am

Right, I'm from Antrim (town), currently living in Belfast, which is a complete hell-hole in itself.
I lived and worked in Dublin for a year and a half.

Based on this;

Things I liked about Dublin
- It's more of an entertainment centre than Belfast. I.e. a band comes to Ireland, Dublin is the first port-of-call.
- Some of the history to it, though not a lot as been preserved, in comparison to Belfast.
- You sometimes get a decent Guinness in Dublin.

That's...that's about it really.

Now things I hated about Dublin.
- The filth of it.
- The skangers but I'm sure our skangers would kick the sh!t out of your skangers (nailed baseball bats included)
- The drugs, quite clearly in view when walking from the train station to my bus stop on the Sunday afternoon.
- The price of everything. Obvisously not helped by the fact that it is the tourist-central for Ireland.
- The waves of spanish students that infest Dublin every summer. Though, I guess this does have *some* advantages...

- The public transport. This argument is closed before it even opened.
- The amount of immigrants. Now, I'm not racist...aw well ok, let's face it, I am. I hate the b@stards.
- The price you have to pay for everything, which would normally be free for everybody else. (And I'm not talking about Angels or Strings)...
- The fact that getting anywhere, even by car takes you for all eternity. Come up to Belfast for a day, you'll see.
- Getting from one decent pub to another takes forever. In Belfast, no taxis are needed. /not to make this a Belfast comparision or anything.
- I hate the accent with I passion. And I thought I hated the Belfast acent.... /me shudders...
- "Bud" "Chief" etc. May not be exclusively Dublin, but that's where I heard them first.
- Excessive amount of beggars.
- Everything else. The above were off the top of my head. I'm sure I could come up with the same amount again easily.

Sinecure.

MDR · 19-02-2004 11:46am

I get this with Northerner's quite a bit, extoling the virtues of the North. I do this to illusrate my point more so than anything else, I know both cities very well and have been listening to this kind of thing for a few years. Having lived in Belfast (on the Lisburn Road) for five years, Dublin for 18, Coleraine for 4, Paris for 1 and London for 1 ... moving home to Dublin 5 in March.

- The filth of it.

Ok, no arguements here, being a big city is no excuse, Paris manages to keep itself quite clean for instance.

- The skangers but I'm sure our skangers would kick the sh!t out of your skangers (nailed baseball bats included)

As you quite rightily point, there are skangers in Belfast, much more highily organised ones, called the IRA, the UDA, the UVF etc. And I don't say this with my tongue in check, wander around North, East or West Belfast, the Village etc for a little while, play the safe area, bad area, can I have money for the flags mister, am I ok here with my accent game ... and you will see what I mean.

- The drugs, quite clearly in view when walking from the train station to my bus stop on the Sunday afternoon.

Belfast, has an enormous Glue problem and heroin problem, to equal that of Dublin, wander around the centre of the city for a little while, I near hit a teenager with a bag to his face on the West-link last night.

- The price of everything. Obvisously not helped by the fact that it is the tourist-central for Ireland.

No arguement here, bigger cities are dearer, thats probabily no excuse because Dublin is now a lot dearer than Paris was. I am glad to see things are becoming a little more rational now, although we have a long way to go before we see value for money again.

- The waves of spanish students that infest Dublin every summer. Though, I guess this does have *some* advantages...

...

- The public transport. This argument is closed before it even opened.

As against Belfast's, and Nothern Ireland's almost non-existant public transport system. They recentily talking about closing the Derry - Coleraine train line for god's sake, Dublin has light rail, Dublin will soon have trams, Dublin is soon to tender for a Metro, New rolling stock on many of its routes, Dublin has an enormous Bus system, granted there is still alot of work to be done. On the flip side, Belfast has one rail line with forty year old rolling stock on it, and some very over-priced buses (œ1.40 from the Lisburn Road to town).

- The amount of immigrants. Now, I'm not racist...aw well ok, let's face it, I am. I hate the b@stards.

In fairness, its only fear of the troubles that are largely keeping them out of the North, hardily something to be happy about ....

- The price you have to pay for everything, which would normally be free for everybody else. (And I'm not talking about Angels or Strings)...

Again, no arguement here ....

- The fact that getting anywhere, even by car takes you for all eternity. Come up to Belfast for a day, you'll see.

Ah now in fairness, Belfast can get very congested too, ask anyone who has to traverse the West Link/Stockmans Lane/Lisburn Road/Sandynoise Roundabout at rush hour. Flexitime is non-existant in the North, so most people do ...

- Getting from one decent pub to another takes forever. In Belfast, no taxis are needed. /not to make this a Belfast comparision or anything.

I thought thats what it more or less amounted to, we are talking about Dublin pro's and con's and all you talk about is Belfast's pro's ? ....

Taxi rides are required in Belfast as well as Dublin, in fairness in both Cities it all depends where you want to go. It I am in Tatu, or the Chelsea, or the Bot, or the Egg, or the Mercury, I am certainily not going to walk to town, or vica versa ...

- I hate the accent with I passion. And I thought I hated the Belfast acent.... /me shudders...

Pardon me for talking ...

- "Bud" "Chief" etc. May not be exclusively Dublin, but that's where I heard them first.

...

- Excessive amount of beggars.

There is a lovely romanian woman who begs every saturday morning at the corner of my road and the lisburn road, we are convinced she has a job during the week and this is her hobby. Regardless Dublin has a disproportionate number of beggars, I will agree ... again many are assulym seekers ... and they don't like the north ....

- Everything else. The above were off the top of my head. I'm sure I could come up with the same amount again easily.

To be honest, its the same lousy attitude I see with most non-Dubliners (except my GF from Limerick, is always quite right when critises Dublin), where they are from is great, Dublin is crap, its almost blindered local patriotism, example by the fact you come onto Dublin thread and talk almost exclusively about Belfast.

MDR · 19-02-2004 12:10pm

I suppose I am good example of my own point, while I am here I am very aware of the bad of Belfast and have rose tinted glasses of the good in Dublin etc. I suppose when I move home it will reverse I will only remember the bad Dublin and the good of Belfast ....

Tommy Vercetti · 21-02-2004 4:25pm

Likes:

The people, although we have a horrible amount of skangers, they're a small minority. There's still plenty of decent Dubs who will happily chat away over a pint.

The city itself. You don't notice and appreciate it when you're stuck in traffic most of the time, but go into town on a Saturday or Sunday morning when the weather is decent and it's a beautiful place

Shopping. If you're a burd.

Nightlife, going out, restaurants, theatres etc. Too bad it costs so much, there's still an abundance of great venues to go to. There are still plenty of real traditional Irish pubs that aren't into extortion.

Museums, gallerys. I've been meaning to spend a whole day visiting these for years.
The history of the place.

Parks, beaches etc. Whether it's St Stephens Green at rush hour (12 hours) or Howth Head or Donabate beach or The Phoenix Park, there are so many wonderful places to go for a walk and just relax.

I like the sense of vibrancy too, it can be as hectic as London or New York, but there's always the knowledge that you can just step back, relax, have a pint or whatever. Even if it can be a gridlocked hellhole for some people, you're always 20 miles away from the country.

Dislikes:

Scumbags, prices, traffic, mentioned above. It's dirty, yeah, but so are most cities. Not acceptable, but it's improving a little bit.

Dubliners

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