Certainly so. Those were the days when the barman was a local, no plastic litter despoiled the countryside and folk had time to talk. No ribbon development or pseudo Spanish bungalows. But hey Maybe that was a dream also
I've been only once - to Dublin in 1978. I was struck by the relative
poverty at that time compared to the Wash. DC area where I had just left
the Army. I have no idea why I wanted to go there - I have no Irish
connection whatsoever. I just had the urge to go. That trip was mainly
to see Germany where my mother comes from.
Ive been a fair few times, I used to live there for years as well. The dreams are shattered once someone has to get a job - the magic just goes out of a place. Same as anywhere I've since realised. I miss being able to go to sessions every day and night of the week though. Those are the great memories.
Still the same Bóithrín and rock walls, still the same view of Slieve Callan, still the same family where my forebears came from. Not a housing development in sight.
Well done.
Always nice to see the last memories of my forebears are still well and truly intact.
On my last trip back in 2007 I found that I didn't really hit the Ireland I remembered, until I got to Donegal. Ironically I had never been there before when I lived in Ireland.
bb, i agree wholeheartedly that things change when you have to work in a place. Most places feel great when you're on holidays.
Getting older, the rare trips home have started to become an improvement on the memories of growing up there, for the most part anyway. No more Troubles, church less swaggering, ability to buy spices in shops and decent wine, old anger at the place draining away, struck anew at the beauty of the place, the humour. Donegal looks a bit of a mess though and that new road south from Newry to Dublin just feels wrong! Driving south to Dubln wasn't meant to be easy, it was meant to be an ordeal that saw siblings throwing up by the roadside.
Memories are great. We took our adult daughters the last time. The youngest of them was really crabby. But everyone gets around it and she is a bit embarrased about her behaviour.
But the 'being there' is what I miss most. THe US is very different (though Ireland is emulating many of our bad habits, like Mickey D's- even though I have to say the Coke and the French fries are really better in Ireland because they are not subject to the sugar cartel and corn lobby in the States)
It is a complete 'gear change'. People operate on a much more personal level. And I am teased that it takes me three days to adjust to the pace of life there. People are not less intense or driven to accomplish things...it seems that they are just trying to do 'different' priorities, and seem to have a better persepctive on how to approach things. I don't know if that makes sense to non US readers.
We went to Slieve Liege in a North Sea gale. Took a large van across 'one man road'. It is the best memory because everyone was terrified with the high winds. But being there was an unbelievable 'rush'.
Herself gets upset when I present land or cottages for sale that I would be interested. Just chucking the house and job here. The Irish member of the household won't go for it because the kids would be in Chicago. I keep telling her that is why God created Aer Lingus!
It's the Atlantic Ocean that batters the cliffs of Slieve League and there's no such route across the mountain called 'one man's road'. There's One Man's Path and Old Man's Path and if you managed to take a van up there you must have employed a helicopter to drop it on the clifftop since it's impossible to drive anything up the vertiginous approach paths!
I've only been twice ('78 and '84) to the ROI and these visits were short but pleasant, interesting and involving plenty of music. They were not long enough to ground my notions of Ireland in reality - it is still, for me, largely an imaginary country. i.e., tunes, especially those named after places, bring a kaleidoscope of "Irish" associations and landscapes into my mind that are based on things I've dreamed up or encountered elsewhere - not in Ireland.
Dublin in the late 70s seemed like a handsome but dilapidated British city of the early Sixties, just before the concrete eyesores started going up: it was like going into a time warp. I assume it would have been very recognisable to the literary and political figures of the c20, from Yeats and Joyce onwards. In 1984, though, the first eyesores were visible (I'm thinking of Wood Quay here), and did not inspire confidence.
Dear flanum, in reply to your comment, my question was poised as an open one. I was not intending to insult or hurt anybodies feelings. I asked because it is a while since I have been over, and I have been known to be sentimental when I visit.
I go over several times a year for festivals and research; on my last visit I found that dealing with the Trinity College Library sucks the romance right out of a place.
sorry. Herself is the geography/social studies teacher. I went to engineering school so am lucky to know how to spell and string six words together and make a correct sentence. So I stand corrected.
It was a freaking Atlantic gale though. And I can assure you that the road (from Tieleann) in a van was a thrill. The daughters might not agree. There were several other vehicles that made it there before we did. And yes. I wish I had a helicopter.
The road going in (a right about 3-4km south of An Charraig), especially the last rise where the one man's path came into view was vertigineous to say the least.
Floss. It is a beautiful and majestic area you live in. We never did locate any of Herself's direct relatives. They came from Donegal to the States in about 1862 by way of Westport so family lore goes.
Ireland
Ireland
I would like to know if anyone goes back to Ireland often, and if they do can they tell me if their memories are better than their visits?
# Posted on October 23rd 2008 by Aware
Re: Ireland
My memories certainly are since i hardly ever visit.
# Posted on October 23rd 2008 by upmine3
Re: Ireland
Certainly so. Those were the days when the barman was a local, no plastic litter despoiled the countryside and folk had time to talk. No ribbon development or pseudo Spanish bungalows. But hey Maybe that was a dream also
# Posted on October 23rd 2008 by Desi Mc
Re: Ireland
I've been only once - to Dublin in 1978. I was struck by the relative
poverty at that time compared to the Wash. DC area where I had just left
the Army. I have no idea why I wanted to go there - I have no Irish
connection whatsoever. I just had the urge to go. That trip was mainly
to see Germany where my mother comes from.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by Hup
Re: Ireland
Ive been a fair few times, I used to live there for years as well. The dreams are shattered once someone has to get a job - the magic just goes out of a place. Same as anywhere I've since realised. I miss being able to go to sessions every day and night of the week though. Those are the great memories.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by bb
Re: Ireland
Why would you go to Dublin to see Germany? I thought Germany was on the west coast of Ireland.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by GaryAMartin
Re: Ireland
Still the same Bóithrín and rock walls, still the same view of Slieve Callan, still the same family where my forebears came from. Not a housing development in sight.
Well done.
Always nice to see the last memories of my forebears are still well and truly intact.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Ireland
Actually Gary what I've heard is that Ireland is the part of the island
that excludes Dublin - so if that's true, I haven't been there after all..
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by Hup
Re: Ireland
On my last trip back in 2007 I found that I didn't really hit the Ireland I remembered, until I got to Donegal. Ironically I had never been there before when I lived in Ireland.
bb, i agree wholeheartedly that things change when you have to work in a place. Most places feel great when you're on holidays.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by Donough
Re: Ireland
Getting older, the rare trips home have started to become an improvement on the memories of growing up there, for the most part anyway. No more Troubles, church less swaggering, ability to buy spices in shops and decent wine, old anger at the place draining away, struck anew at the beauty of the place, the humour. Donegal looks a bit of a mess though and that new road south from Newry to Dublin just feels wrong! Driving south to Dubln wasn't meant to be easy, it was meant to be an ordeal that saw siblings throwing up by the roadside.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by sergeant fox
Re: Ireland
ha ha love it sergeant
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by session savage
Re: Ireland
Thankyou for some fantastic comments, hope there will be more to come.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by Aware
Re: Ireland
er.. i live in Ireland.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by flanum
Re: Ireland
We've been back several times.
Memories are great. We took our adult daughters the last time. The youngest of them was really crabby. But everyone gets around it and she is a bit embarrased about her behaviour.
But the 'being there' is what I miss most. THe US is very different (though Ireland is emulating many of our bad habits, like Mickey D's- even though I have to say the Coke and the French fries are really better in Ireland because they are not subject to the sugar cartel and corn lobby in the States)
It is a complete 'gear change'. People operate on a much more personal level. And I am teased that it takes me three days to adjust to the pace of life there. People are not less intense or driven to accomplish things...it seems that they are just trying to do 'different' priorities, and seem to have a better persepctive on how to approach things. I don't know if that makes sense to non US readers.
We went to Slieve Liege in a North Sea gale. Took a large van across 'one man road'. It is the best memory because everyone was terrified with the high winds. But being there was an unbelievable 'rush'.
Herself gets upset when I present land or cottages for sale that I would be interested. Just chucking the house and job here. The Irish member of the household won't go for it because the kids would be in Chicago. I keep telling her that is why God created Aer Lingus!
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by zippydw
Re: Ireland
Zippydw, this is rather worrying.
It's the Atlantic Ocean that batters the cliffs of Slieve League and there's no such route across the mountain called 'one man's road'. There's One Man's Path and Old Man's Path and if you managed to take a van up there you must have employed a helicopter to drop it on the clifftop since it's impossible to drive anything up the vertiginous approach paths!
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by MacCruiskeen
Re: Ireland
I've only been twice ('78 and '84) to the ROI and these visits were short but pleasant, interesting and involving plenty of music. They were not long enough to ground my notions of Ireland in reality - it is still, for me, largely an imaginary country. i.e., tunes, especially those named after places, bring a kaleidoscope of "Irish" associations and landscapes into my mind that are based on things I've dreamed up or encountered elsewhere - not in Ireland.
Dublin in the late 70s seemed like a handsome but dilapidated British city of the early Sixties, just before the concrete eyesores started going up: it was like going into a time warp. I assume it would have been very recognisable to the literary and political figures of the c20, from Yeats and Joyce onwards. In 1984, though, the first eyesores were visible (I'm thinking of Wood Quay here), and did not inspire confidence.
# Posted on October 25th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Ireland
Dear flanum, in reply to your comment, my question was poised as an open one. I was not intending to insult or hurt anybodies feelings. I asked because it is a while since I have been over, and I have been known to be sentimental when I visit.
# Posted on October 26th 2008 by Aware
Re: Ireland
I go over several times a year for festivals and research; on my last visit I found that dealing with the Trinity College Library sucks the romance right out of a place.
# Posted on October 27th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Ireland
floss
sorry. Herself is the geography/social studies teacher. I went to engineering school so am lucky to know how to spell and string six words together and make a correct sentence. So I stand corrected.
It was a freaking Atlantic gale though. And I can assure you that the road (from Tieleann) in a van was a thrill. The daughters might not agree. There were several other vehicles that made it there before we did. And yes. I wish I had a helicopter.
The road going in (a right about 3-4km south of An Charraig), especially the last rise where the one man's path came into view was vertigineous to say the least.
Floss. It is a beautiful and majestic area you live in. We never did locate any of Herself's direct relatives. They came from Donegal to the States in about 1862 by way of Westport so family lore goes.
# Posted on October 27th 2008 by zippydw