Glasgow v’s Dublin
I just spent a few days in Glasgow. It is so clean - I live in Dublin and the streets are dirty with rubbish that people have just dropped, mostly now I don’t notice it. However when I visit some other city the contrast is startling. And it is not just the city centre, everywhere I visited surprised me at the cleanliness of the places, (lacking in dropped rubbish). Almost as if to reinforce this fact our Czech friend who is staying for a week asked me last night, “why do they, (the Irish), leave litter on the street?” Her question had no malice or judgment - it was a straight forward question. I had no real answer.
This post has the possibility of sounding like a polemic against Dublin - it is not, when I do that it is obvious. But, yes, it does not show Dublin in a good light.
I went shopping in Glasgow as I always do when I am back. In general the service is ten times better than Dublin - people are not in so much of a hurry to get you out of their way. A thank-you falls easier from their lips than it ever does here. In addition the shops are bigger, there are more of them, and almost everything is cheaper.
As happens when I am there I ate out most of the time. It is so bloody cheap. I sat down and had a full breakfast with coffee and it cost me 4.50 sterling - about 6 Euro. If I have breakfast in Dublin the cost will be between 10 and 15 Euro.
I forget when I am away from Scotland how beautiful the country is. Thirty minutes out of Glasgow and I was in the country side - green mountainous countryside. In this one area the Irish beat the Scots - the Irish know how to market their country - the Scottish Tourist Board could do with taking some lessons from them. On the whole Scotland has more to see and do than Ireland - but they hide it well.
All the above said it was good to get back on the ferry and drive south. To get home. I now feel more at home in Dublin than I do in Scotland, with my crappy broadband, over-priced food, crowded streets, and crap service - it is good to be home.
Anyway here is a photo of Loch Lomond last week - it was raining and foggy - I like the somewhat haunting, dark, look of the photo.
Comments: 5
- Dirty Dublin
- Living in cities.
- Jet Lag & Culture Shock
- Asbos in Ireland
- Getting Things Done - Or Maybe Not…
Comments
Comment from Marie Biagi
Time: August 25, 2008, 11:49 pm
I must say I agree with above comment. Infact I would say I found the Irish a load of chancers. I am nopt surprised they market their country well. It was dirty and if you are not a drinker…………. There is nothing to do
Comment from the-last
Time: August 30, 2008, 11:18 am
I have lived in Ireland and the only thing I could say is how false is the myth regarding the “friendliness” and “irish hospitality”. It was the only country I lived that I didn’t get friends. I still can’t believe that I could spend 2 weeks without hearing a good morning but only a fook you… Ireland is a xenophobic place and very hostile. 2 years and no friends. My only company was a few Polish colleagues and some other European fellows. It’s a hostile place all for all
Comment from ron
Time: October 7, 2008, 12:13 am
If the Irish hate so much the Europeans then why they dont go out of the EU? We really can do it wonderful without this bunch of racists. Why do we still run to their country and ask them for jobs? Maybe it’s time to take everything back to our European countries and let them contemned in starving and begging.
Comment from ron
Time: October 11, 2008, 12:26 am
The Irish have to apologize to all of us for their aggressive racist behavior towards us. We are European, we are the same and they must remember the days when they had to emigrate. They need to say sorry from Europe and their country needs to start respect the rights of the immigrants. Otherwise they can find the door opened to live from EU but pls give us back our money and our jobs.
Comment from lessthenhuman
Time: October 20, 2008, 9:44 am
Yes the Irish know how to advertise their country as a friendly place that it’s not. They know after that how to hide their problems within their borders as Scotland can’t. I feel pity for that small conservative country. I was living in Edinburgh and everyone was extremelly friends, sometimes annoyningly… here in Dublin I dont really know even my neighbors… It’s dirty, unkept, not less junkies than Glasgow. From all the places I visited this is my less favourite,
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