To think that life seems better in rep of ireland?

[PunnyOliveTurtle]

ok...hear me out...My DM is Irish and she has not been home in a good few years, I haven't been over since I was 15, I'm early 40's now. So i decided to bring her over to visit her sisters as they are all getting older...late 60s/early 70's.

I had a wonderful time. I caught up with all of my cousins...and here is where I noticed the divide...they all have gorgeous homes and I mean stunning! Some in the country, some in the town, all fab new builds or gutted and updated old houses. A couple in new housing estates which were FAB!!
One of my cousins has just bought a new home...her DH is driving a 2025 car, they are off on hols next week. I asked her if she won the lotto and she laughed saying she wished, savings are now depleted and she was "broke". I know she has no credit cards because she metioned that she didn't have one when we wer talking about booking dinner somewhere and they wanted to take a deposit.

They all have great jobs...a lot of them are teachers...like i was. But they are no where near as stressed as I was. They are on holidays already and have been with a few weeks.Some are nurses but work part time in private hospitals, others work in big pharma companies, banking etc.Their dh's also have great jobs, engineers, managers in tech/pharma, one owns a construction company, one is a farmer.
All and I mean ALL of their DC who are of uni age are in university...no student loans. They have a grant scheme apparently. None of my cousins themselves have student loans...they are in 30's to mid 50's. (Can you tell we had an in depth discussion on uni and fees etc!)
Their DC aged 15+ all have summer jobs...in a local chippy, local cafe, one on a farm etc. My 18 yr old cant get a job at all!!

Everything just seemed so positive there...and im sure its not but I cant put my finger on it...it really got me.
I'm struggling most months...this trip was part on credit card. DD looking to start uni and i dont know how I'm going to help her... I know they say dont compare and I know there must be those struggling in Ireland too but there seemed to be A LOT more money being thrown around.

Having lived in both places, I do think that people are friendlier in Ireland.

Not in a "making friends way".

But I mean in being polite and friendly to each other in day to day circumstances.

The irish are better at social interactions.

I live in England now. A lot of english people are definitely colder, ruder and unfriendlier overall than Irish people are.

For example, I like playing boardgames with drinks. There are boardgame meetups in every city.

I went to a boardgame meetup in repubkic of Ireland. Everyone was friendly. We had a great time. We spoke about lots of different things- We had drinks and chat after the game.

Latet on, I went to a boardgame meetup in England. No one spoke about anything except the game. They took the game DEADLY seriously. There was no chit chat about life or anything.

They then shouted at me rudely for doing something wrong in the game. I rememeber saying "its a game, its supposed to be fun"

I just find that a lot of English people are not very good at social interactions.

You're talking about this as a visitor. Sure, there will be more things to do in London/Manchester/Liverpool than Dublin but people living in Dublin don't pop over the the Guinness Storehouse each weekend. Any more than someone in London goes on the London Eye every week.
They are busy with whatever their interests are - my friends play golf, sea swim, meet friends. They go to concerts/festivals/comedy shows when they are on, you have to plan a bit as there is not good stuff on every night, but I loved living in Dublin and it was plenty good enough for me.

Dublin can't compare with the beauty and architecture of London but I am a bit at a loss as the various "there's nothing to do" comments on the thread.
What is everyone doing all the time that they can't do in Ireland?

Its not that there is nothing to do in ireland.

Its that there is not as much to do in ireland as there is in other countries.Ireland is smaller than a lot of other countries.

Clearly a failure of imagination, some of the cliff walks are spectacular and can take a few hours to complete, including amazing scenery and stopping at local coves/beaches. If someone doesn’t consider that ‘something to do’ then I suspect they have a very limited idea of what ‘something to do’ is.

That doesn't really compare with cities in the UK, though. Walks, cafes, pubs, that's pretty low hanging fruit.

So what it is you do regularly that you can't do in Ireland?

So what is it you're getting elsewhere?

Err, that’s fairly obvious. But if someone was talking about UK vs USA, nobody would say there’s ’nothing to do’ in the U.K. because it’s smaller than USA, would they? They’d acknowledge that there is an abundance of things to do in the U.K., just not as many as there are in the USA.

And a clear advantage is the smaller size… my sister lives in the U.K. but to access these much-vaunted ‘things to do’ is not practical as it would involve hours and hours of travel and possibly an overnight stay. Where I live, I can be in Dublin in less than 2 hours and the most remote part of the country in 5/5.5 hours. I frequently go to events in Dublin after work, and drive back that night, it’s eminently doable.

You skipped where I said galleries, museums, theatre and cinema, and sea swimming!

Why did you ignore the comment on galleries, museums, theatre and cinema? And just pick out walks and pubs to make your point?

Well I feel that I can go to a lot more variety of festivals in the UK for a start.

There are huge literary, art and food festivals on near me in the UK all the time

I went to an art fesitval the other day that was much bigger than any art festival that i have seen in Ireland.

I like ireland. It is just too small for me at the moment. I want more experiences.

Wouldn't work. Ireland prepared for that in the run up to Brexit. There are now more than four times as many ferries to mainland Europe each week than there used to be, including the world's biggest ferry. There are new shipping routes between Ireland and Spain and Ireland and the Netherlands. Irish ports have got bigger. We expected the UK to play dirty, so we got ready. In the meantime the UK failed to meet all its own port infrastructure and inspection deadlines and has completely failed to set up its own systems.

Well when you're used to cities with cultural events, museums, days out, beautiful architecture, going for a scenic walk just doesn't really cut it. You can go for a scenic walk anywhere in the UK, too.

What are you on about. It doesn't involve "hours and hours of travel" to get to things in the UK.

Many people in the UK live in large cities.

I am going to a large outdoor food festival today. It will take me 15 minutes to get there on the bus.

The UK is generally way better equipped with things to do than the US, outside of a few US cities.

I am talking about things to do in my own city in the UK, not things I need to travel to.

I don't get the defensiveness here. Ireland is a tiny country with very limited historical architecture, etc. Of course there is much more to do in a UK city - there are 70 million of us in the UK! It's denser, more culturally diverse, and has much more going on. Why are you trying to say that Ireland, with it's "nice walks" can measure up on this measure?

There are very limited galleries and museums in Ireland. Surely you can go to the cinema or theatre anywhere, or go for a swim 😂

It is really tiny. Not comparable to the UK in terms of London or other big cities.

You could drive the length of ireland and back in a day.

Lovely little country though, fabulous landscapes and very green. Most residential streets has 30 ft trees dotted around, a day trip to Wicklow 30 minutes away, is like visiting a movie set. The stunning views.

Fingers crossed for a decent summer.

There is a lot more to do in the UK.

I do enjoy the peace and quiet and "small town life" when i go to visit my mum in ireland.

Peace is nice sometimes.

My favourite places in Ireland are Wicklow and Waterford.

I agree. Where I live (small city in the UK), there are endless cultural things to do. And there is some sort of cultural or food festival on most weekends.

Thank you ! I had no idea this was introduced!

I travel a fair bit and still see 'a nice walk' as something to do and often gives a good insight to new places, especially where you meet or interact with locals in everyday settings, be that walking through urban streets, city centres, coastal paths or countryside.

I grew up in Dublin city centre, we could walk to most attractions, it was rarely peaceful or quiet but it was fun.

I was specifically replying to a post about things to do in Dublin, where some one said that there was hardly anything to do here. And yes, we are a small country, there is certainly less to do here than in the much bigger UK. Quality of life is complex though and not just measured by lists of things to do. For example, I would not care to live in a mega city like say Tokyo, though there is probably more to do there than a city in the UK. I was just saying I like living in Dublin, I find plenty to do, I like the pace of life, it suits me. It doesn't need to be the biggest best city in the world for me to like it. People get very competitive. You like the UK, and since you live there (I think), that's great!