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.

@Mitara I find your assertions fairly ridiculous to be honest.

It's clear you didn't enjoy Ireland but to say you've been everywhere & seen everything in the entire country is simply untrue!

It's ok that you don't want to live here but it's not ok to claim its because 'there's nothing to do'

As my granny used to tell us when we were kids 'boring people get bored'......

My childhood was spent playing on boglands and it's really a fascinating environment. From a distance it can look barren and bleak but up close it is teaming with life. You have carnivorous plants, bog cotton, mosses, heather, otters, hares, so many different birds and bugs. I can't count the hours I spent catching grasshoppers and sticking heather into the carnivorous plants and watching their 'mouths' close in on it.

Oh grow up and stop being so defensive.

I have definitely been everywhere and seen everything in Ireland.

I have been to every county and i have been to every town and village in every county.

It's a small country

😂🙄🙄🙄🙄

One thing that comes across in this thread is that generally us Irish are happy to live in Ireland. We like it here, we have lots we appreciate about our country and we are proud of our country. It has come a long way in a few decades.

We don’t think it is perfect, there are things that bother us about it, but it is a nice place to live and it is a nice place to bring up children.

As usual, life here is better if you don’t have money worries, but there is much more opportunity for upward mobility via education than in UK.

Different people like different things. No place will make everybody happy. Lots of other countries and cities will be better in different ways and suit others better. And that is just grand, as we say here in Ireland.

I have definitely been everywhere and seen everything in Ireland.
I have been to every county and i have been to every town and village in every county

Course you have!

Have you not?

Why not?

No, because there’s so much to do I haven’t done it all yet.

I’m incredulous that you have. So incredulous that I call bullshit on your claim to have been to every town and village in the entire 32 counties, and seen and done everything. I’m quite confident that that’s simply not true.

Its easy to go everywhere.
When i was a child, my parents lived in three different counties at different times, for work. So i went to all of the towns there at that time.

And I went to all the towns in the surrounding counties, at that time

Then when i was a bit older, I went to university in a different county in the west of ireland. I visited all of the surrounding counties while I was there. I saw everywhere in galway, sligo, mayo, roscommon, clare

Then when i was older i worked in belfast, dublin, cork, waterford and again I visited all of the neighbouring counties around me.

I've been to Dublin and it's not for me - I don't really drink and have little interest in going to pubs. And I'm not that interested in art galleries, museums. But I can see that it will appeal to loads of people, just not me. I want gorgeous architecture, palaces, exquisite churches. But rural Ireland is lovely. We had a great week in a cottage when the girls were little.

You really are being ridiculous!

It's simply not possible for you to have been to every town & village in the country & to have experienced what they offer....

Anyway.....

Visiting ‘all the counties’ and ‘all the towns’ is quite a way from ‘seeing and doing everything and being in every town and every village in every county’.

I think its crazy that you think people cant have gone to every town and village in ireland.

Its easy to do. Maybe you need to be more motivated to travel around ireland.

My younger cousin goes on hikes in a different county in ireland every single weekend. He is really into hiking.

Have you been to Feakle? 🤣🤣

Weren’t you the one whinging yesterday about how hard it is to travel around Ireland?

Kileneneagh?

Oh, btw, if your claim to have ‘done and seen everything’ is based on visiting counties when you were a child and a uni student, then I hate to break it to you, but there’s definitely new things to do and see since then.

I hate to break it to you,

But I've also been back to those counties many, many times since university,

Of course.

I used to go up and visit friends in Galway and sligo a lot. I went on hikes in Mayo a lot with groups.

Surprisingly Ireland was colonised for many hundreds of years afterwards so people weren't in a position to "sort it out".
Since independence we have been trying to "sort it out", that's why forestation increased. But sadly native woodland is harder to replace.

It is very possible.

How many counties have you been to?

Well done Tipp 😊

Course you have. You just neglected to mention it in your earlier post, such was your haste to make the claim.

You are not making a drop of sense.

Do you think its unbelievable or something that i could not possibly have been to galway since university?

Thats weird.

What do you do with your weekends. I was in a hiking group in ireland for a start, and they would often go on hikes in different counties all over ireland

I’m making perfect sense.

you’re the one making the frankly unbelievable claim to have been everywhere and seen everything in Ireland. Literally. Everyone is calling you out on it cos it’s obviously bullshit.

you may well have been to Galway and many other places since uni. But that doesn’t mean you’ve been everywhere and seen everything there is to be and see.

I’ve already posted on this thread giving a (not exhaustive) list of what I have done in the last three weeks. Scroll back if you’re genuinely interested.

Oh my god. Such nasty people on this thread.

I have been everywhere in ireland.

If you haven't, you need to get out more .

I am living in England now. Every weekend, I go and visit a different town or village near me.