Unlocking Ireland - thread uimhir a seacht!

[LifeInAHamsterWheel]

A shiny new thread for us all to talk pure shite whilst we wait for lockdown to end

Ah that is shite @Sarahtrue11 I don't blame you for being upset. Hopefully it won't take too much longer now. I am really hoping we can move around fairly freely by end of summer

[quote Sarahtrue11]@FraterculaArctica I was actually looking at buying a house in Ireland last year. I asked one estate agent could she send me a video of the house, as it was nearly impossible to go and see it at time during Covid.

She acted like it was a really strange thing for me to ask. I remember her saying to me "can you not get one of your family members to come and look at the house for you". Me, "no because they are not allowed to go beyond 5km, and my mother, who lived nearer the house, is elderly and shielding etc"

Just put videos of the houses onine! I see a few more estate agents are starting to do that this year.But not enough. And I wonder do they still ask for you to go in person before you can rent/buy[/quote]

Frater that's mad! Friends of mine rented a house last month on the basis of a video tour. It wasn't in the original listing but they asked for one and voilà - the agents sent them a video. So the more together estate agents are definitely able to do it.

Thought my friends were brave signing a lease after seeing a video but they were coming from overseas so what else could they do? Think the lease was done online as well.

@fightingirish delighted for you!

@SecretCiderCellar I like the idea of DIY in a vase...

DH and I have, somewhat bizarrely, decided we are going to put an offer in tomorrow on a house just up the road here. It is where we really wanted to live if I hadn't got this job in Ireland. If we get it we might just have to rent it out in a few months time when we find a way to move. I'm glad to know Irish estate agents are better than UK ones in some respects.

What's anyone's guess on when inter-county travel is going to be allowed in Ireland? Here the rules about travel distance are so vague ("stay local") everyone just puts their own interpretation on it. It also sounds like there is much more Garda enforcement in Ireland. Nowhere near enough police here to try enforcing the rules.

From 12th April it's county wide travel-

I heard July mentioned before ( Irish examiner reporter on Matt Cooper) for country wide travel but I can't see people waiting that long to do that.

My nearest grocery shop involves having to go on a motorway and I noticed a distinct lack of guards around this bank holiday weekend.
I'm wishfully thinking they may be tapering off..

Where I am it looks like house prices have gone up in the last year.

We're building at the minute but feel very lucky (and amazed) that we actually got planning permission with so many rules we had to meet.

There are so many people that want to build but cant get planning. They are then looking to buy old run down houses where they have a better chance of being able to extend, but this is apparently driving the price of these run down houses wild.

People are also reporting large increases in the cost of materials, particularly timber.

We were all set to apply for a mortgage last March when suddenly COVID blew up and my partner ended up on the wage subsidy scheme for 3 months. We finally got the go ahead from the banks in October and honestly beinf able to see the progress on the house is the only thing keeping me going right now.

Glad things are working out for you re your home, thesagacontinues. A friend of mine is looking for a house in Dublin. Prices are gone off the scale in the areas he is looking.
David Mc Williams is advising people to wait, be patient.
Supply and demand appears to be the problem.

@Thesagacontinues we had similar issue with the mortgage. We had signed everything, deposit paid to vendor, and BAM! Bank pulled out on us. It was around this time last year, and I had been put on the wages top up. We nearly lost deposit etc only for our sellers being decent about it, and willing to hold on for us. Our solicitor and broker were wonderful - I'd have just jacked it all in only for them sorting us out. We had to start again and get a new mortgage from different bank. Finally got keys at end of July.

I've heard building supplies are scarce because of Covid (possibly Brexit too, impacting trade)

Best of luck with your build, it is a slog, but it is lovely to put your own stamp on things and have a say on design etc glares at ridiculous kitchen layout

The 3 women who absconded from quarantine caught near Galway.
Very selfish behaviour using up important resources out searching while antisocial crime is on the rise in many areas.
I hope they get a very large fine.

Best of luck with the build. My employer signed up for the Wage scheme too, dont know what it's called now but it has been a Godsend for Childcare ..well me anyway. For the second year in a row I haven't had to sign on for Easter as apparently we cant sign on at all. I am loving it.

I have laminate flooring to put down. One box was damaged so they replaced it. I am using the damaged flooring to practice cutting and fitting. It seems simple enough, a bit fiddly but simple.

Agree on house pricing they're astronomical. We're planning a move to Athlone it'll be 2 years before we have a large deposit and me a new qualification for job security.

[quote FraterculaArctica]@SecretCiderCellar I like the idea of DIY in a vase...

DH and I have, somewhat bizarrely, decided we are going to put an offer in tomorrow on a house just up the road here. It is where we really wanted to live if I hadn't got this job in Ireland. If we get it we might just have to rent it out in a few months time when we find a way to move. I'm glad to know Irish estate agents are better than UK ones in some respects.

What's anyone's guess on when inter-county travel is going to be allowed in Ireland? Here the rules about travel distance are so vague ("stay local") everyone just puts their own interpretation on it. It also sounds like there is much more Garda enforcement in Ireland. Nowhere near enough police here to try enforcing the rules.[/quote]
I wish it were in a vase! That would probably mean a better chance of ever sitting down on a surface not covered in construction dust. (No one is actually working inside the house, and all windows are shut, but dust seems to seep in somehow...)

More seriously, one of the things I'd forgotten until we actually moved back was that Irish society works far better on a face-to-face/personal relationship basis, and we've had lots of situations in which people have bent rules or helped us out in ways that made life much easier. One friend who was moving her family over from England and despairing of finding somewhere to rent in Dublin last summer managed to find both a rental and eventually a house to buy which wasn't actually on the market by word of mouth via her new colleagues.

Bizarrely, a garda checkpoint appeared on our road yesterday our road is one of those very narrow city roads which is two-way but essentially requires minor stunt driving because so many houses don't have off-street parking, so there are parked cars on both sides. You could actually head out of the city on it, I suppose, but it would be a pretty eccentric route and there were massive tailbacks with the checkpoint.

Yes prices are definitely up since Covid, think there was something in the Irish Times a couple of days ago.

The quarantine people... I didn't go home last summer or last Christmas even when it was sort of allowed, or the numbers were sort of okay, because it was perfectly bleeding obvious that the more people travelled, the more not okay it would rapidly get. Every single story I see about people apparently swanning in and out of the country for this reason or that reason makes me grind my teeth. Feel like a bit of mug honestly

And I know some of the people do have good reasons. Just feeling narky and unreasonable I suppose.

Irish TV – the RTE player has me tearing my hair out over the Toy Show every year. It's no wonder my kids don't quite get it in the way I want them to. This year we found a Twitch stream which got us most of the way through it, I just had to avert their eyes from the foul-mouthed comments in the chat box. We still missed some key parts. It's becoming part of the expat tradition, cursing the player every year.

@Emeraldshamrock

Agree on house pricing they're astronomical. We're planning a move to Athlone it'll be 2 years before we have a large deposit and me a new qualification for job security.

I grew up in Athlone, it is a lovely town. I never understand why anyone lives in Dublin, the prices for houses there are absolutely shocking. You would get the same house for 150,000 in Athlone as you would for 400,000 in Dublin. And places like Athlone are only an hour from Dublin on the train. Dublin scares me! I know if people have family there, or they like the city life, they would reasons to stay there, but the house prices are so terrible.

I miss Ireland. You know the old joke about when people leave Ireland, they start crying about the old sod.

I have been having a nice day thinking about everything in Ireland.
The pubs in Athlone.
The feeling of being in Athlone, and knowing that Galway is to my West, and Dublin is to my East. That feeling of knowing where I am, and knowing everything well.
Irish food
Irish shops
Irish mammy, - sorry mammy I dont know why pubs came to my mind before you! Haha
Cups of tea
Walks in the beautiful Irish countryside
Family
Dogs
The coastline in the West, I love the beaches in sligo, and the coastline in Clare
The burren in clare
The wicklow mountains - these are all places that I have been to and loved.

Ah Ireland is great. I am going to listen to Enya now. :)

@Sarahtrue11 I'm the same, I miss home/Ireland so very much, we are a different type of people, I can't explain it and never felt it any other place in the world, I miss the "ah shur it be grand" attitude, the kettle on soon as you come in the door, I just miss home, I love when im back going for a trip round SuperValu and dunnes, my car is stacked with spuds, sausages and pudding when I come back to the uk,

Irish TV – the RTE player has me tearing my hair out over the Toy Show every year. It's no wonder my kids don't quite get it in the way I want them to. This year we found a Twitch stream which got us most of the way through it, I just had to avert their eyes from the foul-mouthed comments in the chat box. We still missed some key parts. It's becoming part of the expat tradition, cursing the player every year.

Yes! The RTE Player International never seemed to work properly for us in the UK -- can anyone tell me whether it's supposed to stream the Toy Show 'live'? It seemed to happen every year that we'd get DS all excited and into his Toy Show pyjamas sent by his grannies, and then it wouldn't work, and he'd have to go to bed, and we'd end up watching it the next day...

@fightingirish I am not in the UK right now, but I have lived there before. Yes Ireland and UK life is so different.

There is a uniqueness about Ireland, because it is so small and it is an island. So there is a big sense of community and "we are all a tribe"

The UK has its positives too of course, there is alot more to do, alot more to see, but there is definitely not that feeling of connection that you get in Ireland, just because the UK is much bigger, with more people.

I am in Europe, and I have the same feeling here, there is a lot to do and see, but I miss that small, peaceful island life! It's only a feeling that you really get on an island, I guess. You know, we were used to living on an island.

I was just talking to some one who grew up on an island off Scotland, and she misses a lot of the same things about there, as I miss about Ireland. The small town feel, the tribe feel, the connections. Oh well I know I am lucky to see the rest of the world too.

@Sarahtrue11 Oh great, it is a lovely place Athlone will give my DC a much better future too.
It is hard with homesickness when I lived in the UK I always bought Brennans bread when available and had teabags sent regularly.

It is quite unusual to grow up in an island country. I only really realised that after I left Ireland.

You know when you grow up in Ireland - Ireland is just what you are used to. But when I left Ireland, people asked me what was it like to live on an island.
And I realised that there are only five island countries in all of Europe, and that a lot of people don't have that experience. So we had a unique experience.

@Emeraldshamrock the tea is vitally important! You will love Athlone! It is Right on the water. You can go on day boats up the Shannon, whenever you want.

I love all the boat activities in Athlone. They have so many things to do on the river Shannon.

Can I go off topic for a minute please and ask if ye have any recommendations for new pillows?

Doing the beds there and our pillows are definitely past their best!
Apart from Amazon, anyone any ideas on where else is good to replace them? Thanks lads

@halfpasteleven I have always found the pillows in Dunnes to be the best! Not sure if you have one near you that you could go to, I think bedding is still classed as essential?

Also, some great value still to be had in the Arnotts sale