Ireland is starting to feel like a low expectations, conservative, depressing country

[Gguin]

Since Covid hit its felt like this to me. People judging each other, HSE worship, fixation with grandchildren and grandparents and everyone else can go hang. And sure what does it matter if there's another HSE crisis, we'll stroll back to Level 5.

I've yet to find someone who worships the HSE. Many of my family members work there and even they wouldn't be praising it. I've tremendous respect for the thousands of lower paid workers who stayed working all during the pandemic especially those working in retail and care assistants who couldn't work from home.

I like a moan. It's therapeutic. I also like a spot of humane begrudgery. I like that everyone has a particular eyerolly tone of voice for Bono, but would probably still yank him out of the Forty Foot if he was drowning. I like that when I had a helpline moan a few months ago to a very nice woman with a strong foreign accent about the mad, Kafkaesque battle to get my UK-born son a PPSN during lockdown, when there was apparently a six-month processing backlog, she joined in with tales of the direct provision centre (and DS's number magically appeared within a couple of days).

I like that even when things go wrong, there's still usually a general feel of people who are in a shared society together, and recognise one another's humanity. (Sorry to hear you're waiting for surgery, @JaneJeffer -- ironically, I've had better healthcare since I came back than I had under the NHS, and a longrunning gynae issue has been sorted. The major snag was trying to find a GP in the first place.)

I could go on all day about the things that have irritated the living shite out of me in the deeply weird slightly less than two years I've been home, and this isn't any kind of perfect society, but I'm always fundamentally glad I came back.

I like that everyone has a particular eyerolly tone of voice for Bono, but would probably still yank him out of the Forty Foot if he was drowning.

I appreciate the attitude of "I knew him before he was nobody" and I hope it never changes!

"Maybe you are upset because the nightclubs have been closed for a couple of weeks, they will open again"
I really have no idea where you got this from. I have no interest in going to nightclubs however I recognise others do and others run them as businesses.
There seems to have been a retrenchment in the "I'm alright Jack" way of thinking since Covid. If things are OK for me then anyone saying anything different must be "whingeing". My friend is in serious pain due to untreated cancer and arthritis due to postponement of treatment. Is he whingeing when he vocalised his pain? I have been out, I work, I go walking, I just feel increasingly out of place.

No, he is definitely not whingeing when he is in that much pain and needs treatment.
I wish we would get on with 'Sláintecare'. It's so long overdue.

@Gguin

"Maybe you are upset because the nightclubs have been closed for a couple of weeks, they will open again" I really have no idea where you got this from. I have no interest in going to nightclubs however I recognise others do and others run them as businesses. There seems to have been a retrenchment in the "I'm alright Jack" way of thinking since Covid. If things are OK for me then anyone saying anything different must be "whingeing". My friend is in serious pain due to untreated cancer and arthritis due to postponement of treatment. Is he whingeing when he vocalised his pain? I have been out, I work, I go walking, I just feel increasingly out of place.

Out of place how, though? Most people are in much the same boat. We’re all whingeing. I’m in an easier situation than many, but I’m still trying to make a work deadline and homeschooling my son (school closed because of Storm Barra) with workmen all over the freezing house because everything has been harder and taken far longer because of Covid and Brexit supply problems. My son had exactly eight weeks at his first school in Ireland before the first lockdown, and we suddenly became homeless during it when a house purchase fell through and our landlords had to return from abroad. The job I returned to Ireland for ceased to exist. We lived in a series of Airbnbs during 2020. DH and I both had Covid. It was all a bit much, even though we didn’t lose anyone.

I don’t think there’s a rise in ‘I’m all right, Jack’ since Covid, either. What I see is lots of community initiatives and people doing old or vulnerable people’s shopping etc. Friends living in England reported far worse in terms of neighbours reporting one another for staying out too long for exercise — I haven’t seen that here…

You have had some time of it, Negligee.
I hope things will get easier from now on.

Judging by the number of pop-up Christmas markets in my town and in the locality, people are determined to have a bit of festive cheer this year.

My friend is in serious pain due to untreated cancer
They really need to get their GP to intervene. It's highly unusual that they are not getting treatment even during Covid.

I don't feel the same way as you do. I think it's brought me closer with my neighbours who are all helping each other out. School seems less pressurised and there's been a bit of a back to basics for us which has been nice.

@IsFuzzyBeagMise

You have had some time of it, Negligee. I hope things will get easier from now on.

Judging by the number of pop-up Christmas markets in my town and in the locality, people are determined to have a bit of festive cheer this year.

Thanks, @IsFuzzyBeagMise — it’s been a bit full on, to put it mildly, but I still glad we came back!

What I see is lots of community initiatives and people doing old or vulnerable people’s shoppig etc
How I wish that were true here. Instead we have the world's most sanctimonious Facebook Group including 1 now defuxnt one dedicated to Covid support which descended into accusation and abuse. Tony Holohan seems to have been beatified and even talking about doing something socially has become a.crime.

It seems I'm massively in the minority onve again. Sometimes I wonder why it is so many people seem to have such different perceptions of everything.

Life is not perfect here but there has been meitheal in bucketloads in lots of communities. I'm sorry you are not benefitting from it.

I'm sorry about your friend, it seems highly unusual for him not to be receiving cancer treatment following a diagnosis. Can you become a voice for him? Maybe he doesn't have the energy to pester his GP and consultant for his case to be progressed? I know things in the HSE have been under terrible strain with both Covid and with the IT ransomware attacks but I think treatment for cancer patients was delayed not denied. But this is why it is so important for us all to avoid catching and spreading Covid so that hospital beds, staff and treatment are available for other patients.

Probably best to stay off those Facebook groups, leave them or snooze them for 30 days.

@Abitlost2

On a positive front op , we are planning to live abroad for a few months in a place we both speak the language and the kids can learn it more too. Like no doubt the schools will close again but we are making more plans now as we can't control what happens here but we do have control over our future. We did this before when the dcs were tiny and it was fab. Where we are going has better weather and we can be outdoors even more which suits everyone here.

You must know that this kind of opportunity is not available to the vast vast majority of people. What’s the point of boasting on an anonymous board? Like you I am fortunate in many ways (much less so in others) but I have the experience and manners to know that most people don’t want to hear about that. I am cringing on your behalf.

I am cringing on your behalf.
Don't be so ridiculous.

Think yourself lucky you don’t have Bozo Johnson running the show.
I’d happily emigrate to Ireland if they’d have me 😂

@Gguin I think we have quite different positions on the pandemic but I really identify with that feeling of being in a minority of one sometimes.

I’ve felt very out of step at times too depending on who I’m with and listening to. It’s a very complex situation to navigate and we’re all doing our best to juggle our physical, mental and emotional health. Some will lean into restrictions for a sense of safety, and others are craving social contact and a sense of normality but it’s all about trying to ease anxiety and get through in tact.

I try to keep in mind that we’ve all more in common than not; that everyone is struggling with something. Most of my acquaintances have no idea what I’ve been dealing with and on the surface I’m sure I appear very privileged. But while it looks calm on the surface there’s a savage undertow.

I’m working hard on not judging what others are doing/saying but looking to see where they’re coming from and just reaching out with a bit of kindness when I can. But sometimes it can be very destabilising too. We’re a social species, evolved to adapt to group norms but with the capacity to think as individuals. But when you’re dense if what’s right and normal isn’t being reflected back by those around you, it is like a (mild) experience of insanity or psychosis.

I too think you need to mute your group for a while for your own sake.

Well.me again
I despise
Im wearing mask to protect you ( please spare me the patronising superiority brigade ) i wear it because its mandatory and I dont want to catch covid but hate wearing it all day.
Covid blaming / covid shaming goin on when its an air borne virus !!!
My business is now everyones business

No criticism allowed of king Tony -
Your differing opinion is not tolerated and bullied into silence.
Praise of RTE no matter what .

Was in the UK last week, pubs and restaurants busy. Well you hardly dare go out here in case your seen out and the tutting hence a donegal restaurant had on Twitter last night no takings at all except for voucher sales on a saturday night!!
The govt has untimate control. All the elderly terrified and are vaccinated.

My sister and 2 brothers live in the uk and up to 8 days ago covid was way down the news but here in good old ireland keep that fear ramped up !!
No accountability at all here for the likes of paul reid and tony - I can go on and on
Over here nearly every household either has a state job / receiving social welfare .small business and entrepeneurship is under valued here. Totally Screwed with tax at every turn if you are a business owner / have any asset at all !! Its so hard here
The country awash with money for covid testing etc and no questions asked atall !! Its like im in a paralell universe.
Plus if u mention you are against masks on 9 yr olds u are a baddie so u say nothing as the covid police id wear u dowm. And hosp admissioNs dropping !!!

.its so nutty now u have to be seen to welcome all restrictions as Govt. Good - no vaccine BAD

Animal farm esque all animals are equal( ie all people who took the vacc ) but some more equal than others ie paul reid and wait for it the people who are recently boostered.
It's ridiculous people will take anything from the govt without question like a covid cult.
Saw on the journal a granny in cork jsoled for 10 days for not wearing a mask
.all.i thought was wouldya leave the poor woman ALONE

She's an idiot.

@IsFuzzyBeagMise

She's an idiot.

She sure is, I'd be mortified if she was my mother.

We are doing a house-swap in another country where we also have some family in one area. We are taking unpaid parental leave, money will be tight but the house swap ( great sites for this on facebook) will really help with costs and we have done it before. We are predicting that schools will close again and so want to focus on making some positive plans going forward. I am not responding to the abusive language.
I hear you op but making plans has been a positive for us.

The thing I notice about people who were raised in Ireland who live here in the UK is that if you had a happy childhood there you will always yearn to return. If you had a difficult upbringing, the absolute oppiside persists.
I'm in the middle really but I was pushed for an answer I'd go with the UK largely due to the NHS.

I think it’s a small society here, people know a lot about other peoples business. That, coupled with not much else going on, leads to a judgy attitude with some. I’m completely pro vaccine, mask etc but feel very uncomfortable with the vilifying of the unvaccinated. The Covid situation becomes hysterical here at times. I feel like a lot of people here are constantly comparing Ireland to the US and UK and patting themselves on the back cos we’re so much ‘better/nicer/cleverer’ here.
It’s a self esteem thing.
Maybe other countries are like this, I don’t know as I only live here, but I can see it.