Archives de la catégorie : Everyday Life

First things first: food is way better in Ireland than in the UK Food IS important. Many people eat between 2 and 4 times a day; if you look at the aggregate time spent between shopping, cooking, eating and cleaning, you spend more time in a lifetime caring for your stomach than doing many otherLire la suite « Irish Food »

If you take the use of the word « Europe », it has already become polysemous for Europeans, as it can refer to the European Union (the 27), or to geographical Europe from Iceland to the Urals (51 countries). Moreover, when you say “Europe”, you may refer to the European Economic Area (27 EU+3 = 30 countries),Lire la suite « Are the Irish Europeans? (Europeans, Anglo-Saxons or Celts 3/3) »

The symbol of Ireland is the Celtic harp, which comes straight from the bard era, since it was with a small harp that the bard accompanied his songs (you can admire an outstanding specimen of an old harp at Trinity College). For the record it was the famous Henry VIII who officially established the harpLire la suite « Are the irish Celts? (Are the irish europeans, anglo-saxons or celts? 2/3) »

Ireland may be an island; however, the Celts began very early to forge links with Insular Brittany on one side (Great Britain that is) and continental Europe on the other. On the one hand the Gaels conquered part of Insular Brittany, which would become the land of the Scots, in other words Scotland (yes, theLire la suite « ARE THE IRISH EUROPEANS ANGLO-SAXONS OR CELTS? 1/3 Are the Irish Anglo-Saxons? »

Ahhhh find your way in Dublin quite a poem! For the motorist: if you have a GPS in your head, pass this article. For all the others and especially those like me who get lost as soon as a neighborhood has 10 streets, know that the main streets and arteries have names, of course. AndLire la suite « Get around in Dublin »

“..and on the way back in Dublin port, don’t forget to pay attention to what is exported from Ireland: children and priests, nuns and biscuits, whiskey and horses, beer and dogs. » (Heinrich Böll, Irish Journal, Translation Pauline Chatelain) Yes Ireland exports its children, I named the diaspora. Many countries have a diaspora. But as farLire la suite « DIASPORA (english) »

The full awareness of being both an island apart and a small country integrated into Europe lastingly inhabits the Irish. Although the « Celtic Tiger » has given the country a due national pride, mathematically speaking, Ireland is still a dwarf in a world of giants. Even if we all play in the same yard (that ofLire la suite « SPORTS / ALL IRELAND »

It’s a country that knows the rain well. There is an old Irish saying that you may have all four seasons in one day in Ireland! But it is a country that also, paradoxically, is ill-equipped to deal with rain, as most roads, even urban ones do not have an evacuation system. Wait to driveLire la suite « WEATHER AND GARDENS »

If there is an ambiguous word for the Irish, it is paradoxically the appellations « Ireland » and « Irish », which depending on the circumstances refer to the country or to the island as a whole. With Ireland’s very special history, the proper name « Ireland » has an often-confusing reference even to the Irish themselves. An attentive ear andLire la suite « « Ireland » a concept in itself »

10 April 2021: Historic day for Ireland! Ireland is and remains a small country and it will stay that way in terms of size and number of inhabitants (just 5 million for the republic). But we are talking here about a small country that suddenly started playing in the big league. Indeed, while it wasLire la suite « That little country will grow big »