isnt it amazing how the country changed?

pepsicokeacola

one day last may in the scorching sun(remember we had an animal first week of may) i was cycling down around sandyford, and all the development, it looked so good and ireland really looked like it was developing(dont get me wrong i like the country but a capital city for me needs to be built up)

but then everything went to crap, and zomg how times just change?

Dave!

Funny, the other day I looked off into the distance and saw 2 cranes and thought they looked so out of place and strange...

Used to be the case that you couldn't catch a ray of sunshine for all the cranes in Dublin!

Oh the times, they are a changin'........

niceirishfella

but it changed soooo quick.
Only 18 or 12 months ago you'd see lavish spending going on, houses being snapped up, new cars and people taking 4 or 5 hols a year........now..............well just look at the news everyday.

DeeeeeePressing.

foxy06

I have not only been cut to a 2 day week in my day job but have lost a night in my 'handy for an extra bit of cash' waitressing job!! I was only thinking the other day 'well arent I lucky I took that on......:( The country is falling apart in my eyes. And I was hoping to buy a house this year......think i'll put it off for eh...12 years or so....

niceirishfella

sorry to hear of your news Foxy. Chin up.

AARRRGH

In fairness, a lot of people saw the change coming two or three years ago. I was one of those people, so I cut back on my spending and started saving like a mofo. The reason things seem to have changed so quickly is because the deluded masses have woken up to the reality that the equity in their homes was phantom wealth.

But I agree with you, a few months ago everyone thought they were rich and now they're thinking wtf...

One thing which has really struck me is the number of Irish people doing minimum wage jobs. For example, I was in Argos yesterday and everyone was Irish. I know this is silly, but I miss the foreigners - they added a bit of colour to the place.

foxy06

You know what though....and I know how dramatic this sounds....I have 2 gorgeous boys and a loving husband. John Travolta is loaded and just lost one of his kids. I'm sure he would love to be in my position right now. Nothing like a recession to make you realise how lucky you are.

AARRRGH

foxy06 wrote: »

You know what though....and I know how dramatic this sounds....I have 2 gorgeous boys and a loving husband. John Travolta is loaded and just lost one of his kids. I'm sure he would love to be in my position right now. Nothing like a recession to make you realise how lucky you are.

Yeah, I constantly try to remind myself how lucky I am. I would imagine nearly every government in the world would swap the situation in their own country for what's happening now in Ireland!

A few wealthy people will have to go on the dole for a while. It's really not the end of the world! (Although I accept totally it may feel like that.) We'll all survive.

Gone West

AARRRGH wrote: »

Yeah, I constantly try to remind myself how lucky I am. I would imagine nearly every government in the world would swap the situation in their own country for what's happening now in Ireland!

A few wealthy people will have to go on the dole for a while. It's really not the end of the world! (Although I accept totally it may feel like that.) We'll all survive.

Absolutely, yous will be grand.
I'm living abroad now, and I see hungry children begging on streets everyday, massive petty crime, people shoeshine-ing for 5c a pop, people sleeping on the beach, people sleeping under cars, unreliable electricity and internet, diseases everywhere, etc.

Count yourselves lucky that you have any material possesions, a roof over your head, food on the table, and the option to go on social welfare.
I know its bad right now, but chin up, it could be a lot worse.

mumhaabu

The times they are definitely a changing, I feel sorry for the poor sods in Dell and the entire Limerick-Galway Corridor region. In other news I awarded myself a 7% pay rise on Jan 1st and my business has increased considerably, we outsourced 50 jobs to the Czech Republic during the summer and began operations out there leading to more jobs being created in the Czech Republic and as a result all Irish staff that were to lose their jobs have had their jobs saved here and some have relocated to oversee things there. Oh and we curtailed all Company cars after all buying only one C Class Mercedes and BMW 330d (my baby)!

There is light at the end of the tunnel and it is hardnosed business people like myself who will lead us out of this not poxy FF politicians.

Tipsy Mac

To be honest I don't think there's anything that can save the country, it's doomed.

uaobrien

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

To be honest I don't think there's anything that can save the country, it's doomed.

That's a pretty perky outlook there Tipsy. Good job buoying our spirits in this time of despair.

Give it a couple of years and it'll stabilise. It'll probably be another few decades before we have a 'boom' but we'll recover.

By the way, classic sig.

BostonB

We've been here before in the 80's. Probably many times before that too.

dory

AARRRGH wrote: »

One thing which has really struck me is the number of Irish people doing minimum wage jobs. For example, I was in Argos yesterday and everyone was Irish. I know this is silly, but I miss the foreigners - they added a bit of colour to the place.

I know, I'm going to be really sad if the foreigners go. If I go into a shop and ask for change for the bus, a foreign teller will always give it to me. More often that not an Irish one won't. Same with using toilets in places, for the most part, they're so overqualified for the job that they're just very relaxed. It's a relief from all the uptight Irish wans.

Sure I know people are going to lose their jobs and all that, but we won't be poor. Not poor poor. Maybe it's good for a new generation to get a little taste of hardship. People were getting awful cocky there for a while.

themadchef

I think it's fairly obvious the whole country is in recession, but as someone who lives on the edge of the country, i can't really say there's much difference as there is very little employment here anyway. We never got the benefit of the boom so the bang has less impact on us.

People have options, but people are lazy. Here is a prime example. A very specific culchie example, but an example none the less.

As we live on the coast there is the option if you have feck all for doing all day, to don a pair of wellies, hit the shore and pick winkles. My father done it, indeed i done it as a teenager. A bag of winkles can be sold to a buyer for a minimum of €120. If youre strong and determined you could easily pick a bag a day. That day will only last as long as the tide is out so rougly 4 hours.

People moan about having no money, yet that option is available here. Last week a mini bus with 10 foreign nationals pulled up at the shore somewhere locally and i heard someone complaining about them taking our natural resources. The locals don't feel they are poor enough, yet they don't want anyone else to do it.

I know you can't do this in Dublin, but im sure if the opportunity was there alot of people would. No one ever declares it for tax. It's only when times get hard that people will resort to things they previously seen as below them.

johndaman66

themadchef wrote: »

As we live on the coast there is the option if you have feck all for doing all day, to don a pair of wellies, hit the shore and pick winkles. My father done it, indeed i done it as a teenager. A bag of winkles can be sold to a buyer for a minimum of €120. If youre strong and determined you could easily pick a bag a day. That day will only last as long as the tide is out so rougly 4 hours.

People moan about having no money, yet that option is available here. Last week a mini bus with 10 foreign nationals pulled up at the shore somewhere locally and i heard someone complaining about them taking our natural resources. The locals don't feel they are poor enough, yet they don't want anyone else to do it.

I know you can't do this in Dublin, but im sure if the opportunity was there alot of people would. No one ever declares it for tax. It's only when times get hard that people will resort to things they previously seen as below them.

Read this piece with interest madchef. That would be savage money for around four hours work. I live about 30 miles away from the nearest beach which is in County Kerry and even at that rate of going with travel expenses think it may be well worth doing on a Saturday and Sunday for a bit of extra cash, plus the fresh sea air:D. A few questions if you would be so kind to answer them

1. Can these be collected on any beach? Would some beaches be much better than others. If so would you know of any in the North Kerry area that would be good?

2. Are there any restrictions on what you can collect/ do you need any class of permit?

3. Are there only certain times of the year where it can be done?

Also when you say a bag what size of a bag?

My own opinion on the way things have turned around recently. I think that people were deluded and very short-sighted in buying houses at prices that were 9/ 10 times and upwards of their annual salary. We were never gonna get rich as a nation by selling property to each other for way over the odds prices. Borrowing to the hilt to have the 5 or 6 holidays every year and the bling bling SUV is just silly and couldn't have went on indefiantely. Just because the banks were willing to give you the money doesn't mean you can reasonably afford it. Think that culture is finally changing and no harm...not that the banks will give you the money as readily now either.

Also the notion that we are unique and untouchable because we have a workforce of highly skilled people is a pharse. There is nothing (or at best very very little) done here that cant be done elsewhere in the world for a fraction of the wages.

janullrich

Christ it does make me sick when I hear of Irish moaning about the Irish. There are plenty of foreigners around still and I for one will always go out of my way and look for Irish service then foreign service. I have never found the Eastern Europeans to be particularly friendly. The country is definately going to the dogs with attitudes like we have here.

DublinWriter

pepsicokeacola wrote: »

but then everything went to crap, and zomg how times just change?

Plus ca change, plus ce what-ever-those snail eating bastards say.

Er, times change? Not really. Grew up in the 70's and 80's. Ireland was a sink hole then. The celtic-tiger was an interesting blip in our otherwise doom-loving celtic psyche.

It will be interesting for those of us with the Darwinian skills of survival in the context of natural economic selection to watch the 20-somethings who thought that getting paid 40K a year to surf bebo/facebook/youtube was actually a viable career option after scraping a pass BA in UCD.

DublinWriter

janullrich wrote: »

There are plenty of foreigners around still and I for one will always go out of my way and look for Irish service then foreign service.

Hmmm. Tell you what, as an interesting social experiment, try the following:

Go out in to the big bad world, buy a house and then try to get said house replumbed by a) an Irish plumber and b) a Polish plumber.

The more and more I hear idiotic views like yours, the more and more I do believe we deserve the idiotic self-serving government we elected in.

janullrich

I will happily go and get an Irish plumber thanks very much when I can get them. It is with no wonder that Irish people can't get jobs. It is people like you Dublinwriter that make me sick to be Irish. Idiotic views???? Well if I can pay extra then yes I will support Irish people and buy Irish products. No wonder this country is going down the tubes with people like you living in it. You certainly write crap alright.

herya

janullrich wrote: »

Well if I can pay extra then yes I will support Irish people and buy Irish products.

You support Germans with your nickname and it doesn't cost you a cent. Can't you pick an Irish racer instead? :cool:

janullrich

Oh yes btw Dublin Writer forgot to write. I did buy a house last year and got all the surveying, plumbing etc done by Irish people and I have had no problems. Ok a Pole fixed my satelitte dish and I have nothing against that because there was no Irish person available at the time and a friend recommended him. I survived the big bad world so I think I have passed your big social experient (or load of crap as I put it).

janullrich

Jan Ullrich was a great racer. I know Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche and despite picking a German as my nickname I'm proud to be Irish despite what I read here and the state of the county. Whether I can keep on living here is another matter.