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Where to read in Dublin?

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24

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    #32
    sillymoo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,083 ✭✭✭sillymoo


    Cavehill Red wrote: »
    sillymoo wrote: »
    I fail to see how somebody sitting in a public space in the arts block is inconveniencing people's higher education. If they were sitting in the library I would understand.

    It's not a public space. It's a space they've paid up to 20 or 30 grand a year to use.
    But how is it inconveniencing people's education? I am curious as to why you think this.


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    #33
    Cavehill Red
    Registered Users Posts: 6,109 ✭✭✭Cavehill Red


    sillymoo wrote: »
    But how is it inconveniencing people's education? I am curious as to why you think this.

    Because it's already overcrowded. Students on the ground floor of the Arts Block end up sitting on the floor. There are no seats to be had on the upper floors (which have few open spaces with seats anyway) during the day. I know this because I went in there yesterday afternoon on an errand and had a look with this thread in mind.

    I'm not sure why people are so defensive about their perceived right to go and sit in facilities intended for the use of students. There is no shortage of available spaces to go and sit in around town. As I said, there is a dedicated National Library, built for the express intention of allowing the public to sit and read, only yards away, which is free to use.


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    #34
    artvandelay48
    Registered Users Posts: 562 ✭✭✭artvandelay48


    Wow, what a response to a seemly innocuous thread that I started.

    Cavehill Red, there are a few points that, in your trolling, you have overlooked:

    1) The university is PART funded by the students fees and part funded by the PUBLIC purse.

    2) In my very limited experience of the Arts block there are plenty of seats and the ones that are crowded are taken up by students definitely NOT studying. (If you disagree, check out the seats on in the open area on each floor by the stairwell)

    3) I suspect (based on no evidence) that there are no more than a handful of people doing this each day. So that's a maximum of 5 seats being taken up by non-students. (And I also suspect that if the Arts block was as full as you imagine it, they wouldn't be there)

    So maybe you can wind your neck in a bit and not get so exercised about something that in the greater scheme, doesn't matter a jot. OR, you could go the whole hog and request that security erect a toll on each entrance to force people to pay for using trinners as a shortcut (as I do as well). After all, its the students' money that is paying for the wear and tear on your precious cobbles by my shoes.

    Now, you can PM me all you want to tell me your close ties to the university (presumably staff) but you are just coming across as a bit of a grinch.


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    #35
    Cavehill Red
    Registered Users Posts: 6,109 ✭✭✭Cavehill Red


    Your local secondary school is entirely funded by the public purse. Why not go read there?
    The Arts Block is overcrowded and seats are hard for students to come by. They are provided so students have somewhere to sit between lectures and classes, which is why they might not be studying when you arrive to misuse the facilities.
    You admit you've no idea how many people with no good reason to be there are using the facilities. The only way to discover this would be for TCD security to enforce a requirement on visitors to identify their business on campus.
    I'm not a staff member at all, incidentally.
    What remains perplexing for me is why people are so defensive about their sense of entitlement to use facilities that aren't for them.
    Can someone explain why they can't go to the National Library, which was designed specifically for your purpose? Or why you can't use any of the literally thousands of other locations in Dublin city centre that aren't designed for the purposes of higher education?
    I'm beginning to suspect that, far from seeking somewhere warm and dry to read, you actually simply wish to sit and lech at students or something. I can't establish any other reason why you must go and sit in TCD specifically and not somewhere else.


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    #36
    artvandelay48
    Registered Users Posts: 562 ✭✭✭artvandelay48


    Cavehill Red wrote: »
    I'm beginning to suspect that, far from seeking somewhere warm and dry to read, you actually simply wish to sit and lech at students or something. I can't establish any other reason why you must go and sit in TCD specifically and not somewhere else.

    Bwahahaha... you are a troll of the highest order...


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    #37
    Cavehill Red
    Registered Users Posts: 6,109 ✭✭✭Cavehill Red


    artvandelay48 wrote: »
    Bwahahaha... you are a troll of the highest order...

    Well, you explain to me why it is you feel you must go to TCD to read, when there are literally thousands of other suitable locations where you would not be interfering with higher education?
    Your justifications are balderdash - the Dail Bar, the Abbey Theatre, and the Rotunda Hospital are all publicly funded, warm, dry and central. Why don't you read in any of those? Because you understand that you'd be in the way of people trying to go about their business is why.
    Why won't you consider reading in the very institution that was set up for the public to read in, the National Library, which is only 50 yards away from TCD arts block? Tell me that.
    Why is it you wouldn't consider sticking your hand in your pocket and buying a cup of tea in a cafe and reading there? Are you really so strapped for cash that a cup of tea would break you?
    In short, you tell me why it is that you absolutely must go to this specific already overcrowded location, which is needed by students seeking to further their education because I genuinely see absolutely no need for you to do so.


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    #38
    The Scientician
    Registered Users Posts: 1,724 ✭✭✭The Scientician


    Cavehill Red wrote: »
    Your local secondary school is entirely funded by the public purse. Why not go read there?

    Because unlike universities, schools restrict who comes and goes through their buildings. :rolleyes:


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    #39
    ItsNoAlias
    Registered Users Posts: 170 ✭✭ItsNoAlias


    Cavehill Red wrote: »
    Well, you explain to me why it is you feel you must go to TCD to read, when there are literally thousands of other suitable locations where you would not be interfering with higher education?
    Your justifications are balderdash - the Dail Bar, the Abbey Theatre, and the Rotunda Hospital are all publicly funded, warm, dry and central. Why don't you read in any of those? Because you understand that you'd be in the way of people trying to go about their business is why.
    Why won't you consider reading in the very institution that was set up for the public to read in, the National Library, which is only 50 yards away from TCD arts block? Tell me that.
    Why is it you wouldn't consider sticking your hand in your pocket and buying a cup of tea in a cafe and reading there? Are you really so strapped for cash that a cup of tea would break you?
    In short, you tell me why it is that you absolutely must go to this specific already overcrowded location, which is needed by students seeking to further their education because I genuinely see absolutely no need for you to do so.

    You are being labelled as a troll, as you have missed the very essence of the thread and the OP, which is to see if there were any places in Dublin which were free to sit and read. You have provided a place, the Nathional Library. Please do not get bogged down with the arguement that Trinity is a "student" facility, as it adds nothing to the thread. You have provided your opinion, backed it up with evidence (as you saw fit) but that does not mean it needs to be accepted by the other members on the thread.

    If you feel the need to ang your head against a wall trying to get your opinion accepted. People have a right to disagree and do not have to tell you why.


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    #40
    ItsNoAlias
    Registered Users Posts: 170 ✭✭ItsNoAlias


    Personally I like the chester beatty library, the roof garden is perfect for reading & it has a small landing at the top of the stairs for colder days.


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    #41
    Cavehill Red
    Registered Users Posts: 6,109 ✭✭✭Cavehill Red


    ItsNoAlias wrote: »
    You are being labelled as a troll, as you have missed the very essence of the thread and the OP, which is to see if there were any places in Dublin which were free to sit and read. You have provided a place, the Nathional Library. Please do not get bogged down with the arguement that Trinity is a "student" facility, as it adds nothing to the thread. You have provided your opinion, backed it up with evidence (as you saw fit) but that does not mean it needs to be accepted by the other members on the thread.

    If you feel the need to ang your head against a wall trying to get your opinion accepted. People have a right to disagree and do not have to tell you why.

    I reserve the right to explain why one of the offered suggestions is inappropriate, and it is entirely germane to the thread for me to explain why. TCD Arts block does not need an influx of people who have no good reason for being there. It is provided as a space for students, and is already significantly overcrowded. Stating this is not off-topic at all.


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    #42
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    Can somebody please explain to me how the average Trinity student finding it modestly difficult to get a seat in one of the public areas of Trinity around lunch time is adversely affecting their education?

    A point was made earlier on about students being 'forced' to sit on the floor for lack of seating...

    .. Obviously this situation is comparable to dissidents getting sent to Soviet gulags, or the execution of black anti apartheid activists by the South African state, but still, I'd like an explanation for this particular claim.


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    #43
    Cavehill Red
    Registered Users Posts: 6,109 ✭✭✭Cavehill Red


    Denerick wrote: »
    Can somebody please explain to me how the average Trinity student finding it modestly difficult to get a seat in one of the public areas of Trinity around lunch time is adversely affecting their education?

    A point was made earlier on about students being 'forced' to sit on the floor for lack of seating...

    .. Obviously this situation is comparable to dissidents getting sent to Soviet gulags, or the execution of black anti apartheid activists by the South African state, but still, I'd like an explanation for this particular claim.

    I already did explain this to you when you PM'd me. Perhaps you could go back and read that mail.
    Perhaps you could explain to me why students who are paying to be there should have to sit on the floor or not sit at all in facilities provided for them so that you can instead?
    And I still have the open challenge to anyone who can explain why, out of the thousands of appropriate places to go and read in Dublin, they absolutely must go to an inappropriate location like TCD instead?


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    #44
    artvandelay48
    Registered Users Posts: 562 ✭✭✭artvandelay48


    Cavehill Red wrote: »
    I reserve the right to explain why one of the offered suggestions is inappropriate, and it is entirely germane to the thread for me to explain why. TCD Arts block does not need an influx of people who have no good reason for being there. It is provided as a space for students, and is already significantly overcrowded. Stating this is not off-topic at all.

    Sadly, I fear that you overstate the reach of the Literature forum in general and this thread in particular. I doubt very much that this "influx" you speak of will be registered at all by the students in the Arts block. Certainly 99% of students in the Arts block are congregating in the cafe on the ground floor anyway. The other 1% do not occupy all the seats in the arts block, in my experience anyway, let alone sit in the floor.

    But hey, please keep vigilant against the hordes of unwashed that may inundate the hallowed trinners halls.


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    #45
    Cavehill Red
    Registered Users Posts: 6,109 ✭✭✭Cavehill Red


    artvandelay48 wrote: »
    Sadly, I fear that you overstate the reach of the Literature forum in general and this thread in particular. I doubt very much that this "influx" you speak of will be registered at all by the students in the Arts block.

    Over a thousand people have viewed this thread so far. Even a fraction of that would add to the overcrowding in the Arts Block.
    artvandelay48 wrote: »
    Certainly 99% of students in the Arts block are congregating in the cafe on the ground floor anyway. The other 1% do not occupy all the seats in the arts block, in my experience anyway, let alone sit in the floor.

    This is patently not true.
    artvandelay48 wrote: »
    But hey, please keep vigilant against the hordes of unwashed that may inundate the hallowed trinners halls.

    I like how you're trying to make out as if I'm somehow being unreasonable and exclusivist by asking you to explain why, out of thousands of suitable locations in Dublin to go and read in, you are insistent on going to one where you are disrupting students. Seriously, can you explain why it is so important to go to this one location rather than the thousands of others available to you? I'm genuinely perplexed.


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    #46
    artvandelay48
    Registered Users Posts: 562 ✭✭✭artvandelay48


    Cavehill Red wrote: »
    Over a thousand people have viewed this thread so far. Even a fraction of that would add to the overcrowding in the Arts Block.

    I won't insult you by pointing out the difference between "views" and "people" but I'd be really surprised to find that over 1,000 distinct internet users have been reading this thread.

    I have yet to see people forced to sitting on the floor. Yes, people do, but that is not down to the lack of seats, they're are plenty of seats, regardless of the rubbish you're pedalling.

    And the motivation for going to TCD? 1) its quiet 2) its close to where I work 3) your attitude. That's about it.

    Tell you what, if you are so incensed by non-students in the arts block, why don't you PM me when you're about to go to Security to ask them to do spot checks of people quietly reading in the Arts block? I will come meet you and enjoy watching you get laughed out of their office.


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    #47
    Cavehill Red
    Registered Users Posts: 6,109 ✭✭✭Cavehill Red


    The National Library is quieter than TCD Arts Block and obviously, being just up the road from TCD, is also close to your work.
    Why can't you tell me why it is essential for you to disrupt students instead of going to the most appropriate building in the country, the one built and designed for your very requirement?


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    #48
    artvandelay48
    Registered Users Posts: 562 ✭✭✭artvandelay48


    Listen mate, I've given you my reasons graciously when I am under no obligation to justify myself to some jumped up busybody. And yet you call me a lech. So either you are projecting or fantasising.

    I suggest you do one of three things: 1) jog on and stop being such a pernicious pest 2) take me up on my offer of meeting security in person (which you've blithely ignored) or 3) step away from the internet and have a lie down (since you can't distinguish between people and page views, I question your ability to use it properly anyway).

    So, long story short, if you want to discuss further simply say hi next time you're patrolling the arts block.


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    #49
    Cavehill Red
    Registered Users Posts: 6,109 ✭✭✭Cavehill Red


    Dude, there are literally thousands of suitable places in town to read in. The national centre provided for the public to read in is literally only a few yards away from TCD.
    The fact that you can't explain why, out of all those thousands of locations, you absolutely must go to read in one which is provided for the purpose of students is, at this stage, quite suspicious.


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    #50
    Rodger_Muir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 92 ✭✭Rodger_Muir


    artvandelay48 wrote: »

    I have yet to see people forced to sitting on the floor. Yes, people do, but that is not down to the lack of seats, they're are plenty of seats.

    No there are not, if you want to read some where thats your own bussiness. Try a coffee shop or the National Libary. You have no purpose being there, unless your a student or a Alumni. Next time you want to read during your lunch time. Buy a coffee and stop being cheap.


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    #51
    johnnyskeleton
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 14,505 Mod ✭✭✭✭johnnyskeleton


    Cavehill Red wrote: »
    I'm beginning to suspect that, far from seeking somewhere warm and dry to read, you actually simply wish to sit and lech at students or something. I can't establish any other reason why you must go and sit in TCD specifically and not somewhere else.

    Apart from it being a big open space in the city centre, it has some very pleasant old buildings and an air of scholarship to it. Do you not think there is a big difference between Reading a book there and reading a book in a noisey cafe?

    Besides, I am pretty sure that most areas of Trinity are open to the public. If not, why are there student prices and non studen prices to see the book of kells, get food in the buttery etc?


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    #52
    Rodger_Muir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 92 ✭✭Rodger_Muir


    johnnyskeleton wrote: »
    Besides, I am pretty sure that most areas of Trinity are open to the public. If not, why are there student prices and non studen prices to see the book of kells, get food in the buttery etc?

    Students see the Book of Kells for free, and the prices in the Buttery are they same. While the collage welcomes tourists, they don't exactly encouraging them to lounge around the arts block. I have no problem with someone sitting by the cricket pitch on a war, day reading. My problem is someone presuming they have a right to lounge around the place and use over stressed facities, at peak times, ad to be honest artvandelay48 your attiruide isn't helping the case. Perhaps they might be more welcoming of you in Bolton street. Its probably closer as well.


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    #53
    johnnyskeleton
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 14,505 Mod ✭✭✭✭johnnyskeleton


    Cavehill Red wrote: »
    Dude, there are literally thousands of suitable places in town to read in. The national centre provided for the public to read in is literally only a few yards away from TCD.
    The fact that you can't explain why, out of all those thousands of locations, you absolutely must go to read in one which is provided for the purpose of students is, at this stage, quite suspicious.

    speaking for myself, I like Reading in different places. Occasionally I will go into Trinity because it is a nice change of scenery. I have never disrupted students and I'm pretty certain that I am permitted to be there by campus security.

    The OP is just looking for a few places to go, presumably like me to have a bit of variety. So he is not trying to go specifically to Trinity, he just wants that option from time to time.

    As to the national library, that's a bit of hassle. You need to get a readers card and while it is a nice building, it is not really ideal as somewhere to sit and read a book quietly on your break.


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    #54
    Rodger_Muir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 92 ✭✭Rodger_Muir


    Denerick wrote: »
    Can somebody please explain to me how the average Trinity student finding it modestly difficult to get a seat in one of the public areas of Trinity around lunch time is adversely affecting their education?

    A point was made earlier on about students being 'forced' to sit on the floor for lack of seating...

    Clearly is dosent effect there education. But the facilities are provided for students. Who cant avail of it because of free loaders like the OP.


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    #55
    johnnyskeleton
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 14,505 Mod ✭✭✭✭johnnyskeleton


    Rodger_Muir wrote: »
    johnnyskeleton wrote: »
    Besides, I am pretty sure that most areas of Trinity are open to the public. If not, why are there student prices and non studen prices to see the book of kells, get food in the buttery etc?

    Students see the Book of Kells for free, and the prices in the Buttery are they same. While the collage welcomes tourists, they don't exactly encouraging them to lounge around the arts block. I have no problem with someone sitting by the cricket pitch on a war, day reading. My problem is someone presuming they have a right to lounge around the place and use over stressed facities, at peak times, ad to be honest artvandelay48 your attiruide isn't helping the case. Perhaps they might be more welcoming of you in Bolton street. Its probably closer as well.

    But they have made a clear distinction between students and non students. I thought the buttery gave a discount to students but that might have been a long time ago.

    However annoying it may be for students, the reality is that Trinity is a large place with open access and an implied right to sit and read a book if you so choose. The number of non students who sit in there to read at lunchtime must be miniscule compared to thr number of students (about 10k I think) staff, tourists etc.


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    #56
    Rodger_Muir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 92 ✭✭Rodger_Muir


    artvandelay48 wrote: »
    .

    But hey, please keep vigilant against the hordes of unwashed that may inundate the hallowed trinners halls.

    See attitude, doing you no favors. Put your hand in your pocket and buy a coffe you miserable cheap Bastard


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    #57
    coffee_cake
    Registered Users Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    Cavehill Red wrote: »
    Over a thousand people have viewed this thread so far. Even a fraction of that would add to the overcrowding in the Arts Block.

    .

    I can just see google spiders taking over the arts block now...


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    #58
    Rodger_Muir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 92 ✭✭Rodger_Muir


    johnnyskeleton wrote: »
    But they have made a clear distinction between students and non students. I thought the buttery gave a discount to students but that might have been a long time ago.

    However annoying it may be for students, the reality is that Trinity is a large place with open access and an implied right to sit and read a book if you so choose. The number of non students who sit in there to read at lunchtime must be miniscule compared to thr number of students (about 10k I think) staff, tourists etc.

    Its over 20k almost 30k (thats not including staff), so as you can imagine space is at a premium, and I'm not sure where your getting the implied bit from. LIke I've said I dont mind someone sitting on the bank of the cricket pitch on a sunny day or otherwise reading. But anything else and your taking away from the student body. Which isnt fair.


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    #59
    Lawliet
    Registered Users Posts: 2,761 ✭✭✭Lawliet


    johnnyskeleton wrote: »
    Besides, I am pretty sure that most areas of Trinity are open to the public.
    The outside areas are public, and some places on campus like the arts block, cafes etc. are semi public areas, but most places are not. There are plenty of buildings that people could wander into, but that doesn't mean they're allowed to be there.


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    #60
    Rodger_Muir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 92 ✭✭Rodger_Muir


    artvandelay48 wrote: »

    1) The university is PART funded by the students fees and part funded by the PUBLIC purse.
    .


    Not those couches, or seats on the ground floor that your taking up. There all paid for by the SU, who are funded by the students.


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    #61
    cbreeze
    Registered Users Posts: 869 ✭✭✭cbreeze


    The trinity buttery is quiet except at feeding times, and the sports centre has tables and chairs and a vending machine, upper floors of arts building are quiet places, particularly away from the central stairwells. Public Libraries have reading areas and free internet. Of course the OP might prefer to read in his/her office or home rather than chancing the noise in TCD!


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