Ah sure, never you worry your wee head about it, mo chara. Mac léinn na Gaeilge. 🇮🇪 Éirinn go brách!
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Not sure I entirely agree with you, Bill. For many, sure but I can't be the only one who doesn't really care who wins the race. I'm in it for the tech and spectacle. If anything, I suppose I'm a little biased toward Aprilia as I own one but I root for the sport. Maybe I'm just odd.
Ha ha. Funny, I was going to say dé máirt but felt like just the one day in the week was a bit optimistic.
Cinnte, chaill muid an fuacht! 🤣
Maith thú! That is absolutely inspired poster design! Díreach fiorfa! Iontach! For those who may be interested but don't know, it's the Gallarus Oratory on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry. Never thought of it as a balaclava mouth. #Ireland #speirgorm #kneecap
Summer!
Looks a little familiar. Only...you know...with less perfume advert and Brexit enthusiast complaining it's woke.
I've noticed this with my kids and their school mates. Sexuality and/or sexual curiosity is (mostly) worn with pride and respected. When I was their age, the best case scenario was getting the piss ripped out of you, mercilessly.
Oh, trust me, scatterpants is real. Source: My 3 teenage kids bedroom floors. Also scattersocks, scatterjeans scattershirts...
Personally, I preferred Slim's debut album: I'll Turn This Car Around.
Back in the 90s, I had a mate get his head absolutely kicked in by a wee girl in a rough Belfast pub after he, drunkenly confident, sat down beside her and ask her if she wanted to go halfers on a bastard!
Shake the owners hand for me. They're doing good work!
Good to hear.
Oh, rough! Sometimes the small silver linings mean the most in stressful times. I hope your kid is doing well.
The inconsistency is wild. We gave up trying. We used to have an excellent indy chippy locally that did a monthly gluten free night, coinciding with their deep clean. It was amazing, they won awards and had a huge client base. So their landlord doubled the rent and put them out of business! Sigh...
My daughter has coeliac disease. This is the reason why she has only eaten in a restaurant 6 times in the last 16 years. Cross contaminated each and every time.
Aarhus In the middle of Denmark* *But to the east.
"Hop on the bus, Gus" is no better. Then what? The bus to where? And don't get me started on poor Lee! Congratulations mate, you're homeless!
I've decided to wash the car, instead. At least then I can be useful as well as bored.
Everything just seems to boil up when the govt starts making life difficult for whatever reason. It pains me that people blame everyone but their leadership and those pushing insane levels of money into steering it. The old divide and conquer seems to be going well at the moment, sadly.
You have to question if it really matters, sometimes. Regardless of nationality, we're all just trying to get through the day. Cultural differences, sure but so what, Ireland, UK, USA, China, wherever, we're all just trying to keep food on the table.
I lived amongst yis for a few years and apart from assumptions that I'd be in the IRA and some accent pisstakery that didn't bother me, no drama. But zero understanding or interest in understanding. But then, I've no interest in Norman's and Roundheads so fair play, I guess.
Thanks for the recommendation. I'll get a listen. For what it's worth, I don't know any Irish that have a problem with Brits themselves, just the govt. But sure, the Brits hate their govt these days too so there's common ground. Ha ha.
Ahh, I see. Didn't know that. Fair play to BMW.
Have you tried a Beeline? Much less intrusive. It's like having a compass that knows where you're going.
Plus, it's hard to spin a school history lesson on Ireland and have the UK look anything but bad, so they barely touch it. An English friend decided to learn some Irish history, recently. He phoned to apologise to my family as "We've only ever fucked you over, eh?". Like I was there for the famine.
Tá fáilte romhat agus ádh mór ort.
Duo is so frustrating for learning Gaeilge. These books are great for learning how the language works and teanglann.ie is a great dictionary/thesaurus with pronunciation in 3 dialects. Very useful! Also recommend gluais.toingaeilge.com and even bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zks78hv is pretty good.
Is é an lá inniu. I stand with Mo Chara! #FreeMoChara #FreePalestine #spiergorm #solidarity
Picnics: The Brit Ortolan Bunting.
OK folks, really need your help. Trans Pride NI is getting zero funding, nothing from the council or Belfast Pride and if they don't hit £5k, it won't happen. They're over £2k now. Can we get this to target? Please share. Thank you ❤️🏳️⚧️
And the world is better for it. A brief but positive experience. Can't say the same for all celebs I've bumped into.
Apparently Craven gets about a bit. Many years ago, he rocked up behind me at a Sainos in Cranleigh, Surrey. We said hello to each other and carried on with our shopping.
Well, it is a *race* riot.
Don't worry, Tom. They'll be on his full name by bs court case time. Probably be addressing him as "Mr Maurice Chara of West Belfast, Northern Ireland".
Ha ha. Brilliant! Little known fact: The entirety of the troubles was because of Tayto vs Tayto. Over the years it got twisted into stories of land, religion and the potato famine but it actually all kicked off because of two factories hijacking each other's crisp deliveries. Dark times, they were.
Do unattended turtles still get cordoned off for controlled explosion or was that just in the original NES version of Mario Kart Belfast?
Very much so. Between terrible app robot pronunciation and different dialects muddying the water, it has already proved very useful and will continue to for a long time, while I get to grips with the language. Go raibh maith agat as an moladh. (I hope that's right)
Thanks for the grammar site recommendation. Going to put the kettle on and make the best of this weather by sitting in the garden and learning. Thank you, so much, Tom.
Pronunciation on words I've never come across was problematic, though so hoping this is the final piece of the puzzle to get learning. I've found silly things like writing shopping lists in Gaeilge a useful way of learning words for everyday life. I only wish I'd had this motivation 30 years ago!
Aye, looking at it with a maturer head certainly is helping and bits are cominig back to me. Picked up a couple of grammar books to help me navigate the various pitfalls and I have a decent (I think) translation app so I can get the Gaeilge for anything that pops into my head.
Tracked it down. Pretty sure you mean the same one that Tom recommended. teanglann.ie It's going to be a very helpful site, moving forward. The different dialects, especially. Many thanks.
That is fantastic. Thanks Tom. The different dialects are excellent. I've picked up where my disinterested teenage self left of, many years ago. It's harder without a frustrated teacher disparing at the class. Again, many thanks for the help.
Does anyone know of an English to Irish translation app that uses an actual voice with decent pronunciation rather than useless robot AI that can barely manage English nevermind Irish? Please help. Go raibh maith agat. #speirgorm #gaeilge #irish #ireland #language #education
Stroked! 😂
Perfect! Yellow bags Vs blue bags is on. May the best crisp win!
If you are going to be near the north/south borderless border, I'd recommend finding northern Tayto, too. 2 different companies and a back to back comparison between both of their cheese and onion crisps is kind of a mandatory Irish experience tbh.
I love this. Fuck you and your invasion, we've racing to prepare for! Priorities!
Is there a Crime stoppers playlist? The cats in the cradle and the silver spoon. Little boy blue and the man in the stairwell with a submachine gun.
Why does he look like he's handcuffed and being interrogated? Ha ha
Absolutely! What's the ground even there for, if not for digging up? We stand with Georgian Grandma!
I also did it once except it was an electric line and it was not a whole country, it was the main feed to my own house. However the man from the electric board shouted at me like I was an unruly child and my wife told me I wasn't allowed the spade any more in case I kill myself. No fun!
Aye, it's been give or take 50/50 for the past few years.
There's a small amount of prosperity gospel here but not really enough to be worthy of note. Here in the north, schoolboy maths would sum it up as 47% catholic, 43% mainstream protestant and 10% other or none. In the south, 70% catholic, 4% protestant and the rest. 0% megachurches on the isle afaik.
as the wind can fairly blow up there. Storm Éowyn killed the last one. It's known colloquially as The Windy Gap which tells you everything you need to know. They must go through half a dozen flags a year as they get shredded by the weather. Or maybe Mary has a point to make. 😂
The land in question was protestant owned from the time of settlement, pre Irish famine. The compromise, I'm told, to being allowed to build an Irish catholic shrine on the site was that a flagpole should be erected to fly the British flag as can be seen in the 1st photo. No flag though...
Here's an interesting one for ye @sprestonduncan.bsky.social Our Lady of the Hill. Shrine to JC's ma, township of Slievenaboley, Dromara Hills. A local lad called Seamus had an apparition while checking his father's livestock in 1954. And just in case that, in itself, isn't quite Irish enough...
No bother at all, mo chara. I'll post stuff of interest as I pass it.
Ha ha. You'd love it. That's the Mountains of Mourne in the distance. Look at photo2. Follow the mountains along to the left (north) and you'll find the coast at the base by Newcastle. Some beautiful forestry there, too. I'll stick more photos of the area up as time and travels go by.
Interesting part of the world, littered with dolmens, place of historical and religious sites and the like. And the views from up that mountain! All 4 photos from the same spot. The big lad in photo4 and myself are up there almost daily.
Ah, lovely. Fantastic and interesting place to propose. Great memories, I'm sure. Finnis Souterrain was restored 10 or 15 years ago, substrate laid and solar lights installed. If not for that, it would be the same as the cats. Sadly it's incomplete due to it collapsing but what's there is class.
The cave of the cats. I've never been in as I haven't been down that way since I was a disinterested child but it looks mad, tucked under a tree. This one is Finnis Souterrain in Co. Down. First I've seen it flood and the light reflecting on the water was, as you say, kinda magical.
Been on Bluesky a week or so, now and I've replied to folk here and there but not actually started a post sooooo...I dunno...you ever seen a flooded souterrain? Now you have. #Ireland
"Pretty Shitty Gang Bang" seems quite fitting, these days. A wee reminder of the company he keeps.
Honestly, I hope sorting it keeps you busy for years, mucker. Sorry...but I'm massively enjoying the old photos you're digging up and posting on here. Ha ha. You have a fabulous archive of a past Ireland.
Ha ha. Yes, let's go with that. Of course Ireland has it's problems, like any other country but that is a lovely, romantic view of daily life on this little rock. And I'm not going to tempt the weather. It's been dry, nearly a week! Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!
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Ha ha. Then you'll do grand anywhere in Ireland. Insults tend to be endearment, compliments tend to be sarcastic, usually with a sting in the tail or immediate takedown. " SEAMUS YOU LOOK GREAT! for an oul' fucker!" And the tone of the c word means everything. 🤣
Ha ha. Cut from the same cloth, I'd imagine. Ould Jeffreyl Donaldson certainly seems to be...if you know what I mean.
As a child, my grandfather taught me: If there's green white and gold, don't say Brits! If there's red white and blue, don't say Irish! If in doubt, say n'owt! Important then. Less so, now but something to keep in mind. Mostly we'll just take the piss out of your accent. All in good natured fun.
27 years since the start of peace and all is going well but there's a growing immigration issue, north&south that has similar undertones to US. And, of course, there's far right parties ready to take advantage. Hoping trump is the kick up the arse our population needs to avoid a similar outcome.
Co. Leitrim is beautiful. And right on the border with Co. Fermanagh (where my fam are from originally). Beautiful woodland and Lough Erne. Sure, ya may as well hop over for a day or two.
Ah, you'll be grand. Yes, there's a few places where you need to be careful that you don't say the wrong thing but it's obvious enough, given the decor of the area. In the same way you wouldn't shout about how great Kamala is on a trip to Wyoming.
Check out @ericluke.bsky.social . Wonderful photos of days gone by, here. I find them to be fascinating and strangely comforting in a nostalgic way even with how terrible the context can be. Something, something, generational trauma perhaps. Ha ha. Who knows? Moving forward by laughing off the past.
3) More specifically, Dropping Molly at illegal raves showed me this. Ha ha. Kneecap grasp this idea alongside other musicians, comedians and artists, bringing communities closer through the love of a good time. Long may it continue.
2) The North of Ireland's healing is slow and will likely to continue to be for a generation or two as there will always be the hardline headbangers but peace suits us and art among other things brings both sides together. The music scene in the 90s showed me this. Fun beat hatred.
1) I was born into the troubles so, weirdly, it all felt normal at the time. Bombs, shootings, punishment beatings, murders, peace walls, barricades, riots, bigotry. All just daily life and not over thought. I never knew anything different. Looking back, it was nuts.
I'm new to Bluesky. It's nice in here. People are friendly. Reminds me of the early days of twitter. Thanks for that.
5) engage with Kneecap much more earnestly as they can associate with them more easily. It's brilliant. Apologies for the wall of text and thanks for taking the time to read the ramblings of a middle aged Irishman. Slán
4) And of course, the Irish language. People on both sides of the divide, especially youngsters are now taking an interest as it's a modern take with modern context rather than dowdy old professors teaching via old poems from 100s of years ago. Nothing wrong with old poetry but teenagers will...
3) For me, I grew up through The Troubles, it's a fascinating insight into the post-troubles generation's views and it looks bright. Of course there is a rough history there but we're moving on with typical Irish banter and having a dig at each other for the laughs rather than hatred.
2) the humour ironic, at other times parody, it's generally well balanced humour, having a go at both sides of the divide, often tongue in cheek and regularly made clear that it's British rule that is the issue, not British people. They have annoyed both sides and helped both sides.
1) Oh, I'm also in awe. It's not long ago that what they're doing would have just been waved off as sectarian and "anti-union". Of course there are those who do cry that but many find it much deeper. They're work is layered in the republican culture of the past, the present, looking to the future.
Glad to see Kneecap on your list. What they are doing for gaeilge and modern Irish cultural identity in the north is huge...and brutally humourous. Not everyones cuppa tae but to see 2 lads from Belfast and a Derry fella make waves internationally fills me with pride for my wee corner of the globe.
