Dublin
Last Tuesday we flew from London to Dublin with Ryan Air, one of the low cost airlines that fly all over Europe these days. We opted for the more expensive fare of 3.99 Euros each ( instead of the .99 cent flight which left at a rather unsociable hour) – plus taxes, of course – who will heed the messages of the environmental damage caused by flying when you can flit across Europe at prices like these?
Our arrival in Ireland coincided with the first real summer weather so far – temps have hovered around 20 deg with enough sunshine for many of the locals to get quite sunburnt. Dublin is a very lively and prosperous city of just over 1 million. The economic prosperity linked to massive amounts of EU money flowing into the country has had a huge impact – I hadn’t been to Dublin for about 10 years and can see the changes – cranes working everywhere putting up new buildings, constructing new roads – locals say that it has come at a cost – it is now the second most expensive place to live in the EU zone after Finland and life has moved up several notches to become more competitive and stressful.
Kimberley and Richie took time off work to show us around and we had a meal with Richie’s parents – a delightful couple whom we will spend more time with next weekend.
Kimberley has settled into Dublin very happily – they have a lovely apartment ( at enormous cost!!) just 15 mins walk from the centre of Dublin. There is a wonderful new light rail system called the LUAS which has a stop 5 mins walk from their home and drops K very near her work. Why can’t Canberra put in something like the LUAS – it is very efficient – runs every 5 to 10 mins for about 18 hrs a day, is quiet, clean and very popular. K is very happy working with Microsoft – she is on a 4 month contract at present and hopes to make that permanent.
Three generations of Richie’s family have worked for the Guinness brewery in Dublin so it was the first stop on our itinerary – they have created a very interesting exhibition centre in their original brewery – the tour ends on the 7th floor with a glass of Guinness in the magnificent circular Gravity Bar – glass walls allow uninterrupted views all over the city – it was wonderful on a clear sunny day – Arthur Guinness started the brewery in the mid 18th century and was a social reformer as well as an enormously successful businessman – her was the first employer in Ireland to give workers paid holidays, sick leave and retirement and widows pensions. He also provided good housing for his workers along with medical and dental services – much like the Rowntrees in the UK. It led to comments from family to their unmarried daughters of “Marry a Guinness worker – he’s worth money dead or alive”. Richie’s great grandfather was a temporary employee there at the start of the first world war. The company encouraged workers to enlist in the British army by promising them a permanent job on their return. Unfortunately Richie’s GG was killed at Flanders but the company still gave his widow a pension for life.
