Greetings from Dubs

How's the craic then?

Spring has sprung in Ireland and Dublin has grown on me considerably in these last few months.

Since my last email I finished up at Microsoft then got called back after a month. This email I'm going to make out like Basil Fawlty, and not mention the war.

More Irish Linguistics

I have found myself picking up some of the the linguistic oddities here. First off though I have been informed to tell everyone that no one says "top of the morning to you" or "to be sure" (not once or twice). However they do say craic (pron: crack) with abundance. It can be used in many ways:

As a greeting: "How's the craic?"

As a question: "What's the craic?"

Most commonly though it is used in its original form, to describe good times: "That was great craic last night".

It can't be used to describe a bad night, as in "that was bad craic last night when the garda busted up the party". This is obvious though because:

a) the words meaning is of good times, so it would be like saying you had a bad good time, and

b) you have to go to places like D.C for bad craic.

Another saying I have picked up is "your man over there". This is confusing at first as someone might take this as an assault on your sexuality, but this too is used quite liberally, so you pick up its meaning soon enough. This can be used if someone is your man or not or if they are in the vicinity or not. For example someone at work might point to someone and say "your man over there has the files you need". Then someone might say to you "your man in Washington is a fecking eejit".

Irish Name of the Year

I've met and read many great Irish names, but by far my favourite is a fella named Finbar McGonagle.

Sacrifice of the Year

When I came here I knew there was going to be one big sacrifice, and that was being in a non Commonwealth country during the cricket world cup. Australia didn't drop a match in the whole tournament, and the combination of lack of decent cable at home and an aversion to attending Australian pubs with cork hats hanging from the ceiling meant that I didn't see a single game. Everywhere I have worked there has always been at least a few English, South African or Antipodeans there, but I didn't even have this luxury of gloating at work. I tried once to talk to some Irishmen about a world cup game, but they looked at me like some fecking eejit, thinking I was talking about something that was almost 12 months ago.

There was one Kiwi at work, but he left before it started. We met at the water fountain one time and got to talking about cricket, as you do when your an antipodean on foreign soil. Somehow the subject of Kiwi batsman Martin Crowe getting run out on 199 came up. I threw in a piece of pop cultural trivia at this point and mentioned that Martin is Russell Crowe's cousin. My Kiwi friend then told me to keep my voice down.
"Why"? I asked.
"because I don't want everyone knowing that Russell Crowe is a Kiwi".
"Ahh, but a Kiwi living in Australia is still a kiwi."
"Hang on a minute. Why is it that two years ago after Gladiator came out every Australian was claiming Russell as their own, and now that he has proven himself to be a right twat, you are saying he is a Kiwi again"?

An interesting observation, but one that diverts me from my subject. The world cup has been and gone without me seeing a single ball being bowled, so I propose to rectify this outcome announcing a new road trip - the 2007 world cup in the Carribean.

If my American friends need convincing to come to the West Indies - as if just being there isn't enough incentive already - the U.S.A have been given automatic qualification and they will host games in Florida. Given that there is a large West Indian community there and a larger Indian and Pakistani community across the States, the idea isn't as silly as it seems. And Florida will make the perfect beachhead for the Commonwealth nations to launch a crusade to convert the infidel Americans from baseball.

Photos

I leave you with some photos of Dublin, including the new Spire of Dublin.

James.