Crossing the Irish Sea

tyce said:
It will be interesting to see how bothered they are about bringing dogs over from England, as a dog owner if I have to go enter through an official route i.e. ferry port then I will give it a miss and head to Scotland instead.
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Good. NI has enough dog shit of its own. No need for more.
 
rotrax said:
I suspect you will be better served by seeing what is in place when its time to go.

IMHO thing will be different then.

Might see you there - got a date to do more exploring in Strangford Lough. :)
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Yep whilst mainly confined to my Home and Garden these days (with illicit travel to check boats out) I have been watching a whole series of the Programme 'COAST' on DVD s and I was most impressed with that NI one where it featured that 'Strangford Lough' , my what an expanse of water that is; my thoughts were that that Lough would be a great place to visit, being Customs Free from checks, within our UK /GB as applies, further away from them Troubles, mainly inland so much to much chance of getting lost at Sea etc etc; is that Lough a favourite place for VIsitors from UK /GB or even the Republic ?

Lucky ole NI then, well worth fighting for to keep within our country !
 
Capt Popeye said:
Yep whilst mainly confined to my Home and Garden these days (with illicit travel to check boats out) I have been watching a whole series of the Programme 'COAST' on DVD s and I was most impressed with that NI one where it featured that 'Strangford Lough' , my what an expanse of water that is; my thoughts were that that Lough would be a great place to visit, being Customs Free from checks, within our UK /GB as applies, further away from them Troubles, mainly inland so much to much chance of getting lost at Sea etc etc; is that Lough a favourite place for VIsitors from UK /GB or even the Republic ?

Lucky ole NI then, well worth fighting for to keep within our country !
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It's not that big! And too many pladdies for my liking. Down the bottom at Portaferry and Strangford is lovely - off Audley Castle in particular.
 
kof said:
99+% of us Paddys never use the name Eire to refer to Ireland - that's usually only used by our fellow British cousins. It's almost always "Ireland". Not that we care mind you. Call us anything you want so long as you spend lots of money over here.
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My colleagues in Belfast and Dublin always seem to say "The North" and "The South" and nobody gets too het up about it.

The southern end of the Island of Bute is the only inhabited part which is not owned and controlled by the Marquis. Locals refers to it as "The Free State".
 
JumbleDuck said:
My colleagues in Belfast and Dublin always seem to say "The North" and "The South" and nobody gets too het up about it.
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That is true. My crew - not long over here and not very good on geography - took a while to understand that Donegal was in The South, even though it is in the north.
 
dgadee said:
That is true. My crew - not long over here and not very good on geography - took a while to understand that Donegal was in The South, even though it is in the north.
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Yea well thats Irish for you but suppose it would be the same in any country that has its own North and South borders; just with Ireland it gets complicated by naming the most of the Top Part Northern Island and the Rest Ire with its own Northern Parts
 
JumbleDuck said:
My colleagues in Belfast and Dublin always seem to say "The North" and "The South" and nobody gets too het up about it.

The southern end of the Island of Bute is the only inhabited part which is not owned and controlled by the Marquis. Locals refers to it as "The Free State".
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Ireland, Eire, the Republic of Ireland, Southern Ireland, the South and probably a few other names I've forgotten was officially known as The Irish Free State from 1922 to 1937 and is still referred to as The Free State by many elderly people in Northern Ireland.
 
Irish Rover said:
Ireland, Eire, the Republic of Ireland, Southern Ireland, the South and probably a few other names I've forgotten was officially known as The Irish Free State from 1922 to 1937 and is still referred to as The Free State by many elderly people in Northern Ireland.
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I have only heard Protestants use 'Free State'. With a negative tone.
 
dgadee said:
I have only heard Protestants use 'Free State'. With a negative tone.
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You clearly have more experience in these matters than me - I wouldn't be able to distinguish a protestant from a catholic by appearance or tone of voice and I'd never consider asking someone which foot they kick with :D
 
Irish Rover said:
You clearly have more experience in these matters than me - I wouldn't be able to distinguish a protestant from a catholic by appearance or tone of voice and I'd never consider asking someone which foot they kick with :D
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When they talk about the Free State you will know which side they are from. But things have changed for the better, if not disappeared. And who knows what Brexit will bring in the wake of a customs border down the Irish sea.
 
30 years ago it was "left" and "right" footers - ie: Protestant and Catholics - Not sure where the phrase came from. One Northern friend who came down for the rugby matches just called us the Fenians or the Papists. We didn't mind - We made sure it was always his round.

dgadee said:
When they talk about the Free State you will know which side they are from. But things have changed for the better, if not disappeared. And who knows what Brexit will bring in the wake of a customs border down the Irish sea.
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kof said:
30 years ago it was "left" and "right" footers - ie: Protestant and Catholics - Not sure where the phrase came from.
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Lots of speculation on line, none of it convincing. In the 1970s Glasgow of my childhood the full version was "Kicks the ball with the other [or left] foot". The weird thing is that nobody ever seems to call proddies "right-footers"; "left-footer" is in more ways than one a unilateral term.

I have in my extensive researches into this matter (ie I googled it for five minutes) found that "mackerel-snapper" is also a traditional term for the left-footed (should the young lads who serve at mass be called "port hand bhoys"?) which gives at least some nautical on-topicness,
 
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dgadee said:
When they talk about the Free State you will know which side they are from. But things have changed for the better, if not disappeared. And who knows what Brexit will bring in the wake of a customs border down the Irish sea.
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I'm friendly with a couple from Fermanagh both in their late 70's who are regular visitors to Turkey. They're catholics and he refers to the ROI as the Free State. They often bring me rashers, sausages and potatoe cakes for an Ulster Fry but he always says " the Free State rashers' are better than the Ulster rashers.
 
Irish Rover said:
I'm friendly with a couple from Fermanagh both in their late 70's who are regular visitors to Turkey. They're catholics and he refers to the ROI as the Free State. They often bring me rashers, sausages and potatoe cakes for an Ulster Fry but he always says " the Free State rashers' are better than the Ulster rashers.
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Never heard that from that side - can't remember my late wife's family ever using that term. Perhaps they are being ironic - fortunately it is easier to be that these days. My wife's sisters used to - for a laugh - call themselves taigs. I presume they wouldn't do it in public. Students over here (I think at Ulster) were supposed to have renamed the Ulster Fry as the Occupied Six Counties Fry.

On left/right footers I thought it was something to do with the design of spade and which foot it was designed for. There's a spade mill over here (National Trust). I should go and ask them.
 
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