James Doyle, Tramore Heights, Co Waterford
Dwelling: Bungalow
Here since: Childhood
Growing up in Tramore was great. There were so many sports, and so much to do - surfing and sailing and fishing. It was a lifestyle thing, getting out and doing things all the time. I think it was the Lonely Planet guide that went mental on Tramore recently, but it's not just a bunch of arcades and people eating chips out of paper bags any more. There's a lot going on. It's an old-school seaside resort, sure, but it's also more than that.
I used to surf a lot - one of the first surf centres in Ireland was set up in Tramore. But there was also a place called the "down around" (that was the lingo), where all the arcades and waltzers are, and because you're young and you don't have money, you hang; that's what you do, you hang around.
The local pub we go to in Tramore is called the Ritz, but it's a thatched cottage. I never noticed the irony in that. I knew it before I knew of the Ritz-Carlton, so I thought they stole the name from our Ritz. A lot of young people go to the Vic - Victoria House. It has a great view of the beach stretching out in front. When the weather's good it's like the Mediterranean - some of the coastline down there is spectacular.
The estate I grew up in, Tramore Heights, was full of kids in my time, but when I go back there it's pretty quiet now. It was one of the first estates, developed in the 1970s, so everybody bought houses at the same time, and all the kids grew up together. Now there are so many new estates popping up, and that's where the young parents are.
Obviously there's a new generation there, but when I go back I don't feel like a stranger. But I almost have to learn to be a local again, say hello to people I don't know when I pass them, things you wouldn't do in Dublin. You can never get that same sense of belonging again, I think, except from the place you grow up.
A huge number of Tramore people go backpacking, and maybe that's due to the lifestyle we had growing up, which shows us there's so much more; we have to take a good old shake out of life. Some of my mates got their travelling out of the way, then settled back in Tramore. I would think about moving back, but I'm not at that stage yet. Although I'm away from the place at the moment, I still feel at home there in a way I don't think I will anywhere else.
In conversation with Davin O'Dwyer