GENERATION EMIGRATION:This week on the Irish Times Generation Emigration blog, we asked Irish people living abroad what they missed about home. Here are some of their replies
DonoughI miss the people. Only Irish people can laugh at themselves. I miss the darkly dramatic and comic way that we look at life. Making a clown of yourself is regarded as a brave. I miss that.
Della O'DonoghueRunning into people on Exchequer Street and retiring to Fallon & Byrne or Simon's Place for a state-of-the-world conversation.
JamesI miss real rashers and pudding. I miss long nights in summer. I miss real chips made from spuds. I miss kebabs on the way home and breakie rolls the morning after on your second attempt. I miss a lot of my mates. But more than anything I miss my family and a sense of place. I have lived in New Zealand for eight years. I miss being able to entertain the thought that one day it will all be fine and I won't have to miss these things any more.
MichaelMostly I miss not having to phone before you drop round to see someone: just turning up is fine. Miss the fact that anyone will strike up conversation with you at the bus stop – people tend to move away if you do that here in Euro-Brussels.
StephenThe Dame tavern, O'Donoghue's, Sundays in Croke Park, Irish sausages and brown bread but mostly my family. I live in New Zealand, and it's such a long way home. I know I am better of where I am, but I would love to be able to pop home for a few days.
SarahI've been in Euro-Brussels for 17 years. What do I miss? I really, really miss the Ryanair connection to Shannon. That has reduced the number of times I can get home drastically.
KuhnAbsolutely nothing.
FrankI miss proper fry-up material: rashers, pudding, sausages, brown bread, Irish butter. I miss stew when it's cold. I miss talking about Irish politics to other Irish people. I miss how perfect Ireland is when the weather is good and the gentle complaining about the other 355 days. I miss hurling, training in January, playing games in August, shemozzles around the square, wild pulls and all the skills. The national anthem in Semple Stadium. I miss Guinness and the chats surrounding the pints. I miss the unique humour of Irish people. I miss making Father Tedjokes with strangers and them getting them. I miss Gaeilge. Beidh mé ar ais go luath. Nollaig shona díobh.
CaraI miss the Irish sense of humour. It's amazing how funny Irish people are. You only really notice it when you're away.
BrendaI miss Superquinn sausages, rashers, sour cream, coleslaw, Brennans bread, McCambridge bread, Tayto crisps, fish and chips, Cadbury chocolate, Kilmeaden cheese, Super Milk . . . the list goes on and on. Above all I miss my family and friends. I miss the Irish sense of humour, the Irish tendency to be self-deprecating. I miss striking up a conversation with a stranger and having a pint in an Irish pub full of character and atmosphere. I've never found an equivalent experience in a pub abroad.
MáireSaying thank you to the bus driver even after a 45-minute wait in a freezing wind for a bus to come. (Don't miss the public transport.)
MayoI have been living in New Zealand – Aotearoa – for a good few years, and they have a saying here: " Ui mai koe ki ahau he aha te mea nui o te ao, ma-ku e ki- atu he tangata, he tangata, he tangata!" Translation from Maori: "Ask me what is the greatest thing in the world, I will reply: It is people, it is people, it is people!" So that's what I miss most: Irish people in nearly all their forms (not the politicians and bankers, of course).
AlanI miss the sense of humour. It is pretty unique that the more you love someone the more you send them up. I miss my mates, but I am close enough that I can go home for weekends every now and then. I miss the honesty of some people – and some people are so genuine. I miss a pint on Sundays, knowing that work is the next day and that the longer we stay out the more trouble we are going to be in come morning. I miss the innocence of when I was growing up. I do not miss the narrow-mindedness. I do not miss the negativity. I do not miss the begrudgery. I do not miss the weather. I do not miss the self-importance of some Irish people after the Celtic Tiger began. I do not miss the Catholic church and its hypocrisy. I do not miss the political parties and their hypocrisy. 5-7 to the away team. I am staying where I am.
EoinBeen in Argentina for almost two years, and a pint of stout is something that's sorely lacking here. Even the local microbrewery imitations don't come close. It's just not the same drinking Guinness from a bottle from the supermarket.
CarolineMaybe I speak too specifically of my growing up in small-town Ireland. From my time in Cork, I miss the Brog on a Saturday night and meeting loads of your friends. But also there are silly things that when I think of them make me homesick: the Angelus on telly, the RTÉ news theme music, death announcements on the radio, bilingual road signs . . .
PheloBeing an only son, not seeing my mother in person at least every couple of weeks is a sore point.
LarryOne thing I always remember is walking home from school, in the darkening twilight of a winter afternoon, amid the cold rain, watching, and smelling, the coal and wood fires, with smoke billowing out of chimneys all over town. I do miss that smell.
ChrisI get more post now, and I love it. It doesn't matter if you can buy Tayto over the internet: the squashed bag that your friend slipped in with your birthday card is so much better.
TracyI have been living in Spain for 11 years. At the beginning I didn't miss anything. Now what I miss most are the essentials: my mammy's apple tart, my mammy's soda bread, real sausages, Taytos, cooking chocolate for making good old Rice Krispie or cornflake cakes – and, of course, my mammy.
ReggieAh, will ye stop? You're putting a lump in me throat. Been gone just over five years – Sweden – so I'm lucky enough to be able to get back quite regularly.Thanks to The Irish Timesfor the Generation Emigration series and jag önskar er alla en riktigt god jul– I wish you all a merry Christmas.
