Sunday, August 27, 2006

Home!

Home after one month. And is it good to be back. We spent time in Ireland, England, passed through Holland and Germany unexpectedly, and finally Denmark. Europe is changing, it is busy, and in some ways it is loosing its old magic. It is becoming more and more anglicized with ever more words creeping into its languages which originate from the larger Amercan culture.

This is a picture of a window at the train station in Hvalsø in Zealand, Denmark. We visited relatives here. It is a small town about 40 minutes from Copenhagen. There is not a lot to see in town as it is pretty small. The library has great internet access and there is a lot of choice of magazines and newspapers. We ate in a small pizza place. Interesting that as we ate the postman came in and proceeded to tell the owner that he tried to deliver items at noon but the place was closed. The owners comment was that they didn't open until 12:03 pm as they had a family emergency. But the postman had to continue to express his concern that this was the second time he had to come to this place to deliver mail. You could sense he was not pleased. We then watched him walk across the street to put his bags and bicycle in the shed. His day was over and he was heading home. And this second delivery must have cost him and extra 2 minutes. Maybe he wasn't happy that the owners of the pizza place were Danes. Yes the Janteloven is still alive and well!

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Kinvara


After close to 1,300 km we arrived in Port Rush this afternoon. This is the town we left this morning, Kinvara, which was a total delight. There is a pub at the foot of this street, O'Connors, which we visited last night. The people were friendly and it had to be the ultimate place to talk and have a Smithwick. Wish we could have stayed here a few more days.

Ireland is a country of seemingly endless contrasts. It is unique and charming. Ulster definitely has the British influence which is noticeable. The south in contrast is growing, developing and hanging on to what Ireland was and is. I hope they can keep it but you can sense the changes and the erosions that will come. There is too much Western influence creeping in. But as one person we spoke with said "When we left school in the 80's the counselling was to get a ticket out of here if you wanted a job." That is no longer the case. Ireland needs people now. But it seems the housing market is the same as at home, too expensive for young people.

Only another few days left until we head off for London. Lots of pictures and great memories here.