Published at June 20, 2006
in Ireland.
Being an archaeologist I am almost always in the country. Usually we spent about one or two months in one place, due to that I have a possibility to discover hidden beauty of the rural landscape. Sometimes it is a matter of one sunbeam that strikes from the clouds, or time of the day. Places that look nice can gain a remarkable and magical look that depends on conditions of the weather or just on my mood.
Here is a short example of photos taken during survey on Burtonhall field on the border of counties Carlow and Kildare.
Published at June 14, 2006
in blog.
Today I was a guest of the Last Word program on TodayFM Radio.
I hope it wasn’t so bad.
Here is the website of Last Word on TodayFm Radio
Here is the audio archives site where that interview should by available Archives
For last few years Ireland has been changing rapidly and has been a European country facing the biggest investment and developing - new estates, shopping and amusement centers, roads, motorways etc. Cranes have been an inseparable part of a landscape of every town or city. In the country, silence of green meadows is disturbed by heavy machinery on the future road sites. In the hearts of quiet towns a scaffolds are appearing rapidly and finally a shopping centers made of glass, iron and stone.
Before I came to Ireland, I had downloaded some pictures of Carlow from the internet. The town in the 80ties and 90ties looks similar but not the same. I got the conclusion that this massive investment is killing the soul of Ireland, and the uncountable amount of money that has been pushed into Irish economy has two ends. The good one is the highest living standards, excellent labor market, very low unemployment rate, but I am afraid that people in charge of that don’t care much about the tradition and the Ireland as a land of a great culture and tradition won’t manage that.
Don’t take me wrong, I am not expecting carts with donkeys on the street and old men sitting outside the pubs, a common image of Ireland. I have just got an impression that Ireland country and towns are being sliced by a developing and investment without any respect to the landscape and tradition.
I wish my impression was wrong.
Here is an example of the same place in Carlow. I cound’t find an oryginal website of that photo, but I am going to complete it as quickly as I can.
An old picture
Carlow 2006 AD.
Published at June 12, 2006
in blog.
The situation in Poland is getting worse day by day. Polish far right government is rising above the highest levels of absurd, and Poland drifts towards Belarus. It is not good economical forecast for us and it will force more people to leave their country and go to Ireland for example.
I wonder how many readers of my blog are interested in political and economical situation in Poland. Should I write some about that? Please let me know.
And the soccer world championship has begun, and Poland has been beaten by Equador. Last Friday dozens of Poles appeared in the Carlow town centre. They were in many pubs watching the game. The 10 – 20 people groups were sitting remotely to each other. Many of them were bald and aggressive, but that what happened after the game in the main town square and in one of the nightclubs that was more than enough.
Disappointed, drunk and aggressive polish football supporters with bald heads and remains of national colors on their faces were occupying Tree – fountain. They were screaming in Polish a lot of vulgar words about Jews and other Polish football clubs. They were supporters of my home city football club Widzew Lodz. Why vulgar words about Jews? Polish football hooligans are very antisemitic. They were sitting around the fountain, pissing in the surrounding bush and causing troubles with other people, and due to the game, there were many other Polish football supporters around and there were troubles and fight. It was very sad and I was ashamed of being Polish not for the first time. Finally Garda appeared and brought the order. The other fight and troubles has taken place in one of the nightclubs at the Polish party.
The problem of Polish scum, like those hooligans, is growing. This issue is quite often discussed on internet forums of Polish community in Ireland. Some people just don’t care. They don’t feel as a part of the same group as those hooligans, the others do. And the others have right. Every Polish person abroad is an ambassador of our nation. We can be ok, polite and kind, but the common opinion about us is built with the experiences of whole community, thus with that scum as well. In my opinion as long as Polish community will be scattered, we won’t sort this problem, but we don’t have too much time to sort it out. If we don’t do it then Irish people will do it, but then it will be too late, and nobody will like Poles.
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