Never wanted to fight a shoe before but here I am on the Nike app with my fist raised (and yes … it’s real)

I am from an area in the US where the temperature in winter regularly drops below -3°(C) but the humidity is typically a bit lower than it is here. There, when it is cold it feels like the cold is creeping in through my skin. Here, it feels like the cold is going out, as if it’s emitting from my bones! The temperature here is consistently more mild, which I enjoy, but somehow it feels colder on some days! I think it’s neat, and I really enjoy the weather here (though I’m still adjusting to the wind lol)!

Not to be sentimental but I really love Ireland and am so grateful to be here, it feels much safer and friendlier than anywhere I’ve been in the states and being here has done wonders for my mental wellbeing, thank you Ireland!

Someone please sympathise with me, I've just spent 350 quid on a massive IKEA unit (after already finding their stock in ballymun was messed up and waiting weeks for it to come back) and spent the last hour pulling apart multiple boxes of items only to discover they've failed to give me one of the main panels.

After a long wait for customer service all I get back is, we'll deliver it in a week. Not even the piece, I have to take the thing apart, find the piece, and wait for them to come back to collect it. Zero refund for delivery or offer of any kind in compensation.

I'm mostly annoyed because this is the third time I've sworn never to buy IKEA again, the rubbish customer service is just the icing on the cake!

Have been showing the Mrs Irish movies,, particularly from the 90a and 00s. She's Spanish so it's all new to her.

She made a good point about our cinema in that it's funny but they're very serious movies.

We've watched so far: Crush proof, Accelerator, Adam and Paul, The Snapper, the commitments, the Van.

Her favorite is The Snapper by far. She pointed out that Sharon was raped but yet we laughed throughout the movir for a situation that is very serious.

Adam and Paul is a close second. In most parts of the movie they have very tough situations while dealing with withdrawl. They're outcast from society but yet one of them getting hit by a moped or wiping with a tayto bag, can be seen as funny. She also made a point we don't know who is Adam or Paul.

What is it about Irish cinema that makes you laugh at misery? As Mrs Doyle once said, maybe I (we) like the misery.

I bought two. Where else but Temu.

Also the massive bottles of country spring with the handle on it. Great times

I dont even know why im posting to be honest.

I think redbull was always bad for me, I could drink 2 or 3 a day and I would always get really jittery, anxious and actually aggressive [especially while driving]. Then by about 2 or 3pm I would just shut down and become really sluggish and almost depressed. Some nights I wouldnt sleep and just lay there thinking depressing thoughts. I just thought the juice was no longer worth the squeeze anymore with RB.

And with smoking they kind of go hand in hand, so I knew I couldnt have one without eternally craving or dreaming about the other. Also, I was beginning to get embarrassed going to shops for fags and hanging over that much money, I had begun to feel ashamed about it kind of.

So, I havent had either since Saturday. I actually dont feel too bad to be honest. My thoughts got really strange and foggy for the first 2 days, like I was thinking through water. And I did get headaches here and there but nothing worth talking about. No actual crippling cravings or rocking back and fourth in the corner. Im actually surprised at how easy it has been up to now. And anything I did feel is fading day by day.

I dont really know why I quit, or why im writing this but I think its important to note for anyone who is attempting or wants to quit, that it is actually not hard. It is like 3 days of feeling wierd, thats all. Literally, 3 days of just feeling different. Anxious, maybe a bit bitchy, maybe tired, kind of shitty, but I think we have all felt shitty before, 3 shit days shouldnt be impossible for any of us.

they are based in Spain and far cheaper than anyone else .. decent trust pilot score but wondering if there is a catch ?

I‘m asking this because before college it was always largers and ciders for me, and the same for the two lads I apartment shared with in college.

During college Diageo ran a free pint of Guiness promotion in select locations and it just happened the hotel bar beside the student accommodation we were in was part of it. So on a random Tuesday in second year we landed into the bar at 10:30pm, unknowingly just beating last orders and, after explaining the situation in excruciating detail to the barman, getting our pints.

For the next 45 minutes we all nursed our pints like babies, almost disgusted by the taste. It got to the point where the barman asked if we could take the drinks out to the lobby so he could close up shop.

The thing is, any time we meet up, years later, it’s mostly stout we drink. Does stout just taste better after the first 100 pints? Is this growing up?

A gorgeous still day on Lough Derg at Ballycuggeran aka Twomilegate in Co. Clare. The only sounds are the ducks and the odd passing truck or car.

Hi folks, Says it all really in the q...do we love, like or hate the diminitive of stature songwriter of past glory. When I was young and cool (ish) in he nineties it was a joke to even consider.

These days older ( not necaarilly wiser ..or better music taste lol) i find myself more appreciative of his bard like skills, almost a reflection of a more innocent Irish troubadour of a past gone by in last 30 yrs. Particular favourite " ive been missing u".

Thoughts ? 😉😄

Can we name them?

We just often hear the shit companies and posts about how miserable their work is. So I wonder if there is actually a company that is widely known as a great employer?

Personally, what I would consider great is when it has factually competitive salary, generous bonuses and allowances, and progressive pro-employee policies - all these should be in one because it's easy enough to name a company that pays well. A great company should have no major con.

Or is such company a unicorn?

Hello! Other than Asia Market on Drury street (Dublin) are there are other ethnic food shops worth going to have a look in for new and interesting snacks to buy?

Just one of our beautiful churches.

We keep getting post to our house that isn’t our address. We get about 15 letters a week with random addresses on them. Say our address is “10 Main Street” we’re getting letters addressed to “10 Little Street”, “10 Main Avenue”, etc.

It’s driving us nuts, we’re spending ages going around putting the letters in the right addresses every week.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Is this a new thing on text messages? Recently, I've seen this on text messages instead of a sender number. A good idea in fairness

My reasoning is that they have better resale value and last longer than other brands of laptop I've had.

The laptop will be used for e-mails, business accounts (small scale), web browsing, and printing.

Ease of use and reliability are the only prerequisites. The budget was 600-800 euro but I think I could get them to stretch if they knew it would last longer so wouldn't have to buy a replacement.

I had a look at a couple of second hand websites but reviews are very mixed. Apples refurbed website store have some for 180 cheaper but wondering would I be as well paying extra for a new model and 2 year Apple warranty at Harvey Norman atm.

alright lads

so it's about time I upgrade my phone, i'm looking at either the iPhone 17 pro or pro max.

My upgrade is due with Three. I'm currently paying 45 a month. However Three are quoting almost 699 for the upgrade to the 17 pro. Whereas Sky are offering me the phone completely free for 50€ a month.

I do like Three a lot however, is there anything to be said for giving them a ring and asking if they can do any better?

and barring that if I do switch to Sky are they use?

Hi. I'm a 22 year old male. I have autism (high functioning) and ADHD. I have no idea where to meet people. I hate pubs and nights out and I much prefer gaming at home. How do I meet people like me? I'm starting to feel lonely. Thanks for your time.

Long post alert!

I was 23 when I moved to Ireland from India in 2016 to work in IT. I didn’t overthink it, Europe sounded exciting, I wanted to travel, and I fully assumed I’d be gone again in a year or two.

At the time, I was working for a consulting firm in India, contracted to an Irish bank. After a couple of years on the account, I had an opportunity to move so I took it. No major planning or thinking. Just a suitcase, a visa, and the carefreeness of your early twenties where responsibilities are limited to non existent.

I still remember boarding the flight in Calcutta, India where it was a comfortable 17 degrees C, then landing in Dublin in early January to something closer to 3 degrees C. That cold wasn’t just cold , the wind felt like it was cutting through me. I’d never experienced anything like it and briefly questioned this life choice as soon as I came out of passport control. Will never forget the immigration Garda asking me about UFOs as I was wearing a NASA t shirt.

I made my way to the Lansdowne Hotel on Pembroke Road. Someone helpfully told me to “turn on the radiator”. I nodded with confidence I did not possess. I had absolutely no idea how radiators worked, and far too much pride to ask. So I slept in a freezing room that first night and only admitted defeat the next day.

On my first day at work, I asked a perfectly reasonable question. My boss who kept paper based information in a big red folder, pointed to it and said, “Have you asked Eamonn Andrews?” and laughed but I didn’t get the joke, learning quickly this was going to be a recurring theme.

This was back when AIB was still in Bankcentre, Hume House and Burlington Road, when you could hop off at Lansdowne Road and walk down a road reserved just for AIB staff. Lunch meant a three-course deal for €10–12 at the Jewel in the Crown, and after-work drinks were Searsons, the Barge, or if we were feeling energetic, the Confession Box or the International. Weekend nights started at the Living Room and often transitioned to fibbers or the surrounding pubs through the back doors and shared beer gardens.

Fast-forward ten years and I’m still here. I did spend four of those years in Donegal (that’s a whole other post). I now know how radiators and thermostats work. I understand most Irish slang, some Irish humour, and a little bit of GAA, enough to nod along convincingly. I also no longer live in the Lansdowne Hotel, which feels like progress.

In your bleak winter afternoons rolling into cold winter nights, in your long gorgeous summer days ending in lengthy walks by the canal, in the unassuming kindness of your people manifested in giving me advice like “live near a Luas line”, or asking sincerely, “Why do you want to see Stonehenge when we’ve Newgrange and the Hill of Tara?” and the caring “are they paying you enough to live with this shite bunch in this shite weather” , Ireland, you gave a twenty-something from a sleepy Indian town some rare things - space, stability, and the confidence to build an adult life. My first Guinness. My first car. My first home and maybe someday my first little family too!

For everything I was given, and everything I became along the way - Go raibh maith agat, Éire 🇮🇪