Showers from the Middle Age

Ireland is known for a country where people are very sensitive to high technology and stuffs… but what about buildings, electric & gas installations and plumbing???

I don’t really know how to describe showers in Ireland… I have never seen such installation anywhere… Everything is old… I mean they don't know modern equipments. On top of that, nothing complies with standards… I’m afraid that my house explodes sometimes because of a gas leak or something like that.

If you want to have a shower, you have to pull on a rope in order to connect the shower... And you didn’t see ovens… most houses have gas ovens in which you can see the flame inside. It’s like France 30 years ago! During Christmas holidays (hopefully I was back in France), there was no water anymore at my place for a few days because pipes were frozen!! And it was the case for a major part of Cork!

But what’s strike me most is the fact that each house has a survival blanket and fire extinguisher! Before providing such stuffs, they should build houses which comply with standards!!

Anyway, for those who want to set up their business in plumbing or electricity or whatever, consider the irish market because there are big opportunities to grab!!

Funny stuffs in Dublin...

Irish humour ... ahaha

I love this sign !!!

 So useful for foreigners...

I was in Dublin for Valentine's Day and I was so shocked to see so much stuffs for that day !

In every street you could find florists and the most funny... Knorr, which made a special ad for this day...

Irish people, easy target for marketers ??

Nothing striking about this sign ?

Sign in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin

Have a look, nothing weird ??... To my mind, that jumps right out at you!

I'm waiting for your  answers...

Getting food and stuffs at 3 am at the supermarket...

Let's talk about channels of distribution in Ireland... Again something very different from my home country !

Supermarket : Unbelievable but true! You can get food at anytime in Tesco for example (one of the famous supermarket in Ireland).

Insomnia ? End of your party and don't feel like going to bed ? No time during the day for your food shopping ?

Go to supermarket !!!! It's opened 24/7... 

Shop: you can get some food and stuffs in small shops such as Centra or Daybreak. They are situated in streets out of the city center. It is similar to "épicerie" in France. You can get primarly food : milk, butter, biscuits, sliced bread, beans, pizzas, coke and any type of sodas, soap, bubbles, cigarettes...

There is an ATM in most of them. You can also top up, get a fresh sandwich or wrap. In some, alcohol is sold. Again, they open late, till 10 or 11 pm.

 

on the left : Daybreak shop

Off-Licence: what's that ?? It's a shop, or a counter in a pub or hotel, where alcoholic drinks are sold for consumption. It's usually opened till late in the evening (11 pm or more). In Ireland, you can find an Off-Licence in almost every street... Needless to say that channels of distribution regarding alcohol are organising efficiently and well widespread... 
A few words about types of alcohol in these shops: flasks of vodka/rhum/whiskey ; bottles of wine from 6€ (de la piquette mais c'est le moins cher! oui j'ai bien dit 6€) till very expensive ; around 25 beer brands; around 10 cider brands; sodas; Pringles ( one of the only cake appetizers you can find in Ireland); condoms and chewing-gums !!! 

Going to lectures in tracksuits and hanging out in mini-mini skirt

It's common for Irish to go to lectures in tracksuits. Nobody is looking at what you wear...No one cares of that. .. This is very different from France for exemple! If you go to lectures in tracksuit, everybody will stare at you, thinking "What's the hell is doing here like that ??"

Here, you can go to university with any clothes you wish... Nobody will stare at you!

But this is very different when Irish hang out...

Actually, I have never seen an Irish girl wearing jeans or pants during a night out... Mini skirt and mini dress are definitely the way to dress up to hang out here. Sensitive to the cold ? haha, unlucky!!

Sliced Bread versus Bread

Sliced

I think you guess that in Ireland, Sliced Bread easily wins the battle against Bread… you can’t imagine the large range of sliced breads you can get in supermarkets over here. Different sizes, different tastes, different brands, different recipes … Irish like eating toasts (with butter, cheese or beans…) at breakfast or during the day; so Anglo-Saxon, isn’t it? (I didn’t want to use “British” for some reasons!)

However, they have a kind of Irish bread called “Soda Bread”. It’s hard to describe it; Wikipedia will do better than me: Soda bread are a variety of quicke bread traditionally used in a variety of cuisines in which bread soda(otherwise known as sodium bicarbonate or baking soda) is used as a raising agent rather than the more common yeast. The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, bread soda, salt, and buttermilk. I don’t really like this bread which tastes a bit strange in my opinion! Irish usually eat it with soup.

You can get some baguettes in supermarkets but needless to say, Irish don’t have the know-how of baking bread!!!

Do you understand better why I’m missing French bread????

Did you say Chips?

One of the favourite dishes in Ireland is CHIPS. But we are not talking about plain chips here. No interest for normal chips. Actually, it’s yummier if you put garlic and cheese or curry and peas on your chips, is it?????

Another weird stuff about chips in Ireland: Irish eat lasagna with chips! What??????????????? Yes, they do dare!

 Chips with curry and peas

 Chips with garlic and cheese (cheddar cheese and not carrots as you could think)