Maybe it’s just because I was visiting the city recently, but I’m getting a real kick out of this Dublin-based blog, Twenty Major.
It’s typically Dub humour (read: not very politically correct). As anyone in Ireland will tell you, Dublin is different from the rest of the country. Dubliners will tell you this with a note of pride. Those from beyond the pale will tell you with a hint of pity.
I like this little nugget in praise of a Dublin bus route:
"Going up Rathgar Road towards Terenure we were stuck in traffic. A 15B going into town was also stuck in traffic directly opposite our bus. I saw a girl looking at me and motioned to her that I wanted her to tap the bloke in front of her on the shoulder as he was a friend of mine. When she tapped him on the shoulder I looked away and she looked like an eejit."
Then there’s this idea for a new reality TV show:
"Invent a new TV show called ‘Justin Thyme’ where teams of contestants have to scour the country looking for people called Justin. When they get 5 Justins they have to disembowel them and stuff them with thyme. To avoid capture any Justin can use high powered weapons of their choice, including handguns, swords and the music of Enya."
But as funny as that blog is, it can’t match the unintentional hilarity of the weblog entitled simply ‘Dublin Sucks!’.
It would appear to belong to a non-native who has moved to Dublin. To say that this person is less than impressed with the city would be the understatement of the century. The writing fairly boils with indignation and righteous anger at every aspect of Dublin life: the cost of living, the people, the dirt, the people, the dilapidation, the people, etc.
What’s funny is that his tagline is:
"Dublin, Ireland. Birthplace of great writers… who usually got the hell out of it."
It’s almost as if he feels tricked into moving to Dublin by the city’s output of great writers. One can’t help but feel that he’s never actually read any of them. The works of Joyce, Kavanagh and Behan aren’t exactly filled with descriptions of a sunny, happy land bedecked with rainbows. It’s all snotgreen seas and stony grey soils.
You can’t say they didn’t warn you.