Lennard Ramone

  The Culchies guide to Dublin Last Sunday, I was walking down the street, on my way to the pub, when a guy in a Kilkenny hurling shirt walked up behind me and shouted “UP THE CATS!!!”  at the top of his lungs at about 4 inches from my ears because he saw someone across the street who was also wearing a Kilkenny shirt. When I told him that he should not shout in a stranger’s ears he looked at me dumbfounded. I told him that he was not in the countryside anymore and that there were other people around. He mumbled an apology and went on his way. It then dawned on me that these out-of-towners that come to Dublin for special occasions aren’t used to city life, and that these country people aren’t always prepared for Dublin, or know how to behave. (For those not entirely familiar with Irish slang- a culchie is someone who lives in Ireland but does not have a Dublin postal code. In general, the further you live from Dublin, the more of a culchie you are.) As an upstanding citizen ...

Unless you have been living under a large rock in the Line Islands for the past 9 months, you are probably aware that there is a hit tv show called Squid Game.  To give a quick plot summary for the 4 people in the world who haven’t seen it yet- the show tells the tale of a 40-something guy whose life is a mess. He’s divorced, his wife took their daughter with her and, oh, he’s addicted to gambling, which has put him millions of Korean Won in debt with loan sharks and other shady figures who are by now chasing him for their money. One night he is approached by a mysterious man on a subway platform who offers him money if he plays a kids game with him. After losing a number of times (and getting slapped in the face for each time as he has no money) he finally wins a game and the mystery man gives him 100.000 Won (that’s about 70 Euro, give or take). He is then given a business card with a phone number on it and the instruction to call the number if he wants to make more money...