sprocket i/o

Last week I got back from spending a week in Dublin. While it was a work-related trip, I was able to sneak away over the weekend and visit some other locations on the east coast, namely Wicklow and Belfast. Here are some photos showing the contrast between the three locations:

The Good

The Bad

The Ugly

Considering how much I enjoyed Dublin two years ago, I felt quite disillusioned with the city this time. The last time I was here, I stuck to the tourist spots, a terminal window, and bar-hopping with coworkers. This time I spent my week exploring the underbelly of the city, taking photos of the dingy grey skin of Dublin. One thing that really struck me was just how crass and rude the youth are to each other, and how little I could actually understand native Dubliners.

On Saturday, I found a welcome reprieve from the endless concrete slab of the city, and headed down South to the outskirts of Wicklow for a bit of hiking. Niall and Cian led this fast-paced hike up and down a gorgeous valley. Simon (my boss) and I followed slowly, snapping photos wherever we could, and desperately running to catch up afterwards. While my feet felt sore from all of the walking I had done over the week, the sense of exertion was welcome.

For Sunday, I headed up to Belfast to photograph the famous murals. Similar to Dublin, I spent most of my time in the lower-class areas of the city, but here I actually felt more comfortable doing so. I’m still surprised by just how many murals there were spread around, from the amateur to pro. It was also interesting that the Loyalist (UK) murals were much more violent and geared toward the conflict than the Unionist (pro-Ireland) murals. I suspect most of the Unionist murals have been painted over with more tourist-friendly subjects, however.

One very “Irish” moment I had was on the train journey from Belfast back to Dublin. While we were about 20 minutes south of Belfast, a man in the next car was shouting louder than anyone I have ever heard before. “How dare you tell me who my mother is. I don’t even know who my mother is!”. He then continued ranting for over 5 minutes. Then there was silence, quickly followed by another tirade and the train coming to a quick halt. People whispered up and down the car, the gist of their conversation was that the guy had slapped someone so hard they fell down, and someone pulled the emergency brake in response. A woman ran down the aisle toward the front of the train asking if anyone had seen the conductor. The lady and several annoyed looking employees of Northern Ireland Railways headed back with her. As they escorted the assailant to the front of the train, the man kept repeating “Sorry everyone”, with his head bowed down.

Here are links to the photo albums, and one more unofficial mural for the road (since I love street art so much):

• Dublin Red Line
• Walking the Spink Loop
• War and Poverty: Belfast Murals
• Belfast City

I hope you enjoy them!