Dublin - Capital of Drinking

If Cork is the European Capital Of Culture, then I think Dublin should be awarded the European Capital Of Drinking. As this weekend is my last weekend in Dublin, I decided to head out with a few people from volleyball. There was supposed to be some big club night out in a pub, but when I turned up, there was nobody there. To be honest, I wasn't that pushed on going. I just wanted to show my face, it being my last weekend in Dublin.

Walking down Grafton Street, it's amazing the amount of people who were around most on a big night out in Dublin. I imagine if I headed to Temple Bar, it would have been busier. It got me thinking, if you want to do something at the weekend, is the only real option the pub? Worringly, I think it is. There is the cinema, of which Ireland has the second highest level of attendance in Europe, but thats it. It was quite early when I was around, so there were only a few drunks wandering around, but I imagine things are a lot worse now, early in the morning.

Having just read this article by Markham Nolan who is going off drink for a year, and is blogging the entire thing here, I couldn't but totally agree with him. He puts it much better in his excellent article, but its true, everything in Ireland revolves around the pub. Even my aunt, who is now living in Dublin, when I meet her asks me about what pubs I go to. Does this question determine my level of enjoyment in Dublin? I enjoyed my time here in Dublin. I really enjoyed playing volleyball with UCD and the people I worked with were good fun, and yes we did have some good nights out in pubs, but honestly, what else were we to do? In fact, my last 2 days of work were spent mostly in the pub. Put simply, someone in the company cut a cable that ended up shutting down the entire company for one day and prevented anyone doing anything useful for another.

So, while I'm sad to be leaving Dublin, in reality, I'm not that sad leaving behind the society where the pub and getting drunk is the commonly accepted way of enjoying oneself. Granted, London and British society isn't much different, but in my time there last summer, I had a great time, and it wasn't in the pubs. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy going out and getting drunk as much as the next person and making a complete fool out of myself. Or having a nice cold pint of Murphys in a nice quiet pub with some good friends.

But what I don't like is, as Markham puts it

Spend five days a week waiting for the weekend; then for two days, gather as a group and drink to forget; spend five days recovering; drink to forget…

Its the mentality and acceptance of drinking that gets to me. Many people have opinions on the Irish culture of drinking. Isnt it sad that our National Holiday is effectively an excuse to get hammered and do stupid things? Why do plane loads of tourists come to Ireland for "St. Patty's Day" (as Americans like to call it) other than to have some "craic" (loosely translates as get out of your mind drunk for 14 hours). There's nothing wrong with having a good time, but when Americans tell me I could drink them under the table because I was raised as a drinking machine, then you know its too much. You can only laugh it off once or twice. But we need to look at how we are perceived when the joke of the the drunken Irish even makes it into The Simpsons.