Comments on: The Dabbler goes to Derry

By: Brit

Brit — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:00:17 +0000

Go for it, Michael.

By: michael nc laughlin

michael nc laughlin — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:50:39 +0000

hi, nice wee write up, wee prefer legenderry now though, mind if we link this on our facebook / twitter? im the manger of the cafe in question

By: Brit

Brit — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:41:51 +0000

I noticed that in the Budget, when announcing supermegafast broadband initiatives or something, George Osborne referred to it several times as “Derry-Londonderry’.

By: Worm

Worm — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:54:06 +0000

Good question Toby- what I gathered is that the more Protestant types prefer Londonderry, and the name is quite loaded with history, so just using Derry is the most safe option

By: Toby

Toby — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:29:54 +0000

Is it Derry or Londonderry? Does anyone there care what you call it?

By: malty

malty — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:59:39 +0000

Worm, nice to see the shift from no Popery here to Popery here has wrought some change and allowed a boozy break sans neck break.
Like Susan I have some uncomfortable memories of Northern Ireland from an aggressive frisk at Belfast airport and having to be collected “bit dodgy otherwise,” to finding myself in Newry having a pub lunch with a customer whilst a full-blown Orange lodge meeting was in progress, bowler hats hanging on the pegs in the entrance. I asked him what the mix was in his business “75% Protestant” he said “and the other 25% pretend to be.” He himself was Plymouth Brethren, “safe fence to sit on” he said.
Oh no it wasn’t, some weeks later the factory was torched.

By: Worm

Worm — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:33:51 +0000

you’ll be missing out Susan! I genuinely didn’t see any dodginess whilst I was there, although some of the youngsters did say that the older generation still take things pretty seriously.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:26:24 +0000

Amusing account, Worm – but don’t think I’ll be following in your footsteps any time soon. Years ago, when I worked for a Japanese investment firm, I was the (expendable gaijin) person given Ireland as part of my marketing territory. This included business lunches at Belfast’s ‘most bombed in Europe’ Europa Hotel and taxi rides through sniper-strewn Newry to Dublin.

By: Worm

Worm — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:21:13 +0000

HA! You’re a shoe-in Peter! You’re always more than welcome to submit a trip of your own, fictitious or otherwise

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:09:52 +0000

Can I be a Dabbler correspondent too? Your meetings and sojourns seem to conclude with the most memorable piss-ups for the ages. I’m already working on my first assignment–Florence:

“We were directed for lunch by the patrone of our pensione to a friendly little trattoria on a narrow street where the jovial owner offered fresh gnocchi hand-rolled by his smiling wife and covered with a savoury sauce made from tomatoes from her garden, fresh garlic and clams harvested that morning and trucked in from the sea, all complemented with an unadulterated chianti from the local estate. Sadly, I could only manage a little tea and a biscuit.”