Originally Posted by O'Sullivan Bere

Hehe..that's true. You see it everyday and I see all the ever growing number of changes by running into a new roundabout or some new clutter every six months or year or so. Last time I was in Galway was passing through/bypassing it last October on the way to Tuam and I didn't get to go down to the town for lack of time. I'll be back in Tuam at the end of this month for a few days following the conclusion of a trial in the Four Courts so I might go to Galway for an evening for the craic with family and friends. Indeed, Galway needs the ring road but they'll get to it given growth and traffic is constantly expanding. Remembering what it was like as a child--all through towns and boreens, etc--is almost ancient history yet only a few short years ago, although at times I do miss certain things...the little things...like always knowing I was on the final stretch to Tuam when turning left and seeing Malachy Hession's in Claregalway, etc. It's still there (soon to be gone by the last look of it), but now cluttered under modern crap in a heavy intersection . . . and of course Kyne's isn't Kyne's anymore, etc. Or seeing Tuam and other places rerouted and modernised. I see Oranmore today, and it is busy and modernised with trendy malls, coffee shops, etc. and I go there to hang with a cousin who just moved into a modern lovely place nearby. Yet, my earliest memories of it were sports pitches and Oranmore Milk being hauled around in the sun on open trucks...jesus I couldn't even imagine that today with the advancements, public expectations, health regulations, lol. I wouldn't trade the success for anything to avoid the dreary alternatives being more or less required to hop the boats and planes to get a chance at life. Still, there were aspects of the old atmosphere too that I miss. The peace, the massive number of old pubs all going away with the changing laws and demographics, etc. Heck, I really miss even the heavy decline of turf and its smell, etc that gets less and less due to regulations, modern homes, etc.

Some things don't change, however, and that is local government. Galway City shines despite it. The Galway City Council is for shite . . . mind-numbingly bad. The water things I heard ... you might as well drink the Corrib.

Dublin is indeed a mess, but I save myself most of the headache by driving near and and then catching the tram in at places like Red Cow, etc. One thing Dublin should keep doing is providing more tram services and putting more parking in the suburbs so people coming in can park and take the trams in.