As a flâneur of Dublin city, or just someone who spends a lot of time pottering around aimlessly I have been struck lately by an irksome trend. I am not sure what you would call it, but as I started out on a bit of a French note I will go for recession chic.
So we are in a heap economically and I agree with the sentiment of turning away from the flashy consumerism of the Tiger years. It’s good that we are being more careful with money and realising that our level of happiness is not directly related to how much we spend. I am all for thriftiness and home baking, and spending quality time with friends and family, and being thankful for what we have. All of these things are well and good.
However I object when this sentiment is re-packaged into a recession friendly bit of “trendy” stuff. I don’t want to buy up-cycled industrial school chairs (orphans not included) for €200, or pretend I am living in pre-Berlin wall coming down Berlin.
I don’t think an empty gas cylinder would look nice in my living room, even with a lamp in it, and not for €400. I can’t afford to go out as much as I used to, and when I do I don’t want to sit on an upturned cable reel drinking cans surrounded by people carefully dressed in the right sort of shabby in a place that used to be a club for working men, back when men had jobs and made things instead of being made redundant at 45 and finding they are too young to retire and too old to emigrate.
It’s all a bit “Common People” –it’s not really cool all this pretending we are broke (when we are) and I don’t think this will fix it. Next time I go out I would like a chair, a nice one that is better than the ones I have at home, and some wine in a glass and for everyone to be dressed like film stars, but not acting like film stars just making an effort to get on with things as they are with a smile and a laugh in a fabulous inspiring way that is genuine, authentic and not in any way shabby.
Reality Check.
June 17th, 2011There seems to be an increasing blur between reality and TV these days. I mean you have the old style reality shows with the “He said he LOVED me but he was cheating on ME with the POSTMAN!!” Then we have the scripted reality shows where people pretend they are not on TV and are just innocently living their lives unaware of the TV documentary crew following their every move as they go through a script of getting drunk, falling in love, falling out, falling out of their clothes. Sometimes they are from Essex, or Jersey, or Chelsea but the premise is basically the same. Una Mullally talks more about this in today’s Irish Times “How real is Reality TV?” http://bit.ly/k3z8J1
The answer is Reality TV is not very real, unless it is an Irish reality show. Irish reality shows are different because often you actually know people on them. For example I tuned in to this week’s “Come Dine With Me” only to see two familiar faces. I also remember a classic episode of “Take me Out” where Ray Foley asked one girl why she had turned out her light “on that lovely fella”, “He’s me cousin” she screeched. Fair enough, good to know we still have standards.
So what is the answer to all this. Where does TV end and reality begin? Well I think I have the answer, I have turned off the TV, but am instead living my life as if it is a reality show. Lights, camera, action, anyone want to join me in Chuffey Towers? It’s the new reality show about the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship. In this week’s episode I learn the best method for putting down rat bait and the dangers of clinical mastitis in dairy cows. Another highlight was passing van full of chickens on the N7, the slogan on the side of the van was “Poultry in Motion”. The reality my dears can be stranger than fiction!
Tags: chickens, entrepreneurship, love, reality, TV
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