cNutgroist

Something strange about Dublin - although I should be careful and stress this only apllies to south of the Liffey since I only seem to get as far as O'Connell Street, the IFSC or the Airport when it comes to north Dublin - is the seemingly unrandom distribution of homeless people and beggars (and there does seem to be a difference). I don't know whether they're just very polite to eachother, very scared of eachother or possibly unionised but it appears to me that each has their own patch and nobody impinges upon it. You don't see, unlike in London, a couple begging together. You don't see dogs either. You don't get too many in rags and beards like elsewhere, nor men in dresses nor people so homeless and mad they don't know they're homeless and mad. What's going on? Are they well cared for in shelters every evening? Are they career beggars who take the DART to their apartments in Blackrock when nobody's looking? Or do they just have enough wiles to look after themselves and look presentable when it matters?
I give money if it's jangling around in my pocket and i'm feeling like it - I rarely stop, open my wallet and make a cold value-choice before handing over what I think they're worth. If prefer to give cigarettes, or an apple if i'm walking back from the shops or the market with a few. But when I see a beggar with better shoes on than me, and this happens, I can't help but judge them as unworthy. We all judge people by footwear don't we? It shows more that I clearly don't have a shred of self-respect.
Yet the thing that makes all of this noteworthy to my mind is simply this: people are generally well-disposed towards the homeless here. I'm not talking about the Big Issue sellers or the eastern-european gypsy ladies with the matrushka babies (someone tell me their story - are they for real?) - simply the young lads with the vacant looks and the baseball caps who sit outside shops and cashpoints with an empty coffee cup held out. Some are silent and stare firmly at the ground, some repeat their chosen catchphrase and some, quite brazenly, sit reading books and the paper. Well why not? I'd get bored shitless too. So I must pass 6 or 7 each time I walk into the centre of town and I cannot get over the amount of people who stop and have a chat with them. Most look quite visibly concerned at their plight but all who stop to chat take their time and do just that. Are people just nicer here than elsewhere? Or is it only evangelists who stop? I'd be inclined the to second option except none have ludicrous hairstyles and facial unluckyness (a prerequisite for god-hassling street-style). Then there's my own experience with the locals which just confirms they're a really pleasant bunch of people to meet. No-one I've come across is more interested in you, as a total stranger, than a Dubliner. Even if you sold the pot you normally piss in.

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