Arsefielders must be the only people in Ireland who hate Finland.
It's all projection really. If I lived anywhere else, like say Barcelona or Amsterdam (again) there wouldn't be such a mystique and jealous rage attached to my location. Who's going to say bad shit about Amsterdam? It does exactly what it says on the tin, and only a complete fucking moron thinks that's
all there is to it. Or with Barcelona: it's a place you're more likely to pass through than Helsinki is. Personally, and since my school days and all the pen pal-related tasks we learned about Europe from, I was always keenly aware of the Nordic region and why it was so far off the beaten track. Which is also the very thing I love about it: the chances of my meeting anyone I know are pretty much zero. Lots of professionals in the music biz pass through and I usually get to hang out with them and they all express the same curiosity: '
how did you end up here?' I didn't - I set out to land here, not Ireland. That was the whole point of leaving in the first place - to find a better life than any I might have had in Ireland. Ireland didn't have what it took to hold me, she's a tart, a whore. She's fickle, subject to change, almost always fucking herself and her people up. She destroys the very things that make her unique and her striving for even more of the same loss of identity and depth of culture is bought and sold like cheeseburgers and fries. She's the one country I see trying the hardest not to be herself, but to be what anybody and everybody else wants her to be. Not my kind of people or place. Her whims and her cruelty are too much for a soul like mine to live amidst, too much unnecessary suffering and hardship on an island so small. So I got out, which was the whole point of every choice I made in my childhood and through my teenage years until I finally got a passport. I was out the next day, and the day after that was in Paris, where I stayed for nine months. Coming home to Dublin after that was the most deflating feeling I ever had, and so I knew I had to go.
Besides, where we live is little more than our base, the place we operate from. I'm four hours away from Dublin city on a direct flight: so what's the difference where I live? For me it's about quality of life. Being in a place where everyone shares a common confidence in each other to do their best in whatever their field is. To be good people among good people where the cycle of positivity and input are valued regardless of your trade skills.
These things don't exist in Ireland.
It's every man for himself back on the auld sod.
I tried it, it didn't suit me, so I fucked it back in her face.
I don't want any part of it - I'll whizz in when I have and I'll be gone again as soon as I possibly can.
Spending too much time in Ireland isn't just hard on the wallet, it crushes the soul.
You learn to not give a fuck because if you do it'll break your heart permanently.
Lots of Irish people I know are truly heartless - they have the skin of an elephant.
I don't want to have to harden myself like that, it's too high a price.
I value my soul, my time, my life experience - I have no wish to follow in anyone's footsteps.
I'm happy enough to learn from my own mistakes and have nobody to lean on but myself.
It gives me the will to succeed in whatever I do, and my main objective definitely
ISN'T money.
I want to know when I look death in the eye that I used my time well.
I wasn't waiting for directions, lessons, or assurances.
Nor was I afraid: I knew it could only be easier once I assimilated, which I more than have.
So now I'm the king of my own castle, I made my choices and these are how they panned out. I'm in the world's happiest country. I'm fit and healthy, happy and energetic, I have money in the bank and time to spend it. Everything up here works as it should. For my taxes I have a life quality far higher than Ireland could ever afford me - or allow me, as a Ballyfermot boy. I'm more deeply immersed in Finnish history and culture than I ever was in Irish culture. There aren't any Irish heroes any more. They all died after The Rising, and since then Ireland's been languishing on welfare from her neighbours. Ireland always needs outside help, but she won't admit it. Too proud. Too stupid. Too shallow. Too drunk.
She could have been great, but instead she bought the magic beans and now she's convulsing on them.
Personally, I hope the cheap fucking bitch chokes on it.
Don't think I've ever met anyone in real life who dislikes the Finns.
That's because you don't really meet too many Finns. It's not like we all hop the plane south every summer for two weeks of fish and chips and warm beer on the beaches of Spain and Greece. We look forward to our own summer: our mökki culture, our wanderlust for nature and the wilds, the forests, the rivers and lakes. Living off the land. Sunning naked by a cool lake with a sauna nearby and some fresh fish smoking over the open fire while the beers chill in the water (or underground fridge). It's seriously hot in high summer, so much so the sun doesn't set for weeks. Where else would you find it? Fuck your cheap package holidays, I want a real experience: hunting, fishing, swimming, climbing and building, living a very simple lifestyle miles away from any another person, sound, noise, or whatever.
Finns do travel south around this time of year to get away from the hardships of the Nordic winter, which is always an adventure no matter where you live across this broad nation. A week in the sun makes a seven month winter less energy consuming. But even so, it's not the most popular thing for Finns. Or me.
Imagine if I moved back to Ireland?
Imagine how much more hated I'd be?
Or how much a failure to myself - which is why that'll never happen.
Fuck Ireland, fuck everything about her - but mostly?
Her people.
Her Declan Kellys and her Djambos. Her dead and buried robbing bastards like the Bucket. Her snide and two-faced rat bastard scumbags like Swordid and the always angry Wilf the wolfie. The list just goes on and on. The list I keep, the one of good people with whom I'm willing to share aspects of my life with? That's a far smaller list, which is why I keep it closer than the longer one the dear readers of Arsefield's are listed on. Their kind are a huge part of the reason I left. It's just not worth it. The further away from that kind of Irish scum I am, the better I feel.
Which makes this place even sweeter for it.