Blow-Ins

The guy pictured in the screen grab and in the clip boasting of going around town surreptitiously removing the apostrophes from shop sandwich boards and chalkboard menus - my brother, you are now so very public in your shameful arrogant ignorance that I also had to pause the video and come lodge a protest.

Other than that it is a frivolous travel guide of sorts about a small harbor town in the middle of nowhere dependent on but resentful of tourist trade and rigidly protective of local culture. Like small insular communities everywhere they take pride in their community. Despite all the talk of 'it's the melting pot of the world' I haven't seen a person of color yet. Friendly place, sure. If you belong there.

Watched the documentary on a whim, and it's very interesting. I missed going to Dingle when I studied abroad there in 1997, and I've always vowed to visit. Which I haven't been able to do so yet. But I love the people of this town and how they affectionately called their non-natives, blow.

But the reason I'm here is to correct a man from the documentary who thinks he was correct when erasing apostrophes on shops' sandwich boards. And he is 100% mistaken. He says it used to drive him crazy that someone would write "Today's Specials," which he believes to be incorrect (it's not). I was really hoping I'd come across an already-established discussion regarding this, but I suppose I'm the first?

This short documentary made for a nice way of remembering this incredibly beautiful piece of Ireland I visited in 2013 with my wife and our family. We saw Fungie, the local dolphin described, while on a boat tour of the bay. So, it was great to hear from some of the folks who were most impacted by his presence. My father and I also played and sang, at Dick Mack's pub, with the guitar the pub passes around (not featured) and visited the historic monastic sites (not featured). More Dingle documentaries are needed if you are looking for a tourism guide, but this is a good one for hearing from a few of the people who live there, and hearing about the experiences of those relationships.