Ireland -Its people
                             Today's Topic: Neatness

Although Ireland is not by any means a wealthy country, it has a fastidious and tidy nature.  The people and the towns are clean, and the people take pride in their spartan lifestyle.

Even though in Dublin city we did find the ubiquitous, spay-painted graffiti, this seems an anomaly. In the small towns, the majority of Ireland,  we found the walls and streets to be cared for.

We witnessed this in the quaint village of Enniskerry where we saw townspeople on their hands and knees in the street's gutters with dust pans and hand brooms brushing up the street's litter. "Will you look at that," I said to Amy.

This pride in town was most public in today's Irish Times which published the results of the country's tidy contest. It devoted a two page spread, listing each town's score of cleanliness, each town rated: With the winning town receiving a 10,000 euro prize!

This a country with a history centuries-old and a country which is determined to preserve it. And although the people are in an unstable, financial world of limbo, their sense of place and its value are things within their control.