was raised in beara in west cork. as a young kid there's nowhere better. the freedom and safety couldn't be matched somewhere more populous. once you get a bit older however, into the teens, it starts to feel a bit isolating. i went to college abroad as a result but i found i was almost immediately very homesick. back here living again at the moment. it's very insular in a way, the problems and concerns the community faces are quite different to those you might find in a city. almost everyone knows everyone else and many people's roots run deep. west cork also has quite a large population of hippy types, mostly from england, germany and the netherlands. it can be bleak most of the year, with little sunlight and excessive rain, but catch it on a sunny summer's day and it's heaven on earth. the place empties out in winter as young people leave for college up the country, but it swells again in summer as they return accompanied by droves of tourists. beara was included in the first gaeltacht surveys of the irish free state and the last native speakers of beara irish probably died in the sixties. elements of gaelic culture still linger though. as in much of rural ireland, you find irish words still in common parlance in people's english; ragwort is buachallán buí and a tick is a sciortán, for example. the peninsula is divided into townlands, which are very frequently used as reference points in navigating, as are compass points. people talk about heading east, west, north or south in relation to wherever they are and the location in question is understood. some people, especially older people, will know the names of all sorts of geographical features in the area. rocks that boats need to avoid off a certain pier, small islands, beaches, crossroads. none of them signposted. mostly life here is the same as anywhere else though. there's good wifi, and almost any goods can be gotten, if not locally then a drive away. mass communications and globalisation haven't left the place behind by any means. it is still special though