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YOU MAY BELIEVE there is no such thing as a free lunch, unless – allegedly – you are this guy.
There was a time in this country, however, where there were a few freebies you could rely on. Listen up, children, while we tell you about the land of free Dunnes Stores bags and free… air.
We know that the plastic bag tax has led to fewer of them being used and discarded. But we admit that we miss making whimsical fancy dress from our excess bags like this lady. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Airline snacks
Ah the glamour of old-school flying. You paid a fortune for your plane ticket - but they made up for it* in free bags of pretzels and a free drink. *sort of. (Lars Plougmann/Flickr)
'The Channels'
Terrestrial TV channels - two-channel land until TV3 and TG4 came on the scene - were always available here if you had your TV, your aerial and your TV licence. To keep them after next month, you'll have to either be paying for a satellite/cable connection or stump up for a Saorview box/TV. (PA/Topham Picturepoint/Press Association Images)
Directory enquiries
Okay, this is actually an early telephone exchange but we *like* to think that these smiling ladies were the ones always at your service with numbers. And you didn't have to pay a fee to get to them. They didn't text you the number though...(Image: Sport & General/S&G Barratts/EMPICS Archive)
Air in your tyres
Several in TheJournal.ie HQ have noted that some garages are now using coin-operated inflation devices. So much for putting air in your tyres for free. Is nothing sacred, etc.? (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Diluted orange drinks...
...Or a drop of Ribena in your pint of water. How long has it been since those were free in a pub for the designated driver/teetotaller in your life? If you know of a pub that still does offer them for free, tell us in the comments. (flikr/flickr)
Public toilets
To be fair, the older ones were not always the Mae West, but it's rare to find a public toilet that doesn't require an entrance fee/coin in the slot these days. (Andrew Napier/Flickr)
Rubbish collection
It could be argued that income tax always paid for rubbish collection and so it was never 'free' but many areas that never found they had to pay a specific rate now find themselves hit with bills. Again, could be argued as a good thing in the 'race against waste'... (bixentro/Flickr)
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I got charged 4.50 for 3 pints of tap water with a drop of blackcurrant in lucan the other day, totally changed my opinion of the place, staff were lovely but I can’t stand that money grabbin..
IMO its a bad bartender that’ll charge for diluted drinks… when the shit hits the fan and the place gets hot, the bartender will drink gallons of diluted drinks and not drop a penny to the till
@Ronan would you really begrudge a barman that? You obviously never worked in a bar! And how does it make the bartender bad? The boss decides if they charge for cordial, they just have to do it!
It would be a bit off not to mention that the opposite also is the case. Unlike back then, we now have a free: Nelson Mandela, Nicky Kelly, Birmingham six, Guildford four, Aung San Suu Kyi.. :)
I’ll tell you one thing that used to be free… Text messages. When mobile phones were taking off, majority of people were unaware of text message function. Had a phone for months with no credit but could text for free to my mates that had mobiles.
Some places charge you for water never mind the mi wadi to go into it and no matter how long the bag tax has been in place people still argue that there is no such thing and that you are just trying to rob their 22c!
Erm, Gavin, I didn’t copy and paste anything. Don’t you think my examples are a bit Irish?? I used the word pretzels because it went with the best copyright-free image of airline snacks I could find.
An apology would be nice if you could bring yourself to make it!
Susan
Hi Ronan,
I know you’re right.
Hi Bang Bang, I mean that they are Irish -plastic bag tax, the ‘channels’ etc. Rather than US examples, which is what Gavin is implying.
Gavin, the pics are chosen by me from our AP/PA picture licenses and Flickr/Creative Commons free-to-use stock which is international – I used the most fun, apt pics for people’s entertainment. I am agreeing to nothing – you accused me of straight out plagiarism. Not cool.
@Gavin, Susan deserves an apology seeing as you blatantly accused a professional journalist of plagiarism, plus your ‘logic’ did not even stand up to scrutiny. If you think it is so easy I suggest you submit an article rather than taking cheap shots.
Emm, you get little packets of pretzels on Aer Lingus flights. I got them ladt month. And anyway, pretzels are traditionally Eastern European. Jut FYI. Nice article Susan! :D
TV is still free once you have a license and the equipment to receive it. TV/Box/Aerial or Dish . Same as yore.
In fact you get even more now. With a digital terrestrial / FTA satellite combo box you can get 60 odd watchable channels for precisely nothing and perfectly legally.
Sports aside, why anyone would want to subscribe to Sky/UPC basic packages to give you more or less the same channels as FTA is beyond me.
TV is not free. 4 channels cost you eur 160 per year. If you do the maths per channel it works out almost as expensive as the premium sport or movie packages.
The current tv business model is obsolete. I service all my tv needs online where you can get all the english and irish tv legally and trully free, and with a little bit of research any movie or sport event in the language of your choice.
A lot of places do free squash, but the trick I’ve found is to assume you have to pay. One bartender told me he never charges if you offer money, and always calls people back if they assume its free. There’s a little tip for those amongst us who don’t drink and don’t want to get ripped off for a half glass of coke!!!
Ah the poor jackeens have to pay for air & cordial. Not so down the country. If anyone tried to charge me for either of those I’d tell ‘em where to go fairly sharpish.
I’ve not been charged for red lemonade twice at a pub in Galway. It’s my favourite drink for cooling down, so I was very happy. I think the bar manager feels generous every now and then. For this reason I’m not mentioning the pub.
You can get anything you wantin
CALLAN,S BAR & RESTAUTANT,
Hackballs Cross
Esp free Cordial even Orange & Pineapple thanks to Odi !!
plus ya get to listen to Garreth about his
“Sporting Career”"
No need for directions
ya hav not lived till ya bein to de Hack!!!
They even charge you at the Petrol stations here now to use the air to fill up your tires. By use of coin operated machines that cost 1$ for a set time limit (which is never stated anywhere).
Lufthansa give you free pretzels. And free soft drinks. And indeed, even free beer. As much of it as you can drink. And even on their short haul flights. In economy class. They don’t charge for air or water either.
Admittedly it’s €69 one way to Frankfurt (and that’s the very cheapest) but hey, if you have four or five beers, it easily makes up the difference compared to paying ruin air €40 to fly 100km away.
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