1. You spent endless evenings hanging around in exactly the same place

Going down the canal later? Dunno, maybe.

Flickr/oatsy40

2. You felt the pain of having to get lifts everywhere until age 17

Flickr/Rob_sg

3. Your town had a weirdly specific festival

Michael Freeman/DailyEdge.ie

4. And a single hairdresser with a pun for a name

5. You remember looking out for people at Mass, and then talking about who you saw in the car on the way home

Flickr/tracy the astonishing

6. You knew where to meet people for the shift

As long as someone else wasn’t using it already.

Flickr/kristensteffenhagen

7. You knew every single toy/magazine/cassette available in each of the local shops

And precisely what your allowance/car-wash earnings would buy you in each of them.

Flickr/sludgegulper

8. Your family had a nickname

To distinguish them from the other family with the same surname.

Flickr/CarbonNYC

9. Everyone knew precisely which pub would serve you underage

(Or whose brother can get you a fake ID.)

Flickr/maaco

10. Everyone in the town knew exactly what you were up to at all times

And probably still does.

Flickr/Bengt Nyman

11. You were identified by your relations

You were (and will always be) Mary’s young one, or the little fella of Pat’s middle one.

If people aren’t sure, they may ask…

Flickr/HerryLawford

12. You’ve passed somebody in a totally different place who you haven’t seen for years, and known immediately they’re from your town

Flickr/jjelenbaas

13. And finally, your mother still insists on telling you the local scandal at length, even though you moved away years ago

Flickr/Cristiano Betta

18 things every Dubliner knows for sure>

13 things you know for sure if you’re from Galway>