home sweet home?

at home again, or am i wrong in now referring to the place where i have not lived full-time for three years as home? of course it begs the question of what makes a home and i certainly am well aware after moving about that simply living somewhere does not a home make. here in eire we can talk the talk about the Celtic tiger, european union and progression but it is a mistake to believe the small town complex has altered dramatically. today we might have the odd bistro/coffee shop littered here and there amongst dull streets, their Italian red offering a splash of colour-but people the people frequenting these new joints remain largely the same. they may drive their '06 motors and bleat into mobile phones about golfing on Sunday, but these same people still gallop into mass on a Sunday morning and still live in fear of what the locals might say. going out in a small Irish town is an experience to say the least. everybody carefully watches one another-gathering the seeds of a juicy story. they love to attack outsiders with the carefully coughed comment under the breath. as i am not from here i have tended to carefully choose my company-making sure to socialise with people who live the majority of their lives in Dublin and are open to change.