Alcohol
Whilst some alcohol sticks to the double price tariff, some is even more expensive. Tania's tipple (that sounds rude) is vodka, and over there a cheap bottle is about €18. Tesco's own brand "Nasticov" vodka (formulated to cause bronchitis) is only £5.39. Profit already. Then there's Mickey Finns, a sour apple spirit that is shipped from Ireland over here and sold for £5. In Ireland, it's country of origin, it's €13. Something's not right there.
Light bulbs
The Irish are very proud to be part of Europe. They're glad to be away from the tyranny of the UK, and anything they can change from the UK's methods they do with glee. They've changed all the road signs from Miles to Kilometres. They've adopted the Euro instead of the Punt. But the one thing they haven't yet adopted is the need to be green. Here in the UK we're eager to make people greener, and a good example of this is energy saving light bulbs. In the next 18 months we'll see the 60 watt l light bulbs go, and we saw the 100 watt light bulbs go this time last year. The government have also taken to subsidising the uptake of these bulbs. About once a year I get a visit from a man from my local Energy supplier. "Have you got any normal bulbs?" he asks, and then swaps them for energy bulbs for free. Also, my local Tesco (again) has 3 for a £1 on energy bulbs. In Ireland they're €4 each. That's a 1200% markup! I can see me making a lot of trips for that!
Technology
Again, technology isn't cheap out there. I did shop around, and if you look hard enough you can find products close enough to the UK prices (about 20% over). But other things are few and far between. Sat Navs are a small fortune. So I buy my units over here, install Irish software and maps, and take them over. There aren't any real techie shops either. I was overjoyed at Christmas to find a Maplin in Limerick. I was less then overjoyed to find it nearly empty, the staff unhelpful and the prices just plain silly. I wanted a cheap multimeter, something I have got in the UK before now for £8. The cheapest I could find anywhere was €40, but the flaw in my plan for them is finding buyers.
Drugs
Don't worry, I haven't taken leave of my senses. I'm not going to turn into a drugs mule, transporting over kilos of coke in Chemo. I'm on about legal drugs we can buy here for silly money. Ibuprofen is a good example. I take 2 Ibuprofen a day. This stops my knees hurting and makes my belly smaller. Over here, we get 16 x 200mg tablets in Tesco (I know I know) for 20p. Over there they're €4.38 in the local chemist. We have own brand generic products that replace the well known brand names. Lemsip over here about £3. Own brand same stuff is £1. Over there it's €8.
They don't seem to have own brand anything really, and that's where the real money's to be made. With a trip planned for the end of this month, where I will experience Stenaline's Ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare for the first time, I will be filling the car up with things. If any of the Irish contigent are reading this on facebook, email me if you have any requests. And no, it's not smuggling. It's called the EU open market, and it is a good thing.
No really, it is.
