Race Week Yay or Nay

AnFearDorcha

hairyfairy00 wrote: »

Utter Gobsh!tes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMXMgpebNsE

Absolute scumbags...

SolarFlash

It's insufferable I picked the worst week to move to Galway.

El_Dangeroso

hairyfairy00 wrote: »

Utter Gobsh!tes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMXMgpebNsE

And to add insult to injury, vertical video ugh.

Seaneh

Seaneh wrote: »

in fairness, people who drink muck like Bud and Corona deserve to be ripped off for drinking fizzzy yellow water :pac:.


But yeah, that's just the price of their bottles, they haven't put the prices up.

Bud is disgusting piss but tbh a bottle of Corona can be the perfect substitute for a proper beer when you're in a normal pub whose idea of nongeneric beer is putting a lime in your bottle. I'd love if everywhere in Galway had a beer menu a tenth as good as the Salthouse but sadly, more often than not you end up elsewhere.

_Whimsical_

Lets face it race week has become like a really cheap tacky wedding that everyone's invited to at this stage. Ladies day has started to verge on a gawdy variation of halloween with the sea of orange faces and ridiculous hats on absolutely everyone and their mother. It's lost any element of glamour it ever had. It really needs a rethink, I can't see visitors coming here every year for this.

So yeah, basically a nay from me.

ben.schlomo

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

Lets face it race week has become like a really cheap tacky wedding that everyone's invited to at this stage. Ladies day has started to verge on a gawdy variation of halloween with the sea of orange faces and ridiculous hats on absolutely everyone and their mother. It's lost any element of glamour it ever had. It really needs a rethink, I can't see visitors coming here every year for this.

So yeah, basically a nay from me.

Ya to us locals its very much past its fun stage but to rednecks/Dubs etc its a novelty and great craic and thats why out of town-ers will come back year after year.

c_man

AnFearDorcha wrote: »

And why does everyone complain about rag week (supermacs "riot" aside) but love the races?

You've got to be joking. Bitching about race week is a pillar of Galway Life.

I worked for seven race weeks in bars in town ( :eek: ) so I don't need any reminding about the quality of asshole that it attracts. And the traffic is mental. But it's only really four days, then going into the bank holiday crowd, it can be great craic and there's no doubting the boost to the local coffers. All in all I wish there were a Garda crackdown on the element that's in videos like those above, thankfully they're in a minority anywho.

nineteen66

In the 90's ,from what I remember everyone seemed to dress normally.Owners,trainers and the old timers were the only ones wearing suits.In the madness that was the Celtic Tiger,the developers with the whitened teeth,pink shirts and pointed shoes had the Louis Copeland suit to finish the look.The wives were orange looking creatures with a big hat and loads of bling.For the last 6 or 7 years it's kids in the confirmation suit pished at 3 in the afternoon and the "ladies",well I'll let someone else comment on them......oh,it's a nay for race week.

LoonyLovegood

I've spent the week in Dublin with family, came back today because I'm working for the weekend. Walked from the train to Shantalla, had three guys try to grab me, and it just seemed a mess. I'm staying well away from town as much as possible for the weekend.

Seaneh

Deleted User wrote: »

Bud is disgusting piss but tbh a bottle of Corona can be the perfect substitute for a proper beer when you're in a normal pub whose idea of nongeneric beer is putting a lime in your bottle. I'd love if everywhere in Galway had a beer menu a tenth as good as the Salthouse but sadly, more often than not you end up elsewhere.

I was just being a jerk :P

I'd drink a Corona if someone handed it to me and I even willingly ordered one with a burrito the other week, its inoffensive and easy to drink, grand with food or on a hot day like.

Seaneh

Seaneh wrote: »

I was just being a jerk :P

I'd drink a Corona if someone handed it to me and I even willingly ordered one with a burrito the other week, its inoffensive and easy to drink, grand with food or on a hot day like.

I knew, just felt the need to defend the Corona. Buritto and beer is my weekly treat, though tbh it's getting to be a twice weekly habit and there are few things better than a nice big burrito and some cold beer.

Missyelliot2

I don't think true Galwegians really enjoy how superficial the races have become. It's horrible being in Galway for race week- it's like 'Glenroe meets the housewives of D4' - nothing good will ever come of this. Stay home people!

ArtyC

Missyelliot2 wrote: »

I don't think true Galwegians really enjoy how superficial the races have become. It's horrible being in Galway for race week- it's like 'Glenroe meets the housewives of D4' - nothing good will ever come of this. Stay home people!

We can't .... We have to serve these cretins!!

Mrs OBumble

Deleted User wrote: »

there are few things better than a nice big burrito and some cold beer.

Man, you need to get out more.

whineflu

nineteen66 wrote: »

In the 90's ,from what I remember everyone seemed to dress normally.Owners,trainers and the old timers were the only ones wearing suits.In the madness that was the Celtic Tiger,the developers with the whitened teeth,pink shirts and pointed shoes had the Louis Copeland suit to finish the look.The wives were orange looking creatures with a big hat and loads of bling.For the last 6 or 7 years it's kids in the confirmation suit pished at 3 in the afternoon and the "ladies",well I'll let someone else comment on them......oh,it's a nay for race week.

This is spot on.

moochers

Hate race week. Will never understand how people will justify spending over a fiver on booze in a plastic glass and then stand on the street drinking. What a rip off.

I do find it amusing to watch the 'ladies' with their tangerine faces, and bad hair extensions, their cheap dresses and their attempts to walk in skyscraper stripper heels.

I live in the 'west' too and never cross the bridge for race week and for any night out for that matter.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Man, you need to get out more.

Not really, if you cant appreciate the little things then you must be quite the sad sack.

Used love going for a couple of days. Now, if we do venture up, we come home that night. The racing itself is inferior. It beggars belief that hurdle and steeplechase races are run in the middle of summer. Luckily, we've had plenty of rain this year, but the big trainers keep their good horses at home. Judging by the crowds and the amount of food and drink consumed, it's fair to say that the recession isn't biting everywhere!
So it's Neigh from me!

pleasant Co.

Mrs OBumble, Darko, quit the snide remarks.

JimLarkin

RAG Week will always be less popular simply because it's students involved, which makes it easier for older people to be bitter about it.

I've been out 3 days this week and didn't see a jot of trouble. In fact it was refreshing to see bouncers be a bit more lenient with everyone, loads of people drinking on the streets outside pubs having big sing-songs which you wouldn't usually get away with. The Gardaí are also far, far more heavy handed in RAG Week. The other night I saw 2 aul fellas roaring at people from one of those rickshaws, one of them then tried to (jokingly) kick somebody as he went past. A Garda saw this, went over and had a word. If they were students during RAG Week they'd have been pinned to the floor, thrown in the back of a paddy-wagon and left in a cell for the night.

I'm not sure if it's unique to Galway, probably not, but some people just seem determined to have a right old whinge about literally any sort of fun going on here.

inisboffin

CTYIgirl wrote: »

Walked from the train to Shantalla, had three guys try to grab me, and it just seemed a mess. I'm staying well away from town as much as possible for the weekend.

That's awful but really common.
Whatever about giving out about the ladies falling over, the savages grabbing women and *kicking* (yep, saw one girl coming from the station get her suitcase kicked! The idiot's mates stopped him doing more, but everyone thought it was hilarious) them is intolerable. That video above with the portaloo sums it up. I used to think it was only a loud tiny few, but if it is a minority it is a sizeable minority of pure thugs on the streets. Getting a portaloo contents in your face is dangerous, and is assault. Anyone who 'whinges' about being assault is not 'whinging'. Idiots. Roll on next week.

mailburner

big nay from me

I stay well away
used to enjoy going pubbing and gambling instead but
im too far out now

Feel bad for anyone working in takeaways and bars
they should be on double at least for what they have
to put up with

5.10 for a corona :eek::eek: jeez its been a few years
since i drank it...Daylight robbery that is
at least when im paying around 5.50 for a big tiger in munroes I don't
feel like im being robbed for a half litre and good stuff at that

Wompa1

JimLarkin wrote: »

The Gardaí are also far, far more heavy handed in RAG Week. The other night I saw 2 aul fellas roaring at people from one of those rickshaws, one of them then tried to (jokingly) kick somebody as he went past. A Garda saw this, went over and had a word. If they were students during RAG Week they'd have been pinned to the floor, thrown in the back of a paddy-wagon and left in a cell for the night.

Back in the 90's and early 2000's, I can't even remember an extra Garda presence during RAG week. Can't recall news stories of 40+ students arrested on a Monday either... is it heavy handedness due to faux outrage? Or is it heavy handedness to deal with a scummy element which has creeped in over the last few years? I think it's the latter.

galwayrush

About 2 years ago one very drunk young flute in a suit was giving hassle to some people, 2 guys grabbed him as the corporation refuse small truck was passing and tossed him into it.

Wompa1

galwayrush wrote: »

About 2 years ago one very drunk young flute in a suit was giving hassle to some people, 2 guys grabbed him as the corporation refuse small truck was passing and tossed him into it.

I've posted it here a few times but it remains as one of my favorite memories. My friends and I went for a few pints after work. At the end of the night, we were going to go to the original Charcoal Grill but it was packed. While we were standing outside it, across the road talking about what the alternatives were we saw a guy in a suit rummaging through a pile of garbage bags outside the place. He was eating scraps from the garbage. At one stage he took a bit of lettuce and licked the mayonaise off it. A Garda walked by us and said "For feck sakes lads, will one of yee buy him a burger" It was so surreal. Young mid 20's lad in a suit, dressed to impress and acting like a farm animal. That's race week.

Also one year at the bottom of Shop St. I saw some very large woman getting dragged into the back of the Paddy Wagon. She resisted arrest and unfortunately for all of us looking on, she wasn't wearing underwear. Nearly turned me gay, so it did!

pleasant Co.

pleasant Co. wrote: »

Mrs OBumble, Darko, quit the snide remarks.

I wasn't trying to be snide, merely saying that if you can't enjoy the simple pleasures then what's the point.

And on the topic of Race stories that make you wonder how humanity has survived. A few years back I was shooting a short documentary on Galway and in the middle of a weekday afternoon had the camera set up in Eyre Square. I left the camera simply recording life passing by. When watching the footage back later that evening I noticed that in frame was a rather obese, drunk woman who sat down in the middle of the footpath and proceeded to piss and shit herself before sitting in it for quite some time. What made it all the more poignant was moment when she staggered up and reached down into her pants before removing and then smelling a hand caked in wet brown.

Timmyctc

AnFearDorcha wrote: »

And why does everyone complain about rag week (supermacs "riot" aside) but love the races?

Because those are the "responsible" adults who look down on the teens having their piss up then embark upon their own almighty week long bender in the summer but its okay because it's under the guise of horse racing or some such.

JoeA3

On thursday night a friend of mine witnessed a lad with his slacks down around his ankles taking a dump on the "malt house" alleyway. How depraved does one need to be to do that?!?

Eeden

I remember way back in the 90s listening to Galway Bay FM when someone was giving out about the class of tourists who came to town for the Arts Festival (hairy hippies) vs. the race week tourists (supposedly sophisticated big spenders).

I remember thinking at the time that you never heard of impromptu brothels being raided during the Arts Festival, but you definitely did during the races, and that you usually got pickpocket and scam-artist warnings during the races.

I think race week has certainly become even sleazier since then.

JohnDee

Walking along, just about outside King's Head when I notice this fool just standing there hands in pockets and dick hanging out. Suit, trilby type hat and just standing there chest out. Maybe he was trying to attract woman? Anyhow I hate race week, it's a week best experienced indoors.