Off Topic Thread 5.0

Zzippy

mfceiling wrote: »

If anyone is staying at home to holiday this year because it's safer you might just want to stay at home.

I came down to inch last night to join herself and the kids. Came down to the beach an hour ago and it is rammed. Hundreds of cars and easily over a thousand people on top of each other at the top of the beach. Cafe is jammed, ice cream van has a queue with zero social distancing and the sunbathers are on top of each other.

If you drive 2 miles down the beach it's empty...barely a soul here.

I've been coming here 6 years and I've never seen it this busy. My summer holiday ends today.

If you drive 2 miles down Inch beach you're more than likely going to get stuck in soft sand and need the local farmer's tractor to pull you out. If you've a nice car he's going to charge a nice few quid for the service

mfceiling

Zzippy wrote: »

If you drive 2 miles down Inch beach you're more than likely going to get stuck in soft sand and need the local farmer's tractor to pull you out. If you've a nice car he's going to charge a nice few quid for the service

Audi quattro with nearly 300 bhp beats all!!

Zzippy

mfceiling wrote: »

Audi quattro with nearly 300 bhp beats all!!

Four wheel drive, yeah?

irishbucsfan

Stheno wrote: »

I'm just not going on holiday full stop this year tbh

I'm comfortable with my current routine and the places I go locally, dont need the stress of being somewhere i dont feel that way

I've been unintentionally abroad since mid-March. Heading back next week. I'm more worried about that trip home than I was about anything here or I think anything that'll come up once I'm home. Not worth it. Won't catch me anywhere near any of the (many) tourists that are starting to turn up here from UK/Ireland.

By sheer circumstance I've made friends with a few bar/restaurant owners here since I came over, and I feel very happy for them that their businesses are finally able to come somewhere close to breaking even now, but I do worry about all these people mixing with almost aggressive disregard for common sense. As if they think just because they're on holiday they're safe, when the opposite is true. I've seen multiple absolutely ridiculous situations just in the past two nights when I stopped by local friends establishments to say goodbye.

The reality its super dangerous here and its getting worse every day. No matter how well-intentioned the locals are. It's not them you need to worry about. Its the tourists they're serving. The people who are coming here against government advice are exactly the people who are most likely to be spreading this virus without knowing it. I'm happy to be going home now, because I fear it's going to get bad and its the poor locals in these destinations in Southern Europe who are going to pay the biggest price for our inability to entertain ourselves.

Neil3030

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I've been unintentionally abroad since mid-March. Heading back next week. I'm more worried about that trip home than I was about anything here or I think anything that'll come up once I'm home. Not worth it. Won't catch me anywhere near any of the (many) tourists that are starting to turn up here from UK/Ireland.

By sheer circumstance I've made friends with a few bar/restaurant owners here since I came over, and I feel very happy for them that their businesses are finally able to come somewhere close to breaking even now, but I do worry about all these people mixing with almost aggressive disregard for common sense. As if they think just because they're on holiday they're safe, when the opposite is true. I've seen multiple absolutely ridiculous situations just in the past two nights when I stopped by local friends establishments to say goodbye.

The reality its super dangerous here and its getting worse every day. No matter how well-intentioned the locals are. It's not them you need to worry about. Its the tourists they're serving. The people who are coming here against government advice are exactly the people who are most likely to be spreading this virus without knowing it. I'm happy to be going home now, because I fear it's going to get bad and its the poor locals in these destinations in Southern Europe who are going to pay the biggest price for our inability to entertain ourselves.

My hope is that the majority of those people will have already caught it. Unlikely their dumb behaviour will only start once they go on holiday.

kuang1

Neil3030 wrote: »

My hope is that the majority of those people will have already caught it. Unlikely their dumb behaviour will only start once they go on holiday.

Yeah that's a very good point.

When you think about the typical type of person who currently says "fcuk it, noone is gonna stop me from having my 2 weeks in the algarve. It's just a flu..", they're most likely to have also been disregarding other guidelines up to now also.
Hence they're most likely to have got the virus or soon will. Sadly, they'll also be the idiots who recklessly spread it.

Local anecdote from here in Waterford this week: spoke to the mum of a waiter in one of the bigger pubs. Her son told her about serving 2 American women and when he asked how long they'd been in Ireland they said "oh we just arrived yesterday, we're here for 3 weeks and are staying in 6 different places". From Arizona.

Having had low numbers in Waterford up to now, from what I've heard from friends working in the hospital, that's set to change in the next 10 days. House parties to blame apparently.

And I'm STILL meeting people who think a mask is for self protection, and are choosing not to wear one because of this.
This is one of the things that infuriates me the most. And these are people who I would have considered to be of reasonable intelligence.

"Ah look, if I get it, I get it."
"It's just a flu."
"I've no underlying health condition so I'm grand."

At this point I'm not sure is it ignorance of the facts or raw selfishness from people that's responsible for this majority attitude. I'm in my mid-forties. All of the quotes above are from people in their mid-forties.

I'm in a minority of people here (I estimate it's about 15%) who wear a mask when shopping or in a confined space.
And if I hear one more fcuker saying that he doesn't wear a mask because he "doesn't like how it feels", I think I'll be up on assault charges.

Has anyone met anyone, ever, who likes how these face masks feel?

FFS!!!

Clegg

Saw this earlier. Is the international perception of Ireland really one that we're open for business? I fear Martin doesn't have the balls to shut up shop if spread becomes uncontainable

https://twitter.com/e_whizz/status/1282199534093950976?s=19

Stheno

Clegg wrote: »

Saw this earlier. Is the international perception of Ireland really one that we're open for business? I fear Martin doesn't have the balls to shut up shop if spread becomes uncontainable

https://twitter.com/e_whizz/status/1282199534093950976?s=19

I think it's a couple of things.

1. Media in the US showing the difference in the pandemic between Europe and the US and then if people check out Ireland we currently have one of the lowest rates of infections per 100,000 in Europe

2. Most of the world including the rest of Europe and the UK have banned US travellers, we have not

And of course the fact that something in the drinking water appears to render Americans slightly less intelligent than the rest of us

Stheno

From the Covid thread

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ectw8MGXYAARYX_?format=jpg&name=900x900

Yeah_Right

I understand why people are going on holiday to southern Europe. I certainly want to. I miss the sun, sea and sand. The wife is 100% against going overseas. We're going on holiday for a week to west Cork and Kerry but it's not the same.

Part of my reasoning for why I should go on an overseas holiday is that the enforcement of quarantine for incoming visitors is non-existent. It's a joke. Why should I make sacrifices if people carrying the virus are just going to be allowed in and are free to spread it round the country?

Dave_The_Sheep

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Part of my reasoning for why I should go on an overseas holiday is that the enforcement of quarantine for incoming visitors is non-existent. It's a joke. Why should I make sacrifices if people carrying the virus are just going to be allowed in and are free to spread it round the country?

Only thing really to be done is get in touch with your TDs, repeatedly and/or contact whatever media outlets you see fit. See if this can be made a big enough deal of that Martin sees that people generally support stopping overseas travel from the US and feels pressured into it. Probably won't work, but there's no way FF will do it otherwise.

Stheno

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Only thing really to be done is get in touch with your TDs, repeatedly and/or contact whatever media outlets you see fit. See if this can be made a big enough deal of that Martin sees that people generally support stopping overseas travel from the US and feels pressured into it. Probably won't work, but there's no way FF will do it otherwise.

I'm gonna do that this afternoon.

Three of the five TDs in my area are in the government parties

kuang1

Stheno wrote: »

I'm gonna do that this afternoon.

Three of the five TDs in my area are in the government parties

Just did that now.
Let's see what they say (if anything!)

Stheno

Yeah_Right wrote: »

I understand why people are going on holiday to southern Europe. I certainly want to. I miss the sun, sea and sand. The wife is 100% against going overseas. We're going on holiday for a week to west Cork and Kerry but it's not the same.

Part of my reasoning for why I should go on an overseas holiday is that the enforcement of quarantine for incoming visitors is non-existent. It's a joke. Why should I make sacrifices if people carrying the virus are just going to be allowed in and are free to spread it round the country?

I hear ya, and tbh dont think it's an unreasonable viewpoint. I was hoping to go to Malta this year for a week or so, didnt get away last year

I think for me, what stops me going though, is that if i did and came back with the virus, I'd have a hard time living with myself wondering if I passed it on. I've a very vulnerable neighbour so that probably affects my views

Sorry if that comes across all moral high ground:)

My new work life though means I can feck off to Malta or any other nice sunny place next year for a couple of months, wfh while there and enjoy a couple of weeks off as well

Neil3030

A suggestion to prominent opinion columnists might also be worth a shot. If someone with a bit of integrity bluntly asks "Why are we still allowing US tourists into Ireland", and cites anecdotes like I've read here, it would probably get momentum.

Stheno

Neil3030 wrote: »

A suggestion to prominent opinion columnists might also be worth a shot. If someone with a bit of integrity bluntly asks "Why are we still allowing US tourists into Ireland", and cites anecdotes like I've read here, it would probably get momentum.

Theres been a few pieces this weekend to be fair

Might be worth tweeting the likes of Paul Cullen

Eod100

Stheno wrote: »

Theres been a few pieces this weekend to be fair

Might be worth tweeting the likes of Paul Cullen

Journalists can ask NPHET face to face at the twice weekly briefings alright but needs to be put to politicians. Only questioning in person seems to be when they're announcing next phase is happening so guess next Friday now.

Gov answer probably that flight and passenger numbers low not but surely if we can't enforce it now won't be able to if we open up country more?

Stheno

Eod100 wrote: »

Journalists can ask NPHET face to face at the twice weekly briefings alright but needs to be put to politicians. Only questioning in person seems to be when they're announcing next phase is happening so guess next Friday now.

Gov answer probably that flight and passenger numbers low not but surely if we can't enforce it now won't be able to if we open up country more?

I think MM is overwhelmed and incapable of making decisions

On an entirely different matter I just left a pub i was in for lunch and as i was leaving Devin Toner walked in

Synode

Ha, I seen Shane Jennings on Friday up in Sandyford

Eod100

Stheno wrote: »

I think MM is overwhelmed and incapable of making decisions

He strikes me as a ditherer/procrastinator but can't be helped by the Cowen saga and other pure FF stuff either

Stheno

Eod100 wrote: »

He strikes me as a ditherer/procrastinator but can't be helped by the Cowen saga and other pure FF stuff either

Same here, seems afraid to take a stand. Much and all as Leo was a bit teflon, at least he made decisions

Neil3030

When have Irish politicians ever deviated from utter spinelessness when it comes to the US?

Eod100

Neil3030 wrote: »

When have Irish politicians ever deviated from utter spinelessness when it comes to the US?

In context of pandemic, when they've banned Irish non resident or citizens from entering the US and Trump likely to be gone from November thought they might do it for once. Not like US military lights into Shannon would be stopped.

Clegg

Synode wrote: »

Ha, I seen Shane Jennings on Friday up in Sandyford

I hope you remembered to genuflect.

Zzippy

Stheno wrote: »

Same here, seems afraid to take a stand. Much and all as Leo was a bit teflon, at least he made decisions

But also worth noting that he had the opportunity to make the decision to stop incoming tourists and he didn't do it either. In fact he decided to move faster with reopening against the advice of NPHET. Can't blame MM for that.

Stheno

Zzippy wrote: »

But also worth noting that he had the opportunity to make the decision to stop incoming tourists and he didn't do it either. In fact he decided to move faster with reopening against the advice of NPHET. Can't blame MM for that.

True, but so far MM hasn't made any decisions, instead hes twittering away about his warm conversations with his Welsh and Scottish counterparts

I dislike them both in equal measure tbh and would happily concede that political posturing ensured Leo went out on a high, leaving MM with some nasty issues left unaddressed

jacothelad

MM was on the Andrew Marr programme this morning. The first question was is Ireland going to ban UK visitors. Basically, the answer was that from 20th July, EU countries will allow visits from those areas that have a similar or lower virus spread and not from those whose incidence of virus is higher.



I had a holiday booked for Donegal last May which I moved to the end of August as the lock down took hold in the UK. It's pretty complicated for us to get there from up here in Moray. The trip just to get there involves hotels, ferries etc to get to Larne and then onward to Portnoo. There is no incidence of Covid19 in the large, rural area where I live but I took the decision after listening to MM to rebook the whole thing for next spring. I wouldn't like to turn up in NI to go to Donegal if GB visitors are excluded. Given the absolutely criminal lack of competence, honesty and integrity in Westminster I don't see any improvement on the horizon, quite the opposite in fact. Over 1,000 deaths in England this past week and the Conserfascists act as if there were none.

swiwi_

Yeah_Right wrote: »

I understand why people are going on holiday to southern Europe. I certainly want to. I miss the sun, sea and sand. The wife is 100% against going overseas. We're going on holiday for a week to west Cork and Kerry but it's not the same.

Part of my reasoning for why I should go on an overseas holiday is that the enforcement of quarantine for incoming visitors is non-existent. It's a joke. Why should I make sacrifices if people carrying the virus are just going to be allowed in and are free to spread it round the country?

I have zero regrets nor qualms after 2 weeks in southern Italy. Covid recommendations were followed to a T by both the locals and the tourists and I never felt in remote danger nor as if I was putting the locals in danger. I’d be more worried traveling to Dublin tbh, from this thread it seems like certain pubs etc are taking no heed of the necessary precautions.

mfceiling

I'm in Kerry for a few days. I'll be honest that I wasn't pushed on coming down but we have a remote enough holiday home that hasn't been used from before Christmas.
One window wasn't closing and there is a blocked toilet/drain that needed sorting along with a dozen other jobs.
We've kept ourselves to ourself and it'll stay that way til we get home.

Zzippy

I was fishing yesterday morning in Connemara. Pulled in at a beach car park at 5.30. 4 camper vans parked up, 2 UK reg. We're a joke when it comes to keeping possible carriers from bringing it in to the country. People are coming in and ignoring self quarantine rules, travelling all around the place. All it takes is one of them to introduce it to a few places and you have uncontrolled spread...