Where is Wally record attempt in Merrion Square Dublin! The whole Story!

As my oldest sister said when she saw the pictures of the event " Que familia mas loca tengo!" (what a crazy family i have!). Well it was not only Andres,Raquel,my mum and me the ones who were nuts dressed in a wally suit , there were 3563 more people who also found the idea of breaking a world record in Merrion square on the 18th of June in Dublin, appealing! It was the most positive, funny and happy-go-lucky experiences i have had in my entire life! This will be something i'll never forget, we made history (even if the record was beaten again the next day lol)! People from all ages and generations who did not know each other hug and sang in the rain to the rhythm of Gene Kelly "singing in the rain". The event organizers kept us dancing with "jump around", Beyonce, Queen "we are the champions", YMCA and even the Beatles. We arrived there at 17.00 pm to be one of the first wallies and hell yeah, we were because the Irish take their time and most people arrived close to 18.00 and we were already dancing and taking photos for an hour!

The official photo was to be taken at 18.30 and just at 18.00 it started raining like hell, i felt sorry for my mum and for Raquel who was already sick , at the beginning they let us open our umbrellas but then they said " close your umbrellas" and my mum didn't want to lol i had to convince her after a while, then they said no rain jackets and this was tougher to achieve lol, then the organizer said if you see any outsider (not wally) boo them and everybody was "boooooooo". In the end i have yo thank my mum because it has been easy to spot ourselves in all the photos i have found on the net and different newspaper, every time a blue jacket was in the first row, i was by it lol thank you mum!! Even the rain didn't ruin the day, people were so happy doing the different poses they told us to do for the photo shoot: doing some waiving, then only kids looking up and adults looking down,then only kids shouting wally , then men and last women (we were the winners!).

The event organizer was a funny guy telling jokes all the time, he had the brilliant idea of keeping our wallies outfits to do more wally events so this will not be the last time you see me as wally in Dublin! The organizer said : Imagine if the next time Obama comes , we all come dressed as wally, what a nightmare for the FBI or the CIA! lol actually yes!! what a great idea lol And at one point we all had to sent a text message to the same guy ,we wrote a random message and then they gave us the phone number, i guess this guy's phone should have been blocked.

One thing i did not understand is that they gave 2 different dates to attempt the record in Dublin one on the 18th of June and the other on the 19th, it would have been better one day with all the people in it, right? it would have been doubled! On Saturday we were 3567 beating Corks record holder of 2500 wallies and on Sunday the record was broken again with more than 3800 wallies!

All around the media it was very confusing, they talked about Sunday attempt and pictures and videos of Saturday were posted, actually i would say that there was much more coverage on Saturday. It was easy to spot because on Sunday it did not rain and hell yeah when we were there it rained cats and dogs!!! My poor mum lived the true Irish experience!! I have to say that i'm really proud of her,not any 66-old mum would be standing for an hour and a half surrounded by thousands of wallies and in the rain! She also had a good time ! Even if you don't believe me , i have a bit of fobia of crowded places, so the way i handled so many people was , being in the first row and not looking back!!

It was very well organized and at the end of it , we could get out easily, there were many volunteers helping and it has been easy to find photos of the event posted by the championship of world performers. One thing i'm disappointed of is the rip-off of the Irish times when they said that they would put a poster of the record, they only put a cropped photo of Sunday event and no mention of Cork attempt or Saturday..,after all the propaganda..boooo Irish times...

Well I leave you now with some photos of the event, for those who did not want to spend 12 euros on the outfit or for those who did not manage to register, i'm sorry for you.. this is truly an unforgettable experience..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2005471/Wheres-Wally-Street-Performance-World-Championships-attempt-break-Guiness-World-record.html?fb_ref=LikeButtonTop&fb_source=profile_oneline

A summary of all our dances in the rain !! If you look for the blue jacket dancing "singing in the rain" ,totally worth it!



on the tv in Brasil:

http://terratv.terra.com.br/videos/Noticias/Mundo/4201-369233/Multidao-se-veste-de-Wally-e-bate-recorde-na-Irlanda.htm

Dancing we are the champions:



and more photos in case you haven't had enough:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/5846708140/in/set-72157626991634240/

Gracias mam'a, Raquel y Andresillo por seguirme la corriente en mis locuras!

Happy Saint Patrick's Festival 2011!

With this cartoon ,I want to say to you all: Happy Saint Patrick! For those of you who may not know it yet, there is an Irish legend that says that Saint Patrick took all of snakes out of Ireland.. but it's proven that there were no snakes on post-glacial ireland, they never crossed the open ocean. If I was a snake , i wouldn't come to live in Ireland either, too cold for my liking and too wet lol Anyway, the excuse of this post was to wish you all happy Paddy's day!! For those of you who have to work today and tomorrow, we will still have the weekend since the st patrick's festival lasts until the 20th of March! Enough time to drink a pint of Guiness!!! Have a good craic wherever you are!

Lisbon Treaty approved by a wide majority of the Irish Population after a second referendum

I promise I´m going to stop talking and writing about the Lisbon treaty for a while but before I do that I wanted to analyze the resuts.

67% yes - 32 % no

Summary of the yes campaign by the government and oposition parties:

Yes to Europe

Yes to Jobs -> The treaty may nt bring directly jobs to Ireland but it will make Europe works better which is always good for any EU future investment in the country

Yes to common EU climate change policies

No to lies (in relation to the coir group poster about minimum wages)

Summary of the no campaign:

voting again: what the heck?-> To me this was a second chance for the Irish government to inform people better of the content of the treaty

minimun wages of 1.84 -> big lie that didnt help the no side supporters..

EU likes controlling->well EU has also given a lot of budget to Ireland, do you think we will be better without EU?

Bank crisis and recession

the only job the treaty saves is Brian Cowen´s (with a picture of him)

They mentioned the easter rising (1916) and fight for freedom of Irish ancestors for nothing -> it has nothing to do with it¿?!!!

We appreciate EU help and we are European but we say not to the treaty-> a bit contradictory..

Taxation -> Ireland keeps its veto on taxation issues, taxes will increase with or witohut the treaty..

End of the EU democracy -> very dramatic..not all decissions need a referendum which also costs a lot of money to the country..

Military forces

dont be bullied -> ????

On the tv debates , i have to say that the no side were much better prepared than the yes side to defend their views, which actually worried me, specially when I saw Ryanairs CEO talking about the yes side without having a clue about what he was saying (he could have checked the referendum page,at least..). Nowadays thanx to the media and internet,some people like me made their own judgments based on the facts and not on the yes-no supporters views. However, I´d like to mention the great job of "generation yes" ,a group of young Irish educated university students who focused on the content of the treaty and facts and the referendum webpage where difficult concepts such has the votation system within EU,commisioners,parliament and other population concerns were clearly explained (due to the complexity of the treaty).


There is not going to be a magical EU treaty that please everyone but as a proud European, I´m glad to see that we are on the way to have stronger unified EU policies (on freedom of movement/jobs/rights/health/environment/discrimination etc), we have already waited long enough to start taking action!

Thanx Irish people!

Now it´s time for Poland and the Check Republic to sign the treaty, fingers crossed!

Yes to Lisbon Treaty

This is my humble contribution to the "Yes vote" to the lisbon treaty dedicated to the 2nd of october referendum in Ireland. There is a hot debate at the moment in the country and I do hope that the misleading "no" campaign with things like "minimun wage of 1.84" or "race to the bottom" or mentioning the bank crisis can´t convince a vast majority of Irish voters. The Lisbon treaty is not reponsible for the global recession! Ireland without EU fundings wouldn´t be where it is now! The No-campaigners state that Germans or French will have more power in decission making if the treaty is approved, well do you think that if you are outside the treaty you are going to have more power within EU? Those who dindt go to vote the first time or those who voted yes, please take part in the 2nd October Referendum! your participation is vital! Europe needs you!! if you don´t support EU decissions, how are you going to be part of EU? we are all one!!

signed by: a proud European with high future hopes!

I have borrowed the picture from a young IRish organization that support the YES vote-

Las bragas más horteras que he visto en mi vida!The tackiest knickers I have ever seen!

Spanish version:
Está claro que mi blog es un cocktail de pensamientos y opiniones, este "post" no va a ser muy profundo porque sólo es para mostraros las bragas más horteras y fosforescentes que se han fabricado jamás!!¿véis lo que brillan?!! sólo podían estar en el pennys!! la tienda favorita de todo turista que se precie y no por las bragas en sí,sino por los precios!

English version:

It´s a fact that my blog is a cocktail of thoughts and opinions. This post is not going to be very "deep" because I only wanted to show you the tackiest knickers ever produced! Can you see how shinny they are? They could only be sold at the shop pennys! The favourite shop of every tourist but not due to the knickers but to the prices!(only locals could actually wear those knickers lol)

Future "ruinair" security manual?

I wanted to publish this funny cartoon i received in relation to the charges "Ruinair" wants to implement when going to the toilet (i´m thinking of bringing my own toilet paper or baby nappies!). Will this image be in their security manual in the future? who knows!! for now we can only joke about it and hope this does not happen!

No more littering! Dejad de tirar basura !

(Si te comportas como un pedazo de mierda ,el mundo te verá como tal) (la basura es asquerosa, así como aquellos responsables)

This ad is in many streets of Dublin to try to make some people aware so that they stop dropping litter on the streets. Littering is becoming a big issue which is affecting the air we breath! We even have the issue inside the appartments were we live..residents drop litter on the stairs or the lift!

Este anuncio está en muchas avenidas de Dublín para tratar de concienciar a cierta plebe para que dejen de tirar desperdicios en las aceras! La acumulación de porquería en las calles está afectando el aire que respiramos! Nosotros incluso lo padecemos en las zonas comunes de nuestros apartamentos donde nuestros vecinos tiran despojos en las escaleras o en el ascensor!

check out the link to the ad is great!

mirad el anuncio en youtube es muy bueno!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al6Ha-fvOBw

PLEASE NO MORE LITTERING!!! RUBBISH IS UNHEALTHY AND SHOULD BE DISPOSED OF IN LITTER BINS!!

Health system in Ireland , a cry for help

Ireland as U.S.A. has a very poor public health system.

Either you are rich and you can afford to go to private hospitals or you have to wait up to 24 hours in an emergency waiting room (it´s publicly announced in a big sign) surrounded by junkies,drunkens etc.

There is nothing for common people who need to be seen by an specialist before it´s too late. Long waiting lists, lack of beds , people being given wrong diagnosis, dying of common illnesses or inpatients that catch hospital infections.

What is more surprising is that countries with a very good economic situation instead of investing in health system, means of transports and infrastructure, The government budget is given away on : huge shopping malls , pubs and restaurants.

Big differences among classes are never good for regular,common people who go broke trying to survive!

The government does not worry about all these issues because they can afford any private clinic with all the money the have stolen from the public funds!

A common immigrant who works very hard and pay taxes and gets little in return from the government.

Me