Subscribers: 24,000

Will NPHET steal our Christmas? – …and 40 weekend events: HistoryCon, Mind Body Experience, Christmas Market …

Christmas is definitely coming and no silly suggestion of postponing Christmas will change that. But apart from the fact that 25 December and therefore Christmas is less than 30 days away, we really have NO clue about what will happen this year on this important day for kids and families.

I expect that we will move on 01 December from Level 5 to Level 3 (but maybe via an intermediate Level 4 for another 2 weeks :-O ). And I also expect that we will be back at Level 5 in January after families got together. The problem is that the government has lost the support of the people, the Level 5 restrictions are not enforced in the slightest and some are not even enforceable.

Separately the only advisors to the government, NPHET, has only ONE single and totally inadequate strategy: “Stop people from meeting until a vaccine is available” and that will lead to a Stop and Go mess until eventually a vaccine might be available in sufficient numbers, but that won’t be until late summer or autumn of 2021. :-O

The right strategy would focus on rapid Antigen tests for a super low price (EUR 5-10) that would allow us to do test ourselves every time we plan to go to a place where other people are.

With a rapid test, we could have events again, could better protect the vulnerable people and could even start to travel again. Yes, the Antigen tests have “only” a 80% reliability, but 80% is a LOT more than NO test at all and since an exposure to the Corona virus does not have a 100% risk of getting infected, a 80% reliability is damn good if you could test yourself 4-8 times every month, instead of NEVER!

What stops us from using Antigen tests? The availability is not guaranteed yet, but that is improving. The biggest hurdle, though is that the “experts” in NPHET keep dismissing Antigen tests while in other countries the virologists and epidemiologists have recognised that rapid tests are essential until a vaccine might be available.

Let’s hope that the government changes its advisors soon or that NPHET will see the light eventually.

And what should WE do? We HAVE to take responsibility for our actions. Our government and the “experts” are not the people we can rely on, so we have to be better. And what does that mean for Christmas? Start thinking more about how to reduce the risk, instead of plotting how we could rebel against the restrictions!

If we all had risk-reduction as out highest goal and if we worked together on it, we could have museums open, we could have live gigs, plays, exhibitions, talks and we even could have open cafes and restaurants. I really miss all this! :-O

There are a few more days until the Level 5 restrictions will hopefully be lifted:

But since not a single ICU bed was added during the TWO lockdowns and no better strategy was developed in all that time that was available, we know that even on 01 December not much will have changed.
(The Countdown Timer can not be seen in the Facebook Post at www.Facebook.com/DublinEventGuide but you can check it out in the weekly Dublin Event Guide newsletter in your Inbox (if you have subscribed) and on www.dublineventguide.com.)

The Dublin Event Guide has been created to spread the news about cultural events and while we have Zoom events, it just is not the same. But as I said before, I will keep the Dublin Event Guide going even in times when we all are waiting for proper events again.

I do need your help, though during that time! The Dublin Event Guide is kept going by you and you only! This is the deal that has worked until now and I hope it will continue to work: I do the work and find lots of free events for you and you help me pay the bills through donations. As long as this works, I will continue. Promise!!

I am not asking for a lot, but I think one or two Euro per MONTH is a very fair suggestion. So for the year, this would be 12 Euro or – for people you can afford a bit more – just 24 Euro per year! That is ONLY 23 (or 46) cent per weekly Dublin Event Guide edition! An amazingly low cost for the great value that you get every week! :-)

Please donate via www.paypal.me/DublinEventGuide
or for Revolut users among you just via 0872931571.

And if 12 Euro is too much for you, then it would be great if you bought one or two or even three virtual coffees for the Dublin Event Guide and you can do that on the “Buy Me a Coffee” page here www.buymeacoffee.com/DublinEventG

And come over to www.DublinEventGuide.com to check out some of the ads and click on the ones that you find interesting. It really helps if you do that! ;-)

Thank you!!

The EPIC Zone

And here are as many free events for you as I could find:

I hope everybody knows that all events in the Dublin Event Guide (for Free Events) are actually free. The name does give it away ;-) but it seems not everyone is totally aware of that!

Saturday

++ Dublin Mind Body Experience 2020 – Online 10:00-20:00 www.facebook.com/events/2669333683158070/ (with 120 online Talks & Workshops over two days and 120 online Exhibitors)
++ Christmas Market at the Glasnevin Indoor Market 11:00-17:00 Glasnevin Indoor Market, Brooks Timber & Building Supplies, Ballyboggan Rd, Glasnevin Dublin 11 www.facebook.com/events/637907620195736
+ Herbert Park Market 11:00-16:00 Herbert Park, Dublin 4 www.facebook.com/Herbert-Park-Market-405930226496273/
+ Blackrock Market 11:00-17:30 Main Street, Blackrock, Co. Dublin www.facebook.com/BlackrockMarket/
+ Sundays@Noon Online: Marja Gaynor violin, David Power uilleann pipes – Concert 12:00-13:00 Online www.hughlane.ie/all/3062-sundaysnoon-online-marja-gaynor-violin-david-power-uilleann-pipes
+ Sunday Organ Recitals in Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral 12:15-12:45 Online www.facebook.com/events/1107360316362294/

+ Amersfoort Jazz Online – Jazz Festival in Netherlands – Live Stream 13:00-19:30 Online www.amersfoortjazz.nl
+ Christmas Cake Virtual Bake Along 15:00-16:30 Online www.eventbrite.ie/e/126639830141 (Registration required)
+ Yoga Classes During Lockdown with Pop Up Yoga Concepts Brussels 18:00-18:45 Online www.facebook.com/events/384016459313634/
+ Piper Sunday Seminar with Jerry O’Sullivan – Southern California Uilleann Pipers Club 19:00-20:30 Online www.facebook.com/events/458234751831460/
+ Drink & Draw Event: Paint Your Pet – Online Drawing Event 19:00-21:00 Online www.eventbrite.ie/e/128885131899 (Registration required)
+ Gardiner Street Gospel Choir – Online Mass 19:30-20:30 Online www.facebook.com/events/618767912076311/
+ TheAxisChats with actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor – Axis Ballymun 21:00 Online axisballymun.ticketsolve.com/shows/1173605995

I found a few more things to keep you going or that you might find interesting:

1) DINOSAUR FANS, LISTEN UP!
Do you have any Dinosaur Fans in your family? The Natural History Museum in London has THE website for your resident Dinosaur expert: Discover facts, figures and images for more than 300 dinosaurs in the Dino Directory: www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory.html

2) JUMP IN PUDDLES CHALLENGE
Dublin City Council is celebrating World Children’s Day by hosting a virtual “Jump In Puddles Challenge”. To join the challenge, send a video of your child (Age 1-18) jumping in a puddle (20 seconds max) to play@dublincity.ie and confirm consent to use the video, location and/or name of the park. Your video has to arrive on or before Friday 11 December. Find all details on www.dublincity.ie/news/jump-puddles-challenge

3) CULTURE CLUB
The “Dublin City Council Culture Company” is running a range of events every week under the headline “Culture Club”. Every week I check the list of events to tell you about them and every week all events are booked out.
—
Since all events are online and are virtual tours or talks, you would think that someone could have realised by now that the events don’t have enough capacity and could have upgraded the Zoom license!!? But no such luck, unfortunately.
—
So for this reason, I will suggest to you to check the website cultureclubdublin.ticketsolve.com/shows for events that are a little further away and book it as soon as you see that tickets are available.
—
Hopefully someone will fix that problem soon!

4) LEARN A NEW SKILL WITH ONLINE COURSES – Special Offer
I just bought two new Udemy courses last week, how about you? What skills are you adding during lockdown? Udemy courses are still super popular because as long as we still spend a lot of time at home, it makes sense to use some of that time to learn something new.
Did you learn a new skill in the last few months? In November most Udemy courses will cost between EUR 10.99 and 12.99 again. There are no 9.99 discounts planned this month, so you better get the courses when you see them for between 10.99 and 12.99. Please use this link shor.by/GqCk because if you buy through that link, you help the Dublin Event Guide! ;-)

5) READ MORE BOOKS
A new free Book summary can be found here every week: readitfor.me/91927 Readitfor.me actually provides a number of weekly free book summaries and they also have a special offer at the moment still that will expire soon: For $99 you will get Lifetime access to ALL book summaries! This is a great price if you consider that their normal monthly charge is EUR 10, so in just 10 month you would have spent more than with the lifetime access.
—
To buy physical books and e-books I recommend Book Depository because they are usually cheaper than others and they always include delivery for free (and by using this link you help the Dublin Event Guide). Please don’t use any other links than the one below!! (Book Depository changed all their links and with the old one you don’t help the Dublin Event Guide.) With this link you do help the Dublin Event Guide when you purchase a book and it doesn’t cost you a cent: shor.by/BookDepository

6) Open Water Swimming – Warning
With our normal spare time activities not being available, more people than before try something new and one thing that can’t be taken away easily is swimming in the sea, which is also called “Open Water Swimming”. But Open Water Swimming is no walk in the park ;-) and if you give it a go, you should be extra careful. There are unexpected risks and in the last week alone EIGHT times swimmers needed to be rescued.
The Irish Coast Guards and RNLI appeal to everyone who is not an experienced Open Water Swimmer to be careful and they give some advise: www.gov.ie/en/press-release/5cdc3-irish-coast-guard-and-rnli-issue-water-safety-plea-as-callouts-to-open-water-swimmers-increase/ …