Movement on the Docks

The Volvo Ocean Race stopover advertises itself as a major event for Galway, but you never would have known it was happening until a two weeks ago when the oil tanks finally came down. I mean, they'd said that was supposed to happen in December.  Now, the ground where the tanks stood has been more-or-less cleaned up and they're starting to set up the race village, and temporary floating docks are being dropped into the water where the racing boats will park:

The race people are also setting up a fence around the perimeter of the docks to keep hapless festival-goers from tumbling into the cleaner-than-usual water.  From my angle, the best thing about these fences is that they're a sign that we won't see the scrap-metal barges for a good few weeks. So, although I'm sure there'll be plenty of race-related noise at least it will be replacing, rather than adding to, the usual things that wake me up at 5 AM.  

I doubt, however, that these will prevent any determined swimmers from taking a dip, as a few young drunks did late last Saturday night. 

I do sound a bit like I'm complaining about all this, but honestly, I wonder if this event will be all it's cracked up to be.  The estimate that 1o,000 or more people will descend on the docks seems a bit overblown, but we'll see.

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