The weather - what else

It’s a dark and dreary day in Dublin and incessant drizzle has engulfed the city, affecting all who venture outdoors like a contagious disease.  Thick clouds hovering close to chimneys and roofs make that dusk seems imminent shortly after I leave the office, as if the clock has been turned an hour back rather than ahead last Saturday. It’s an evening to go home swiftly and bolt the front door for the night, as surely one would not leave the warmth and safety that comes with being at home. Sitting in my favourite couch at the window facing the streets, I see the fog and gloom ominously pressing against the glass, as if attempting to intrude my safe haven. It’s the perfect night for writing a blog post.

Luckily murky weather as this goes as quickly as it comes and tomorrow could be a whole different day. In fact, singling out some standalone moments over the past week I may as well have imagined myself being in the Mediterranean. Our weekly Tuesday afternoon football sessions don’t get any better than yesterday’s, with a brilliant blue sky and radiant sunshine blessing our small-time endeavours. And also last Sunday, hiking around the Howth peninsula in a t-shirt, climbing rocks and walking past large estates with gorgeous sea-views, flashbacks of a similar saunter in Capri (summer 2008) were not altogether inappropriate. The sniffing and running nose that I have entertained my colleagues with today are the keepsake of the first frisbeeing of the season yesterday evening. Having enjoyed such a gorgeous midday escape from the office, and still not quite having learnt my lesson when it comes to the whimsicality of the Irish weather, I convinced Bo to go to the beach after work to release some of the impatience of being locked up in an office for too many hours a week. Sniffing or no sniffing, I did enjoy the hour or so spent on soggy sand tremendously, running and jumping around in efforts to catch the orange frisbee carried on the Eastern sea winds. And how better to follow up on such delights than to watch a Champions League quarter final match in one of Dublin’s countless pubs, while savouring a pint of Carlsberg and filling the stomach with fried cod and chips. As such staying in tonight is really quite the exception, as also Saturday, despite slightly less encouraging weather, Mark and I braved the elements and set off on an afternoon of playing golf at Elm Green. Again our perseverance and good faith got rewarded with some hours void of any rain and a rather empty golf course. The treat we rewarded ourselves with afterwards may sound rather familiar by now but I assure you that pub food and a pint of draught in combination with a decent football match on a big screen never gets boring!