Summer nights

There was certainly a risk involved, planning to spend four consecutive hours in a park in Dublin on a summer evening. Presently, from my seat at the Starbucks in Rathmines, I can see the rain pouring down outside. For now this only complements the snug feeling that my massive cappuccino and the Sunday morning music already initiated. Should we have experienced such a downpour last Thursday however, I can imagine that the word ‘snug’ would have been the last on my mind. But Ana Marija’s determined insistence that it wouldn’t rain that night, based on one out of several conflicting weather forecasts, proved justified. And so the open air cinema in Merrion Square was a success.

At about three quarters of the Grand Budapest Hotel I managed to tear my eyes away from the screen in order to soak up the scene around me. You know, another one of those moments that you ‘step out’ of the situation in order to fully appreciate what is going on. The top floors of the 200-year old Georgian houses lining the square were visible above the trees in Merrion Square, bathing in the yellow glow of the street lights. Darkness had already set (lest we wouldn’t have been able to see the screening) and the sky was a concoction of ominous clouds and streaks of dark night sky. Occasional gusts of wind, met by shivers on my right side, blew the clouds apart before they had a chance to congregate into a decent force. The temperature was still pleasant however, and we were surrounded by a happy crowd of people sitting on blankets, eating their picnics, drinking their non-alcoholic beverages, and collectively enjoying the movie. An oasis of green in the heart of Dublin, on a summer night, enjoying the simple things in life. Such was the realisation, and my gaze drifted back to the screen. It was a movie worth watching after all.