Thursday, May 24, 2012

For over a month now, I was beginning to think we'd been completely bamboozled. I mean, I knew the weather in Ireland would suck, but I really didn't expect to still need a winter coat, gloves, and a scarf to go out to get lunch at the end of May (and I still felt cold even under all those layers). And yet, every store at the mall was stocked with skimpy sundresses and beach-wear. Really, it felt like a big hoax. There was even hail. 

But then, when we were just beginning to believe that there is, in fact, only one season in Ireland, and its name is Cold, the sun came out. It began to heat up. Almost overnight, it went from winter, to, well, a warm Spring, if not a mild Summer.

And apparently, the entire city of Dublin has lost its ever-loving mind.

Everywhere you go, there are women in tank tops and short shorts. Every patch of available green space in the city is crowded full of people sitting in the sun. Everyone at the office keeps smiling at me. Jorge just went into town at 8 tonight and said it's like Mardi Gras out there - every pub full, the streets packed with people, the parks full of revelers drinking beer.

It's pretty clear that people don't expect this nice weather to last long - or else, why would they be living each day as if it were their last? I'm happy at least that the Irish women will at least get to wear their inappropriately revealing new clothing once before having to consign it away for the season. Come the weekend, we'll be joining the throng as well, I'm sure. After all, I'm sure by the time June arrives it will be 50 degrees and raining again.

2 comments:

Joy said...

That's the kind of day I miss, living in Los Angeles. I remember those days in Seattle, when it got warm and sunny for the first time in months, and everyone was playing hooky from work and finding a patch of grass to sunbathe on. Everywhere you went people would have smiles on their faces.

Here in LA it's the opposite - people go about their life as usual on nice days, and then when it rains everyone gets really grumpy.

Shannon said...

Gwyneth saw your comment on free-range kids about writing from Africa and being glad you are not the only globe trotting free range mom out there. I clicked on your name to see where you were at in Africa and had to laugh as soon as I saw your header. I am in Malawi and had a chance to meet you briefly at softball about a week before you left Lilongwe. Small world.