IF THERE is one thing that is really remarkable about Ireland it is what the sun can do to this island.
I don’t mean that as some kind of half-hearted observation I mean it as a really truthful reflection of what happens to us living here every single year. It rains and rains.
The sky comes down and hangs on your shoulders for what seems like days on end. Everyone you meet grumbles and says, I’ve had enough of this, I can’t put up with this weather anymore, I’m moving abroad the first chance I get.
No one can in all honesty disagree. To be honest I don’t mind the rain. I don’t mind the winter. I like lighting the fire and battening down the hatches when there’s a storm blowing.
I like the short days and the atmosphere of a dark day ending at half-four. I like the smell of wood smoke and the smell of burning turf as you walk through town.
Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin. Picture: Tourism Ireland ImageryI like all of that. I like, in fact, the bitter cold way more than I like the burning heat. I’m from this northern part of Europe I guess and that is the way I’m made up.
But even with all that, when the sky won’t lift and it’s not dark but consistent grey and the rain doesn’t lash spectacularly but drizzles miserably day after day.
Then even I’ve had enough. Then even I begin to dream of places with bright, cold winters and warm, guaranteed, good weather summers. It comes to us all, that day when you look out at the Irish weather and think, I’ve really, really had enough of this.
And then the sun comes out and you will never see a country so instantly transformed. Perhaps it is something to do with how endlessly unreliable our weather is, but at first no one can quite believe it and, indeed, it is hard to believe it in a country where the weather can change in an instant.
Dunhill Castle Waterford. Picture: Tourism Ireland ImageryOut of a clear blue, endless Irish sky rain can appear in seconds. But there it is, the sun, and here we are. And everything is different.
Now everyone is smiling and every word is about the sun and in an instant Ireland is a different country. People outside a pub are sitting and chatting now, not having a wet fag. Suddenly, there are pavement cafes. And just like that everything is forgotten. And just like that everything is forgiven.
The long grey winter is a distant memory and now we all say the same thing. When the sun shines in Ireland where would you rather be?
The sun shines and the country is transformed. In the sun too there comes an everyday truth that we all sometimes forget. Ireland is a beautiful country.
Padraic Pearse’s Ireland, that was beautiful but poor, lingers in the air, a country that people would die for, a country to stir up an excess of romantic nationalism.
The hills and the fields. The lanes and the boreens. The cliffs and the ocean. The sun shines and working for the Irish tourist board must be the easiest job in the world.
Valencia island. Picture: Tourism Ireland ImageryIs it that we can’t trust the weather that leaves us somewhat bewildered? Is it that even though it always comes in the end that we never quite believe the sunny day will come? But here it is and top this if you can.
A warm evening and a soft breeze coming in off the sea. Take the creamy pint and sit outside. The pint has to settle and the cold runs down the outside of the glass.
Plenty of time so you can sit back and in the Irish sky the sun and the blue sky and the country around you goes on and on. It will never rain again and it will always be like this and everyone is smiling and all the kids are drinking Tanora and eating Tayto and that pint has never looked so good. Everyone seems to be coming back from a swim and the air itself glistens.
All of this simply because the sun is shining, simply because the rain has gone, simply because the world has turned.
It is hard to explain, hard to understand, even when you are living here. But the simple truth remains. Months and months of rain and mist and cloud. Then the sun shines, the birds are in the sky and you forgive Ireland every single thing.
