So we’ve had a hot spell of weather: high temperatures, dust everywhere, sunscreen, sweat stains and sleepless nights… the whole shebang. I’m fully aware that our mercury topping out at thirty degrees would be classed as balmy to those in hotter climes, but for us Irish, it is simply excessive!
Gosh, but we love to complain about the weather and it has really allowed us to expand on our more usual vocabulary! We are more used to using words like ‘cold’, ‘dreary’, ‘close’, ‘humid’, ‘wet’, ‘dismal’ and the like. At the moment though we have been able to add colourful flourishes like hot, boiling hot, awfully hot, too hot, scalding and so on… that’s us Irish! Always talking about the weather!
A part of all this is that fluctuations in temperature are just not normal on our little island. Really, our more usual range is between zero and twenty Celsius (that’s about thirty-two to sixty eight Fahrenheit for you folks across the water!). We rarely get a sustained hard freeze and heat like this when it comes is a shock. Everything about our homes is designed to keep the heat in or make them warm: insulation, windows, central heating, even our choices of interior finishes.
If I’m honest, I like the heat, but less so when I have to physically work in it outside. My strategy during this heatwave has been to get going early, do what needs to be done and then slink back to the comfort of the shade while the sun is highest in the sky. It makes most sense because I am more productive and much less irritable when I am cool!
As for the sheep, we ensure that they have shade in their paddocks so that they can stay cool too. And we bring them water… lots and lots of water.
