A summer of sun that lived up to its name
IT is happening; swimming togs and sun cream are making way for school bags and school books. The long hot summer (a term which for once applies to Ireland!) is almost at an end.
So what will the summer of 2018 be remembered for? It was the summer where after years complaining about the long wet summers, the myth of a heat wave came to pass.
For the first week it was all smiles and gloating, thinking of all those who had booked foreign holidays and here we were getting the sun for free. Instead of bread running out, it was the sun cream which flew off the shelves.
The race was on to get a paddling pool, only to discover a week later there was a hose pipe ban and unless you fancied filling your kettle ten thousand times, it could never be filled.
The days at the seaside were wonderful, until you discovered you hadn’t shook the togs out properly and when putting the clothes away, you enjoyed the beach every night in your bed.
After a couple of weeks and the initial euphoria had died down the murmurings began; you could hear the half whispers (for fear of being lynched) that it was a bit too hot.
The yellow collars of the t shirts began to get to parents, as tops were only fit for the bin from the lashings and lashings of sun cream.
For those with less than perfect hair, the humidity meant the only option was to tie it up or it formed a human towel around your face. Although a joy to have a break from lawn mowing, the yellow grass gave an uneasy feeling as if we had entered some twilight zone of grass that refused to grow.
The race began to try and get the ice pops home from the shop before they doubled as a drink and requests from kids for drinks increased by a zillion.
Despite the heat and the screams from kids from being constantly sun blocked, it was a summer to remember. A summer of eating outside, a summer of getting more than two uses out of the barbeque and a summer of avoiding hypothermia on emerging from the sea. It was a summer where the bikes got great use and didn’t rust from being left outside and a summer where the promise of a picnic had to be kept with no excuses of the weather.
Summer of 2018 will also be remembered for a number of historic reasons; Ireland were runners up in the ladies Hockey, the Pope came to Knock, Limerick won the Hurling All Ireland after 45 years (much to the disappointment of two Galway fans in this house) and while the world of children’s television lost Chuckle brother Barry Chuckle, the world of music lost the legendary Aretha Franklin.
All in all with the prospect of sorting out uniforms looming, 2018 was a summer where you felt you got value for money, a summer that lived up to its name, a summer of sun.