A couple of years ago my mother in law made a comment that Ireland had the best weather in the world. I nearly fell off my chair laughing at her as I looked outside at rainy July evening, a chill in the air as the first sign of Autumn approached. They were just back from Vietnam where it was 45 degrees Celsius as they took refuge in the shade. Looking at the forest fires currently in Greece and the heatwaves in Spain and Portugal , I am now coming to the conclusion that she may have a point.
Ireland has plenty of rain even in the summer and many Europeans would not live here as the highest temperatures Ireland would even get would be late 20 degrees. In June we had a heatwave and it did reach 30 and the country nearly shut down as everyone was too hot to do anything. Aircon in Ireland is not a thing. Our aircon is opening a window and letting the fresh air come in. When I lived in the Canaries I used to love coming home to Ireland and stepping off the plane and getting a blast of fresh air hit my lungs. Real proper fresh air. I used to look forward to it. Billy Connolly the famous Scottish comedian always said there was no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes and I tend to agree with him. I never minded the rain and would smile if I was caught in a shower because it makes you feel like you are alive.
Also when we look at the food in Ireland. We have the best quality of beef mainly because the grass is so lush that the cows eat. Farmers love a drop of rain before they harvest. The scenery in Ireland is also magnificent because of the rain. Whenever it does rain the forest comes alive where I walk and the pathways close in. A good Trespass coat and a pair of mountain boots have always done me well when walking the dog. The mountain boots last a year and thats it. No matter how good quality I buy them, they just last a year so I am now buying shitty ones from Sports Direct on sale for €20 because they last a year which of whether (or weather)
It was mentioned to back this up that we can always go to the sun whenever we like as Spain is a couple of hours away on a plane. In the future Ireland is likely to be the subject of climate immigration as the African countries and Middle Eastern countries will have to vacate if the temperature increases by a couple of degrees. A couple of degrees increase in Ireland would be welcomed.
I go back to the Canaries and the natives used to ask me how I lived in Ireland with the rain and the wind and the cold. But I was asking them the same question with their unbearable heat in the summer. I quite liked putting on a Parka jacket in October heading out to meet my friends. There is something nice about cold weather as well. Ireland rarely goes below the minus temperatures either which is another reason why we have the perfect climate. In my job I have to call a gritter out if we go below a certain temperature. Usually when we go into the minute's. So I only had to call him once since December which will tell you its own story. So we never get too extreme here.
We can also point out that Ireland does not get any hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanos or any of these things. A tidal wave coming in from the Atlantic would be a mere dot in the ocean if it hit the coast of Claire and Kerry with it's tall cliffs. We do get floods however but I am up a hill so I'm fine. The government have been busy with flood schemes lately so we are getting there with these. I would say Cork suffers the most here but the city centre was built on an island so one can't expect miracles. So none of this wipe us out elements around which is great news. We got a hurricane once in Ireland but it was downgraded to a tropical storm when it made landfall although there was a picnic chair knocked over in the back garden which I forgot to tie down. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO STORM OPHEILLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAA I WILL SEEK MY REVENGE!!!!
So all yee all there with your shorts and your lovely tans, I'm comfortable in my countries own skin and safe in the knowledge that I will never get a sun induced skin disease. I rarely need sun cream and the family rarely have to batten down the hatches and wade the storm out in the basement that flaps open when the storm hits. Now there are always little exceptions to the rule. When my neighbours rang me and told me to go down to Dungarvan for them (20 miles down the road), I was surprised to hear that a mini tornado came in from the Irish sea and blew their holiday mobile home into the next field with them in it. 2 of them were hospitalized and they couldn't find the mother for ages as she blew out the window. Luckily they all lived to tell the tale and can boost about being in a tornado albeit and miniature one.
So there you have it. The mother in law was right all alone.
All images are my own stash.