The thermometer outside Sam McCauleys earlier advised me that it was 26 degrees in Cork today, at about 2pm. I think we can officially call this a heatwave. The streets are filled with some rather unfortunate clothing choices, as normal when the sun goes on for longer than three days. It seems that half the female population of the streets I saw today were after running out of summer clothes, and so they opted to either go for the gym wear, or rather unfortunately for some, their clubbing clothes. Playsuits on people who should not be wearing playsuits. Some things just shouldn’t be seen without vodka goggles…
Neither myself nor the little man are major fans of the heat. Sunshine sure, its lovely. Dead heat, not so much. But armed with iced coffee for me and an ever-present bottle for him, we’re surviving. I’m currently on the hunt for a super light baby sleeping bag. Every shop I’ve gone into today has advised me that they only stock the winter ones. While I know that the sensible thing to do is just order them online while sipping my ice cold Diet Coke in the shade of my apartment, instead of trawling around town with the big black buggy in the heat, cursing each sales assistant out of it. The same sales assistants who didn’t have the sun shade, but having apparently not noticed the massive umbrella sticking out of the side of the buggy advised that they had parasols. “Oh, we only got one or two of those in” or “No, we only stock the warmer ones” is the common cry.
It seems we are not prepared for the Irish Summer, which is surprising in itself, since we’ve actually consistently had one for the last few years. I am taking the excuse of being new to this whole motherhood craic and believing in the power of the parasol (and not realising that my little demon turns into the hulk when swaddled and can Houdini his way out and awake in less than five seconds). The last time I can remember a truly crap Summer coincides with that “Umbrella” song, which Google tells me was released 7 whole years ago in 2007 (admittedly, that was a shock that it was that long ago). Which means we’ve had sunshine, and loveliness for the vast majority of the summers since then, with this year and last year being particularly lovely. Now, as a country where it rains for six months of the year yet half the population doesn’t own rainwear this shouldn’t surprise me, but it seems we lack preparedness for any form of summer either. We really should take a leaf out of the scouting book and be more prepared – all it takes for the ladies above is a visit to Penneys…
I fear that ordering them online may jinx the good weather but its a necessary evil – by the time they arrive its likely we’ll be back to the rain but at least we’ll have them for next years good weather! In the mean time, I’ve got my cold diet coke and the shade of my apartment to hide in!
Four Walls, Rainy Days 