The summer of 1995 had just started. Nothing startling about that fact, until you remember that 1995 was the last time we actually had a summer here in Ireland (rather than the odd nice day interspersed with lots of grey and rain!).

I headed off to Wales on the boat with the family and a few friends on the 21st, the Irish Sea being like a glass pond, and the weather being amazing. And, that was pretty much it. We had a minor blip on the horizon the last few days of June (I remember this, as the Bellewstown races were on, and it was decidedly icky during them), and once that blip was out of the way, it was wall to wall sunshine just about every day from the end of June until the end of September.

Now, with today being such a nice day, here’s hoping (even though it’s not forecast) that the weather decides to do it once again and give us a proper summer at last. Ireland can be such a nice country when the sun shines, and Irish people can even be so nice (and sometimes, shock-horror, even pretty!!) when the sun shines!