Windy city

Apparently, what everyone does when they either get older, run out of things to talk about, or just need something to fill that awkward silence with while shuffling your shoes in the lift or waiting for the cashier to bag your items; talk about the weather. I don't know which of those categories I fall into right now - most likely it's the getting older-part that is getting to me, regardless of many "I-am-nearing-thirty-you-are-so-young-I-remember-what-it-was-like-when-I-was-carefree-and-youthful-like-you!" moments from my friends lately - but I feel it is time to give some comment on the latest weather development here in Ireland. This might have been sparked from the last few weeks' focus in my Irish class, where we have pondered the many varieties of describing cloudy, windy, cold and rainy aimsire as Gaeilge. Supposedly the Irish does not have a phrase to describe "It is always sunny", which strikes me as one of the many endearing quirks of a language which neither has yes or no, and where letters are added, subtracted or lesioned by rules that seem governed by an ancient someone's initial reaction rather than a logical system, or at least not by a logical system graspable after six weeks. I truly adore it none the less, however.

But the subject was supposed to be weather, not Irish. It is maybe characteristic that my thoughts are spurred rather by a lack of the one feature everyone connects with Ireland than the supposed presence of it; the rain. I came over in the hope and belief that I would get my fix of proper soakings here, dark nights by the window with lashing storms and striking rainfalls, long walks soaked as a sheep wet to the skin, and sparkling streets glittering from light reflected in the wet asphalt. What has rather prevailed these last few months has been surprisingly sunny or mindblowingly windy, admittedly to some disappointment for yours truly. Rain has been scarce apart from the week I arrived, and some half-decent days here and there, but I got more rain during my week-long stay in Bergen than I've done in all the time since I've been here. Many of my acquaintances cite the wet weather as one of the reasons they do not wish to stay permanently in this magical city - whereas I would only migrate of climatic reasons in search of more rain; and less of this blasted wind! The last week has been exceptionally annoying, with winds seriously disturbing normal passage through the days. On Tuesday I was very nearly hit by a bus, being blown harshly off the footpath and right into the street by a particularly vicious gust of wind crossing a bridge. Going to work takes longer than usual because the wind forces you to slow your step, and because it continuously threatens to remove you from the path onto the street or into the dodgy mudwaters of the canal. Dangerous stuff. I've seen kids and cyclists literally unable to move forward due to the immense opposition from the horizontal forces thrown at them, and umbrellas all across the city end up broken and discarded, providing no protection for their owners and proving rather dangerous for taller pedestrians like myself navigating through crowded streets, being right in my eye-height as they usually are when they are knocked off position. Back home in the Shire, our sturdy red brick house is creaking on its foundations, while our hobbit door threatens to jump off its hinges every few minutes.

I really, really do not like wind - it is the most useless weather of all, and serves no pleasure or practical purpose whatsoever, unlike more agreable forms of weather like life-affirming rain, mood-lifting sun or beautiful snow and frost. Wind just messes with peoples heads, messes with less solid structures and with everything that is good in this world. Give me some vertical, windless downpours any day, and I'll be as happy as a pup in a playground, but these windy days break my spirit. I hope for some proper rough days when I migrate to Donegal for St Patrick's day, but in the meantime I will stay inside and curse the gails that continue to roam around every corner without subsiding. Grrr.