Rain, rain go away: Ireland’s weather threatens to ruin bride’s dream Irish wedding
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“To the man above, it’s not often I seek your assistance, but please hear me out on this one. You see, I am two weeks shy of getting married and it would be an awful shame if this budding bride arrived at the beautiful church in Killarney, County Kerry to meet her future husband looking like a DROWNED RAT.
“Please God, can you get out your stopper and put it to use on December 5, even if it’s only for an hour, pretty please. I’ll go to Mass every Sunday for a year!”
For years I’ve been asking friends who returned to Ireland what they found most difficult about settling back into the old country. There are always two answers – money and the weather.
Granted, I understood the money issue. Even when the Celtic Tiger was roaring loudly returning emigrants found it difficult to save.
“There is always money in your pocket in America,” were the sentiments echoed over and over again.
But when they began to complain about the rain I used to shake my head and say, “But you grew up in Ireland, you should be well used to it by now.”
And when I arrived on Irish soil three weeks ago I wondered what all the fuss was about. It was a beautiful crisp morning in Shannon, despite the forecasted thunderstorms. And the following two days were even more beautiful.
By the Wednesday the rain had returned but it was light showers. Granted, the showers lasted all day and night and continued into Thursday and Friday and ….
But for the first week I didn’t care. Sure I grew up with this weather. Wasn’t I used to it?
After 10 solid days of rain my patience began to run thin. Was it ever going to stop?
Well, it hasn’t!
I now have to apologize one by one to all my friends who returned to Ireland and complained about the rain. It is well justified. It just keeps coming and coming.
However, despite the constant downpours, Irish life goes on. It has to, I suppose.
It doesn’t rain as often in New York, but when it does it almost has the city at a standstill.
On many occasions the Metro North train from Woodlawn in the Bronx to Grand Central would run very late or may have been suspended because of flooding. Parkways needed to be shut down and schools were closed early. Life stood still in New York, but not in Ireland.
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