Rain, rain go away: Ireland’s weather threatens to ruin bride’s dream Irish wedding

The rain didn’t stop one of Tralee’s biggest court cases from taking place last Friday in which 16 members of four traveling families were sentenced to varying degrees of jail time for feuding with each other.

In fact, some of the families of those being sentenced didn’t even use umbrellas when they snuck around the back of the courthouse to chat with their incarcerated loved ones.

“What did the judge say, Francis?” shouted a busty blonde carrying a young baby in her arms through the stone bricks of the courthouse.

They weren’t even wearing rain jackets. I guess they were used to such weather.

As I returned from the pet shop, umbrella over my head (I was purchasing frog food for my friend’s new pets in Boston), the busty blonde was still shouting through the brick and mortar of Tralee’s district court, and although I couldn’t make out the answers Francis was giving her they weren’t good.

The “f” bomb was dropped several times, and as she handed the young baby to what could have been her brother she slammed both her fists against he brick walls shouting, “They don’t know what the f*** they are talking about. We’ll get you out soon.”

I later discovered that the jail cells are located at the back of the courthouse and it was a common occurrence to see families of those up in court shouting through the walls into the cells, even in the rain.

Despite the downpours people still visited the Muckross Park Gardens in Killarney in their droves two weeks ago. Albeit Irish families (foreign tourists were nowhere to be seen), they walked together around the gravel paths that lead to secret gardens and stunning lakes.

A sea of umbrellas could be seen from a distance and nobody was fazed. The rain wasn’t going to hinder their mini-vacation. After all, they probably couldn’t afford to go abroad anymore, so visiting one of Kerry’s most beautiful sights was going to be an enjoyable experience whatever elements came at them.

The rain didn’t stop college students around Ireland graduating with various certificates, diplomas and degrees last week. I attended the graduation of a deaf friend of mine at the Cork Institute of Technology, and it was a very proud day for her and her family.

Niamh, my friend, has been trying hard for eight years to achieve a higher certificate in business and finally passed all her required exams this year, so when she woke up on Friday morning to the dirty clouds in the sky it didn’t dampen her spirits one bit.

I may have thrown a few curses away as I drove from Tralee to Cork (about two hours) in the pelting rain (roads in Ireland are too small for the amount of rain we get), but upon arriving in Cork, umbrella in tow, I forgot about the weather and had a wonderful time sharing in the achievements of Niamh.

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Nster.com