Its ironic that while South Dakota and other parts of the United States experience extensive rain and flooding, Ireland is "suffering" a drought! Yes we are actually having water shortage in some parts of the country! Did you get that? Water shortage; Ireland?! Anyway as a fan of sunshine and campaigner against rain, cold, and dampness I am very much in favour of this drought and have built up a very pleasant tan from the comfort of my backyard.
However, since I came back, I have been longing to visit the beach for a day (being also a fan of the beach!). So I woke up this morning with an overwhelming desire to visit the coast and to spend the day idly in a lawn chair and get myself sufficently roasted. Seeing as it was a beautiful day, it didn't take long to convince Mom and so we lotioned ourselves, changed into our latest beach wear, prepared our ham and lettuce sandwiches, and imbarked on our journey.
We were happy and well pleased with ourselves as we drove up to the shore. The beach looked inviting with its clean, soft looking sands, and chilly blue ocean, and it was sparsely populated with people, only the occasional dog walker (that should have been our first clue!). As we left the vehicle we were welcomed with a gusty wind carrying its load of sand particles. Lovely! But this was Ireland and it wasn't yet noon, the weather could very well change in the next hour, the wind was sure to die down eventually when the sun's heat would climb to its highest intensity, so we proceeded to make our way to the beach. After some debate as to our seating arrangments we settled ourselves; set up our chairs, laid out the picnic blanket (I did battle with the wind to get the blanket laid out and I'm not certain which of us won) and there we sat.
I wish I had taken pictures because we certainly must have looked a dismal pair sitting in our own mini sand storm, our hair blowing wildly, our blanket being buried with sand, the sun playing hide and seek with the clouds, and our background music ( Tenth Avenue North's new album; really good by the way) being muffled from sand covering the speakers! Needless to say we were somewhat miserable but we suffered on for at least thirty five minutes, but after we failed at out attempt to eat our sandwiches (they were truly "sand"-wiches!) we gave up on our lovely day at the beach. We arrived home very sandy and somewhat disapointed. Mom went about her business, I headed to town to meet my employed sister and she got out of work ( we had some very nice sister bonding time shopping!) and life went on as usual. I am somewhat amused that it would have to be the day we went that the sun would cool and the wind would pick up but I am not defeated! I will have my day at the beach; we are after all in the middle of a drought!!!
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