afternoon on the beach

Tags

beach, Dublin, Ireland, kites, photography, photos, sandthorn, sea buckthorns, windy

Yesterday my neighbour, her little boy and I took a trip to the beach. Our main mission was to pick some sea buckthorns  (sandthorns). It’s tricky business cutting the berries from the branches, they are too soft to pluck as they burst between your fingers, so you need to cut them.  And since they are armed with long, pointy thorns cloves are a must. But since they are really healthy and yummy too it’s well worth – even if you have to freeze them for 24hours before you can use them.

Once we had filled our bags we decided to enjoy some time on the beach and unpacked spades, buckets and a kite. With the wind  reaching blustery heights the kite took of and a bee danced above our heads. Sadly the wind soon got too much, we had sand in our ears, our mouths and in our eyes, making it impossible to stay. So we built a final sand castle and said good-bye.

battling barney on my bike

Tags

Bad weather, Barney, bike, cycling, storm, weather, wind, windy

Over the last few days it’s been particularly windy and wet here in Dublin and it’s all big bad Barney’s fault. Barney is a massive storm front that, after Abigail’s blustery visit last week, has been creating lots of havoc- thousands were without electricity last night and trees were blocking roads everywhere today – with it’s wind speeds of up to 70-80kmh and  incredible gusts of 130kmh.

Since I have been cycling in and out of town since September it wasn’t very surprising that I got caught up in the winds yesterday on my way home, many so strong that I was nearly knocked sideways (I have big red saddle bags), I even had to push for a while not quite trusting my steely steed.

And this morning I was very close to either staying home (the weather was practically just sheets of rain and whipping winds) or giving in and taking the bus. But as I was shrugging on my jacket the rain stopped and while it was still windy it seemed to have calmed down a bit. So with that I decided to brave Barney again and cycle in to college.

Surprisingly all went well, I stayed dry even if I was a little bit out of breath, the wind was against me. But on the way home, Barney was still being gentle, I suddenly heard a big bang- like a gunshot – my tire had burst, violently and loud.  After a small, dangerous, wobble I dismounted and pushed home. Sadly the flat is so big I will need to take it the shop tomorrow, I can’t fix it on my own.

So while I may have won my battle against big bad blustery Barney, in the end I lost to something small lying on the road.

for a safe ride

gone with the wind

Tags

quotes, thoughts, wind, windy

Last night, while lying in bed trying to get to sleep, the wind was roaring around the street. It was so loud that I couldn’t help but wonder if the roof, under which I was lying, was going to just lift off and fly away. I had brief visions of me in Oz, skipping down a yellow brick road in red sparkly heals, but I think i am probably more witch than Dorothy.

It’s been like this for over a week now, the stormy skies are enjoying themselves, blusteringly blowing and whipping scarves, skirts and coats into whimsical and uncontrollable frenzies. At times just walking turns into an adventure and cycling is only for the very brave.

And since the wind enjoys playing with abandoned items the streets are filled with gaily dancing plastic bags and joyfully rolling tins. Random socks, knickers and other smaller garments free themselves from clotheslines and are gone with the wind.

I do enjoy the wind, it dusts off all those gloomy thoughts, wakes you up and creates interesting hairdos, but when it forces the smoke back down my chimney it only makes my eyes water. But I  know the wind will blow itself away eventually and until then I will just decide to enjoy these windy times.

Kites rise highest against the wind – not with it.

Winston Churchill