Brands

Just a usual quick remark.

As far as brand names are concerned, at first I was a little bit confused to notice that there are some grand international brand names that for some reasons change when they appear in the shelves of this island's shops.

However, just to prove how adaptable one can be, I must confess that nowadays I refer to the well-known brands by their "Irish" names, so instead of Axe, Rexona, Brise I say Lynx, Sure, Glade separately...

Equality

A few weeks ago I mentioned that in Ireland it is not unique at all to have three, four or five, six childen in a family. Since then I realised how this is possible... Although I have no idea how it goes at home (so it might be a kind of hypocrisy as well, however, I doubt it), so, what is rather striking to me is that in Ireland the streets are full of fathers walking with small children... Unfortunately, I think we need to learn a lot from the Irish...

Plagiarism

I have just read three basic facts about the Irish and the drive to share them with the whole world is so strong that I cannot resist the temptation to post them here...

So, how do you know that you are Irish?

1: If the temperature is beyond +5 Celsius, you wear a T-shirt.
2: You do not use racks. Never.
3: You flush the toilet with a doorhandle.

Weather

With a bit of exaggeration I can say that all I had heard about Dublin before I actually came here was that its weather is unbearable... Rainy, windy, foggy, misty, clammy, disgusting, awful, intolerable and full stop. That's it.

However, maybe as I was expecting to move to a wet hell, I must confess, I AM disappointed. And not only a little bit. Very much. 'Cos the dreaded weather has not been at all as dreaded as its reputation so far...

OK, OK Dublin is a little bit windy, which in practice means that you can forget about any type of fancy hairstyle you got used to anywhere else, but if you still have a part in your soul that remained a little bit childish, you can really enjoy the playful Irish wind that is generally extremely strong and does not really follow only one specific direction to say the least...

Then. As regards the rain, I expected Ireland to be much-much more rainy, than it is actually. Of course it is not a dry country, but as far as I remember, the wettest week so far has been the one, when once in January it was raining on 4 days out of 7 - it is not at all bad, is it. Moreover, Irish rain is not like normal European rain - its drops are usually much smaller and much lighter in a way, so when you walk in the rain here, sometimes you have the feeling that you are actually strolling in dense fog... Besides being much smaller and lighter, Irish rain has the tendecy to be cheerful and tricky as well, which means that even though the sun shines in the first moment, you cannot take it for granted that it will still shine in the second one... Rain can appear literally out of the blue within a single moment, but in return it is usually generous enough to disappear after a few light drops, so as to be able to stike back again in a few moments before the sun appears again...

All in all, Ireland's weather is not at all as horrible as you might suppose... It is windy, rainy, unpredictable and capricous - but at least it is mild: In winter, the temperature rarely falls below zero, whereas in summer it is usually not warmer than 25 degree Celsius. (For those, who are interested in statistics, HERE is an appealing table.)
Although I am aware of the fact that so far I have been very forgiving, I must admit that there is one thing I have not spoken about yet... Although I still claim that both the rain and the wind are bearable, well, to be honest, the combination of these two might be a little bit annoying - especially if you are not get used to it...