It's summer, but don't pack away the winter coat

I offered my daughters some fashion advice the other day that I thought I'd share with you: May is the new February. Dress accordingly.

It's been cold here. Not icy, but cold. Too cold for the first week of May, which in Ireland is the first week of summer. ("Summer?", you ask. "Yes," I reply, "in Ireland summer runs from May 1 through July 31." "Why?", you ask. "Well," I reply, "I don't really know, but that at least puts midsummer right around June 23 when Midsummer is celebrated. I guess.")

Anyway, back to the cold. Last Friday evening I was out for a post-dinner walk with the family along the seafront in Bray, Co. Wicklow. It was breezy and pretty cold, probably in the mid to high 40s. It wasn't late; the sun hadn't even set yet. Besides, the east coast of Ireland is not the kind of place where it's 85 at midday and 35 at midnight.

It was a cool day followed by a cold evening heading into a cold night.

That was when I passed on my advice. One of my daughters was decidedly under-dressed for the weather. She'd read the calendar, not the forecast. That was the 7th of May and it had already been a cool first week. This week has, if anything, been cooler. Temperatures are struggling to reach 50.

None of which is all that interesting, unless you're planning to visit Ireland soon (might want to pack an extra layer of clothing).

It's just that we're coming off the coldest winter in 40 years and now I'm wondering if we're about to have an equally cold summer. Seeing as no one has mentioned it, I presume that ash from the volcano in Iceland won't affect our weather, unlike 1816 when an eruption in Indonesia produced 'The Year Without a Summer'.

No, probably nothing to do with the ash or the volcano. Just one of those things – a cold spell. Still, there doesn't seem to be any warming in the offing, which means my fashion advice still stands: dress as if it's February. Unless, you're like these three guys (below) and decide that regardless of the weather the calendar says it's summer and you're going to behave accordingly.