Changin' Times

A lot of damage is being done to nature in forest wild fires

Changing Times

I was indisposed for a while recently but am now back in action again and heading for my 80^th birthday next year which I am really looking forward to. In my youth if I heard that someone was eighty, I said they were ancient but now that I am on the road to that magical age, I regard it as just a number and I keep myself fit and well, watching my diet, avoiding alcohol and keeping an eye on my weight with regular visits to the scales.

I do my best to keep my mind active by doing the daily Irish Times crossword, I write a fortnightly blog and keep writing articles about weather, the locality and topical events.

I walk most days meeting lots of friends and fellow walkers. This is a great social activity with lots of friendly chat; banter allied to the physical activity of walking. It is a major contributory factor in helping me maintain a good quality of life for the eighties.

When I went on my first woodland walk recently after my enforced break, I was amazed at the remarks people greeted me with like “It’s great to see you out and about again” Others had different greetings like “Oh here’s Mick, bright eyed and bushy tailed “I didn’t know I had a tail. Another friend passed a feline comment “Look what the cat dragged in” or “here’s Mick, alive and kicking like a cat with 9 lives” or “fit as a flea”. These comments had a major therapeutic effect on me and helped me regain my fitness quickly.

When I heard the cat mentioned I thought about how often we use animals in our everyday language. While reading daily news in the past month I saw regular references that the country is gone to the dogs. This is very derogatory language for the poor dogs.

When I am walking the woods everyday there are many people walking dogs which they treasure and adore. Their canine friend is their reason for living, their constant companion, bringing them out for their daily walk which keeps them both fit and in contact with people.

Some people love dogs, other people feel threatened by them, especially if they are not on leads. William Shakespeare, the bane of our lives going to school, said “the better I know men, the more I love dogs”. In his play Hamlet he wrote “every dog has his day”.

The dog has also figured prominently in our folklore. My father referred to the Dog Days from July 3^rd to mid-August for scorching hot weather and great turf drying weather. These were very warm days and were named after Sirius the brightest star visible to us in the night sky in Canis Major, which ancient astronomers imagined as a great hunting dog following Orion the Hunter. The name "Dog Star" comes directly from this association. Any of you who studied Latin in school will know that Canis Major is the Latin name for large dog.

I don’t know what has caused all the recent scorching hot weather. Some blame climate change, others cite El Nino while some refer to summers in our youth which were scorchers and we had no climate change.

Whatever the reason we are all delighted with the warm dog day weather we have experienced in July 2026.

The sunny southeast has really lived up to its name with scorching hot days and nights. It has been a super season, with great weather for outdoor activities. The beaches are full and the cone machines are working on overdrive spewing out 99s with sprinkles and syrups, to satisfy the taste buds of steaming hot discerning ice cream customers.

Mobile chippers and popup coffee shops are thriving. God be with the time when people brought their flasks and snacks with them from home. Now we have an epidemic of coffee on the move, and a lot of disposable cups left spoiling our environment. Remember to bring all your empties home.

County Wexford is one the country’s most popular summer destinations with Courtown, Cahore, Curracloe, Morriscastle and many more popular beaches full all day. Courtown sailing clubs’ annual summer sail training sessions are full every day and it is a glorious sight to see all the boats and rescue craft out in Courtown Harbour.

There is great surge in the population in summer which is a huge boost for shopping, socialising and dining in Gorey and nearby towns as well. I know the town of Gorey itself is bursting at the seams with constant traffic making its way through the town at snail’s pace. Shopping and café and restaurant trade has increased exponentially which is a great boost to the local economy.

Caravan and Camper van parks are full which also adds to the huge increase in population during the summer months of July and August.

Like the rest of the country Gorey has suffered from water shortages due to the lack of rain in the area and extra water required for the phenomenal surge in the population during the summer months.

We have a necessary hose pipe ban introduced to conserve water. it is sad to see so much grass being scorched and the multiplicity of forest fires around the country and abroad in France and Spain.

Elsewhere, heavy rainfall and glacial melt in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India over the past week and a half have triggered severe flooding, with at least 180 people reported dead. Monsoon rain has brought up to 250mm of rain in 24 hours causing rivers to burst their banks and triggering landslides.

Farmers and gardeners are crying out for some rain while local authorities are at their wits end trying to keep reservoirs full to meet household demands. We need to conserve water, and to repair all the leaking pipes which are losing 38% of our water. We need to start the planning process to build more larger reservoirs. All this costs huge money and realistically water charges should be reintroduced.

Maybe it is also time to look at the varieties of grass, plants, shrubs and flowers we grow and bring in some species that can tolerate drought.

Should we be looking at de salinification plants like the middle east to sort out our regular water shortage problems and maybe these could supply water guzzling data centres.

For our summer heat problems, we must look at installing more air-conditioning and continue installing solar panels and wind turbines to cut our carbon emissions.

I know Bob Dylan wrote the 1964 song “Yes, the times they are a changin’ to reflect the protest mood of his time but we can aptly reference the title for the times we are now living in with so much climate change and the damaging effect it is having on our environment and personal health. We need some of that “raining cats and dogs” weather to replenish our water supplies and return our fields and lawns to their 40 shades of green.

Yes, changing times indeed.

Mick O Callaghan

28/7/2026