Damp and dreary watery bliplets

An unexpected call late last week turned out to be an invitation to lunch for today. Dermot lives in a place called The New Russian Village, which is in Kilquade, in county Wicklow, on the raod between Dublin and Wicklow town. It's a lovely spot, and Dermot, who is a keen gardener (well, more a horticulturalist, really) has the garden looking great and actually opens it to visitors during the sunner months. He frequently throws garden parties, too, but Sunday 3rd June 2007 was no day for a garden party. Definitely not. Under no circumstances.

It was raining during the night. It was raining when I got out of bed. It was raining when I got over to Carl's place near Dún Laoghaire, it was raining when we left there, it was raining when we got to Dermot's, it was raining when we sat down to lunch, it was raining when we left Dermot's ... you get the message. The views of Dermot's garden from the house are enticing and quite beautiful. He also designed the garden in such a way that the view from each window has its own special little detail of interest. All that was lost on us. No doubt the glass in the bathroom window is frosted for reasons of modesty, but the rivulets of teeming rain on this day at least made such refinements unnecessary.

NOTE: Blipping indecisiveness came into effect today while I to'd and fro'd between going with the blip I finally chose, or selecting this one instead. Then I thought: 'No. While driving from southside to northside of the city in relentless, teeming rain was undoubtedly a significant part of the day's experience, and can be illustrated quite neatly by switching off the wipers and taking a photo through the windscreen, showing why we were denied the full pleasures of Dermot's garden summed up the day much more accurately.'