Snow Gush (...Slush?)

So the snow is gone. On Friday night I had never seen so much white in my life; by Sunday morning it was as if god had said "Right, that's quite enough of that. We apologise for the interruption and will now return to normal winter programming".

It's incredible how different snow makes a place look. Myself and the wife-to-be went for a midnight wander on Friday around streets I've known intimately for nearly 15 years. It was like being in another country. It was a beautiful time of the night: around 12.30 - too late for regular traffic, too early for anyone who had braved the cold to drunkenly stumble home. A pure blanket coated Dublin and it was impossible to tell where the footpath ended and the road began.

The fiancee strode purposefully down Cowper Road leaving very deliberate footprints and remarked, "This is great. Snow is just free fun." She was right. We found Palmerston Park open for business so crunched our way through the white lawns, attempted to manufacture an avalanche on the slide in the playground, and built the best snowman of both of our lives. Pretty tame by many's standards, but as it's never really snowed before in Dublin - and as I've never been skiing - I've never had the opportunity and, as a result, have rarely been so proud. He even had a scarf.

The good people at Met Eireann promised further heavier falls over the weekend but they were not to be. It's Tuesday now and as I type rain is whipping the windowpanes and washing away whatever clumps of watery snow remain.

I suspect our snowman may be no more.