If you watch Reeling In The Years 1976, you will see footage of the late great Derek Davis reporting on that year’s heat wave. I think I might have watched it one dreary bank holiday Monday after a shortened Six One News and sighed at the majesty of it all.

I had been aware of the hot summer of ’76 long before, for there is a small grainy picture of me as a three-year-old on holiday with my young parents and my dear late Nana Crinnigan somewhere in Waterford during its height.

Apparently this summer is the hottest since.

Comparisons to 1976 have been made many times so it must have been a real roaster.

There were more farmers back then, whatever about farm animals. But they all had to be fed and watered and so did we. In that archive of Derek Davis, it just looked like fun, good humour and happiness.

I was only aged three, so I can’t clearly recall whether or not there was a weather crisis back then regarding water, fodder and the changing of weather patterns. I’d often been regaled about the big snow of 1947 but not so much about the heat wave of 1976. Only for Reeling In The Years, it might never have been referenced for its unusualness, unlike ’47, which still makes some who were there shiver in memory.

Deirbhile, Patrick and me made the most of last Sunday by heading down to Greystones. What a gorgeous place it is. My dad worked there in the 1960s and the image he painted of it then hasn’t changed much since.

Deirbhile and her friends have trekked there many times this summer, making it feel like the world is turning full circle seeing as her grandad enjoyed the same sort of happy beach days there over half a century ago. We had our lunch, bought ice cream and then we waded knee-high into the clear sea.

All the while, I kept ears on the Leinster hurling final in Munster, won by a team from Connacht – another hurling epic! It is why 2018 might trump 1976 in terms of beauty, the hurling!

Earlier in the week I was with farmers below in Kildalton. Another gorgeous day and everybody was in good form as the sun shone. But there was this air of tension, of concern, of worry.

While we might all bask in the wonderful sunshine, sunglasses, suncream, ice-cream, warm beaches, screeching children in the sea, melting tar, great hurling commentaries, Evelyn Cusack, clear skies, vintage car shows and barbecues, farmers were trying to strike a balance.

After that wet and cold spring when farmers managed to harness public support as they collectively prayed for good weather, now they need rain.

It must have been more difficult in 1976 when farmers were looking for sunshine during the rain. But do you know what?

I get the impression this time around that the general public are at one with the farmers. Such a pity the late great Derek Davis wasn’t still with us to make the comparison between ’76 and ’18. No better man to have done so.

Why I haven't been supporting England

This FIFA world cup has been great on many fronts. But sorry I could never cheer for England. I tried but I couldn’t.

I’d think I was a neutral until the opposition would score and then I’d know I couldn’t, simply by my impulsive reaction. And I don’t buy the “oh you support Manchester United so why not England” argument. Just ask a Munster supporter watching Jonathon Sexton over a last-minute penalty against them.

Anyway how could you cheer for the same team as Jacob Rees Mogg, Boris Johnston or Nigel Farage?

Read more

Don’t tell them they can rant in real-time

History to become a thing of the past