Sweltering Carlow tries to stay cool

THERE were more than a few red shoulders to be seen in Carlow last week, with temperatures reaching 30.2 degrees celsius at Oak Park on Thursday 25 June.

On Friday afternoon, sixth-class pupils enjoying their last day of primary school wandered around Carlow town wearing white t-shirts scribbled with names of their former classmates. They hung out in shaded spots and played on the searing metal bars of Hanover Park playground.

At 2pm, the town park in Graiguecullen was largely empty, save for some people sheltering under trees and a few teenagers who were jumping into the brown River Barrow water shouting out that it was “lovely”. 

A family inflated a stand-up paddleboard next to the water, blasting music while they worked.

Dermot and Aree were out for a walk in the park with their two Jack Russells twins Olly and Lulu. A hack she found on TikTok, Aree carried a wet towel that she used occasionally to rub the dogs down or to cover their backs as a way to cool them down.

“They’re probably getting on better than ourselves,” said Dermot of the dogs’ resilience to the heat.

The pair said they didn’t have plans to enjoy the continental weather but were going “home to turn on the fan. We couldn’t survive without it”.

The nearby Barrow Fishing Tackle Shop was quiet and shop assistant Lina said: “The hot weather is good for people, but not for fishing.” The water was too low to fish in, she said, and it would be better for business to have light rain and cloud cover. 

Personally, though, she said she had “no complaints” about the hot weather.

Ellen and Michael O’Brien from Clonegal showed up then, taking in their daily walk through the park. They make the daily trip to walk in a flat, safe area because rural roads are “too dangerous,” said Ellen. “Anywhere there’s a river, we’re going walking by it,” she explained.

As for the weather: “We don’t get it that often, so we’re delighted,” she said. “We’ll have the winter long enough.” She said they had kept all the windows open to allow air to flow through and were keeping hydrated.

Last week’s heatwave in Ireland and in many European countries was exacerbated by climate change, according to researchers at World Weather Attribution.

“Living in it all the time would be a different story,” noted Ellen. “If this is going to be the norm, we’ll be sowing grapes in our back garden.”