Ben Lowry: June is a magical month in Northern Ireland, perhaps even in the rain
The days are getting shorter.
The northern hemisphere reached its closest tilt towards the sun at 3.46am today. Now the days get shorter until the December solstice.
While this moment is, for some of us, tinged with melancholy you rarely notice the darkening evenings in good weather. Look at the picture on this page, taken this week at Belfast Castle but looking like the Riviera, or the happy atmosphere in the accompanying video from Belfast City Hall, also this week.
And we have had a stunning spring. It was not just the sunniest spring but the sunniest ever May in Northern Ireland – and warmer than average too.
When we get good weather in the province we then have to do penance: and my goodness we have done such this month, with grim days before this hot spell.
I visited two fine cruise ships in Belfast over the last week – a P&O Cruises ship called Britannia last Saturday and an Oceania vessel called Vista – because I wanted to see more about this growing part of our tourist industry. The passengers on the former had such wet, misty weather they could not even see the beautiful Belfast Lough as they arrived or when the ship was harboured. The latter’s passengers, in contrast, were able to sunbathe on deck. And indeed some did.
Even so, I spoke to about 10 passengers last Saturday returning to Britannia from a wet visit to the Giant’s Causeway. I was nervous they would have found it miserable in such conditions, but they all loved it.
June is a magical time in NI, perhaps even in rain …
• Ben Lowry (@Benlowry2) is News Letter editor