Ben Lowry: Now I understand those older people who want cooler summer weather
It seemed to me ungrateful and ridiculous given how pitifully little sunny weather we got.
It also struck me as almost parochial, and a rejection of the sort of sunshine that large swathes of the global population experience, and expect, almost every day.
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Hide AdBut my view on this is changing and I am becoming more and more like those people who complain of the heat.
Now, if I go abroad to a hot climate, I prefer to go in April or October, before it becomes oppressive.
And I even partly wanted the recent very hot spell in NI to end (but another part of me wanted it to continue all summer).
The difficulty was caused by the fact that we are not geared up for the heat.
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Hide AdWe do not have houses that are designed to stay cool and we do not have easy access to outdoor swimming pools.
But also, I have come as I get older to enjoy the NI summers, for all their unreliable nature.
Even the current wet spell is not bothering me as much as it once would have done.
An elderly relative of mine, who is very well travelled, said that he always loves to be in the Province during the summer. The weather is at its best, and so the beautiful NI outdoors is at its most enjoyable.
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Hide AdThere is a particular pleasure, I find, in almost never having to wear extra layers. Even if it is wet, a light waterproof coat will suffice.
These simple enjoyments, which as a youngster I thought absurd, will become all the more important if climate change turns out to be as bad as the predictions toward the worse end of the spectrum.
There have always been droughts and wildfires, but it has been scary to read some of the recent blazes, and scary too to read of some of the abnormally high temperatures in countries that were already very hot in summer.
• Ben Lowry (@Benlowry2) is News Letter acting editor
• Ben Lowry: Covid has been a bewildering and humbling pandemic
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Hide AdOther articles by Ben Lowry below, and beneath that information on how to subscribe to the News Letter:
• Ben Lowry Aug 2: Three points to keep in mind when arguing against the NI Protocol
• Ben Lowry July 31: The last NI housing boom was disaster, and we need to beware a repeat
• Ben Lowry July 24: Republican terror atrocities are increasingly being partly blamed on the security forces
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Hide Ad• Ben Lowry July 24: Hot weather ought to be welcome in NI but this is extreme
• Ben Lowry July 17: UK has tipped into an amnesty after a long approach to IRA that lacked bite
• Ben Lowry July 15: We should be honest as to how we have arrived at a Troubles amnesty
• Ben Lowry July 10: We will find soon if UK is for once going to criticise Ireland
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Hide Ad• Ben Lowry July 10: I once always wanted England to lose, now I want them to win
• Ben Lowry July 3: The mild DUP response to the protocol will cause Boris little concern
• Ben Lowry July 3: The extreme heat in Canada shows why we might come to like Northern Ireland’s mild weather
• Ben Lowry June 26: Neither Dublin nor IRA have been put under any pressure on legacy
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Hide Ad• Ben Lowry June 26: A slight sense of sadness as the days again begin to shorten
• Ben Lowry June 19: Somehow the appeasement of Sinn Fein got worse
• Ben Lowry June 12: Now above all, when unionists are winning the argument on the Protocol, is time to stand firm against it
• Ben Lowry June 5: It is clear that Edwin Poots is not taking the DUP in a remotely hardline direction
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Hide Ad• Ben Lowry May 29: There is much confusion in unionism, so here are some suggested core pro Union principles
• Ben Lowry May 22: Instead of ‘moving on’ from IRA funeral, we still need proper answers
• Ben Lowry May 22: If Joel Keys, 19, wants to help unionism he should get a law degree
• Ben Lowry May 15: Edwin Poots and Doug Beattie will offer two distinct shades of unionism
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Hide Ad• Ben Lowry May 8: Formal UK ideas for an amnesty are almost exactly 20 years old
• Ben Lowry May 8: Let us hope that the brilliant Eoghan Harris keeps on writing
• Ben Lowry May 1: Unionism can’t just be about managing long-term defeat
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Hide Ad• Ben Lowry April 24: NI seems to rely increasingly on just one pollster for data on attitudes to a border poll
• Ben Lowry April 17: DUP still has to choose between managing this disaster or total rejection of it
• Ben Lowry April 10: His enduring marriage to the Queen was key to our understanding of Prince Philip
• Ben Lowry April 3: Radio grilling of UUP leader exposed folly of unionists blaming Simon Byrne for funeral
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Hide Ad• Ben Lowry Mar 27: There should not be an Irish language act, but it is too late — the DUP has agreed one
• Ben Lowry Mar 20: We have made it through the worst of the dark, dreaded winter lockdown
• Ben Lowry Mar 20: MLAs lost control of abortion by rejecting modest law reform
• Ben Lowry Mar 13: Whatever future Boris Johnson adopts for Northern Ireland seems set to lead to a crisis
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Hide Ad• Ben Lowry Mar 13: Scotland tunnel isn’t fantasy, but something kids of today might see
• Ben Lowry Mar 6: The cost of victims’ pension has ballooned without explanation as to why
• Ben Lowry Feb 27: Unionists have fully turned against Irish Sea border because they’ve seen the scale of disaster
• Ben Lowry Feb 20: We still lack answers as to why IRA funeral got special treatment at Roselawn
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Hide Ad• Ben Lowry Feb 13: Peter Robinson has long experience of what is and is not politically feasible
• Ben Lowry Feb 6: There is barely any unionist support for violence, despite justified anger at sea border
• Ben Lowry Jan 30: At last, clear reason for UK and unionists to stop being weak towards Ireland/EU
• Ben Lowry Jan 23: Lockdown sceptics have been undermined by crazy theories, but sensible criticisms haven’t gone away
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Hide Ad• Ben Lowry Jan 16: The Irish Sea border was imposed because UK knew unionists would take it
• Ben Lowry in 2020: Last night unionists celebrated a move towards Irish unity
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