It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Off Topic Chat

DvB

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972918#Comment_121972918

Thats lovely, what a fabulous way to create something special to remember your mum by.

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972918#Comment_121972918

A beautiful tribute to your Mam. What a lovely thing every time you look at those lights you'll think of her with a smile.

Loughc

Finally we are getting a break from the rain and it's getting brighter and warmer at times. 65 Days to the we hit the 200 days to go, year is moving quick.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121973167#Comment_121973167

Storm coming on Saturday for come counties 😬

pigtail33

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121973279#Comment_121973279

Was just about to say that! There may be a break in the rain, but a yellow wind warning has just been issued for the entire country for Saturday. There's just no end to the bad weather at the moment.

miamee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121973279#Comment_121973279

Yes I was just reading about that, Storm Kathleen is on her way. We've narrowly missed the orange wind warning but that could change. It's in effect for Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo on Saturday.

pigtail33

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972918#Comment_121972918

What a lovely thing to do. Your mother will always be part of your Christmas, helping to light up the darkest of days.

Cork Lass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121973279#Comment_121973279

Cork is one of those counties as far as I know. Supposed to be flying out of Cork airport Sat afternoon so fingers crossed 🤞

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121973279#Comment_121973279

Thankfully not Dublin yet haha!

antimatterx

I've no data to back it up, but it feels like the last 12 months or so has been the wettest in a long time. Constant rain.

Even last June was absolutely miserable. I'm hoping this summer is alot better so I can enjoy my concerts.

It's weird though, the April of the covid year was spectacular. I remember taking naps in my back garden over lunch.

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121973594#Comment_121973594

I saw an article saying the atmosphere above Ireland now holds 10% more rain than it ever did before.

Posy

Brilliant, those are stats we really need. 🥲

Dublin has a yellow warning for Saturday, so while it probably won't be hit as bad as the south or west (nothing new there!) I don't think it'll be beach weather either!

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121973742#Comment_121973742

Please tell me that article was published April 1st!!

I think once you have (unless you're a big outdoor persuits person) kids you really notice how many wet days there are. Even for Ireland it's a joke!

DvB

Another weather warning on a matchday... at this rate we'll be playing this year's games next year.

Sick of the brutal damp grey weather. 1 or 2 sunny days in 3 or 4 months is a terrible run.

Aisling(",)

At the start of the year I was looking at some new new walk routes I wanted to bring the dogs on (not mad hikes but a good stretch of the legs) and I've only gotten to do two. If its cold no problem but its wet its a nightmare with big wet dogs if you want to throw them in the car.

I've only gotten the washing out on the line once aswell.

tscul32

Yeah, I keep thinking of the nicer routes for my fella but I have to drive to them. He's a floofy collie and his coat can hold an awful lot of water.

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121973594#Comment_121973594

Courtesy of our friends in the weather forum.

“For my own weather station in N.Tipp: Apr 22 - Mar 23 = 211

Apr 23 - Mar 24 = 253”

So 42 more wet days in the last 12 months compared to the year before that.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121976488#Comment_121976488

So I'm not going mad. It had been raining like hell.

DvB

253 days out of 366 having rain is incredible, that's nearly three quarters of the year being rainy days... thats utterly depressing.

SCOOP 64

Pretty rough out tonight heavy rain with the wind.

Cork Lass

The wind is howling here in Cork and the rain is starting again, starting to wonder if Kathleen is arriving early. Sick of the feckin rain to be honest. Happy Friday 😀.

DvB

Got soaked at training last night and it was still chucking it down when I went to bed around midnight. Its okay here at the moment but heavy rain forecast later and a wind warning in place for later today and tomorrow... lovely!

Heading into the city centre shortly to do the viking splash tour with the kids, expect to get soaked, purely from the rain that's forecast from midday... so hard to plan any activities these days.

CheerLouth

It's actually NOT raining here at the moment. Hoping we will get a few dry hours over the weekend to get out for a walk. Eldest has a soccer match at lunchtime tomorrow so would be nice for her to not be drenched.

BK5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121976943#Comment_121976943

And the wife wonders why I won't shut up about moving to Spain - 300 days of sunshine a year love! 😄

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121978094#Comment_121978094

My sis is semi retired and they are semi living over in Spain for the winter months.

However despite her being dark skinned (by Irish standards , my dad would blend in with the locals abroad) and loving the sun, she still comes home for summer as Spain too hot.

pigtail33

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121978144#Comment_121978144

That's what I want to do when I retire, spend the winter in warmer climates then come back home for our summer. Best of both worlds. However, unless there is a lotto win in my future, it's not going to happen! My skin is so white, it's practically blue though. I'm a factor 50, stick to the shady side of the road kinda person.

The weather is kinda eerie out there this morning. It's quite mild and no rain or wind. You never know what you're getting when there is a generic yellow warning for the entire country. I know 4 counties have orange for a while, but for the rest, it could hit anywhere at any time. Hopefully Kathleen will pass over with no harm done.

Loughc

They’d fit in with the weather too

BK5

I'm telling ya, it's been so wintery lately you nearly would put the tree up ha ha.

Didn't end up buying anything big in the M50 Christmas shop the other day, just bought a couple of lantern type lights that we'll hang over the kitchen table. But just walking about and looking at everything with a stupid smile on my face was enough. Was on the look out for good thick cluster lights for the gutters across the front of the house and they only had bright white, it has to be warm white. They did have them in multi coloured and we were very close to buying as multi coloured are back in fashion but we said we'd have to think about it.

What do you think guys? Multi coloured cluster lights, yay or nay?

A cup of te

@BK5 well, I'm big on nostalgia and retro so it's multicoloured for me every time :-) when I think of Christmas I think of colour! I've never been keen on everything being uniform or all the one colour. Multicoloured everything for Christmas for me.

Starting to get so excited about hopefully being in my own house for the first time ever for Christmas. I got my Harvey's Bristol cream on special in Tesco a few weeks ago for my sherry trifle and I'm keeping an eye on specials on the drink in general so I have plenty in my as of yet non existent drinks cabinet for visitors ;-)

I have a feeling I am gonna go wild with my own house. Tinsel everywhere!

People are already asking me if I'm doing Christmas dinner. I mean I'll be lucky if i can afford a cooker ;-)

I'm also daydreaming about my trip to beautiful Waterford this December. No summer hols for me. Once i can afford a winterbreak I'm good! So I went mad and booked 2 nights this year back in January ;-) so looking forward to it. I love the winter and the dark and cold when we have Christmas to look forward to but once the 12 days are over with I am ready for summer usually!

A cup of te

@antimatterx we had one decent week in June last year. Just whe you mentioned concerts I thought of the one concert I was at - Pulp at St Anne's Park. It was such a fab evening weather wise and in every other way. Makes such a difference! July was a washout for my 2 weeks annual leave :-( hope it picks up for your gigs!

EdiEdit: I didn't realise this M50 Christmas shop was open all year. I may pay a visit

BK5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982045#Comment_121982045

Yes, it's open all year and it's a treat to go round, it's huge. I wish they would have a sale though.

Cork Lass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121981891#Comment_121981891

Some of our neighbors have the multi coloured clusters and they are really nice but it’s warm white all the way in our house, the thought of changing would bring me out in a sweat 😥.

DvB

All white in ours too... not a chance will the .rs change either. Anyway, given the amount of lights we have it would cost a fortune to change now so no ta!! 🤣

jellybear

I'd also vote for warm white...make a house look so cosy and warm!

SCOOP 64

We Changed From multicoloured to warm whites , cutters and 4 trees at front, find the clusters are shorter then standard lights you have to check length on box, we needed a good length on cutters so went for standard.

A cup of te

Ah, I've got to visit this M50 Christmas shop. It says it's closed at the weekend. May wait till I've a day off! Can't wait!

jellybear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121983820#Comment_121983820

They're definitely open weekends 🙂

Saturday 9.30am-5pm

Sunday 11am-5pm

CheerLouth

We are a multicoloured lights house! Go multicoloured @BK5. You won't be sorry!

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121983611#Comment_121983611

warm white for me too.

A multicoloured lights out the back on the shed.

BK5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121985619#Comment_121985619

That final decision will be up to the Boss (wife) ha ha

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121985977#Comment_121985977

A wise man indeed haha

A cup of te

@jellybear thanks a million for letting me know. I'll try make it there some weekend. Was just looking it upon Facebook. I fancy some of those lights/signs for the front of the house!

BK5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121985990#Comment_121985990

She'll pick them, I'll pay for them and then I'll hang them and it will still be my fault if she doesn't like them 😃😃

BK5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121983820#Comment_121983820

Def opened at the weekends, it's a garden centre also called the Beech Vista M50 Garden Centre.

Just checked the website and they are opened Sat - 9:30am to 5pm & Sun - 11am to 5pm.

Smell the glove

This Christmas will be the first Christmas in a house that I own. I've never had outdoor lights, either on the rented house.or my parents house. Can someone give some tips or answers, these may seem stupid but as I said I've never done them! Thinking of something along the lines of warm white lights going around the outline of the windows and door. Just wondering how are they kept in place? Is there special hooks you can get? How do the hooks stay in place? And does the wiring just slot in the window and the window closes on the wire handy? And I presume there's a timer setting on the plug? How many would you need for standard windows and door?

CheerLouth

Oh how exciting @Smell the glove! We have our lights up all year round. Mr. CL clipped them to the gutters and they've lasted years. We got the outdoor sets from Homestore & More that you can connect together so only one plug. We've a long bungalow so probably have about 10 sets connected together!

If you can, I'd get an outdoor socket (or two). Ours are on an outdoor socket which Mr. CL then added a timer to on the interior wall so we set them on a timer and don't have to worry about going outside to turn them off at night.

BK5

Hi @Smell the glove, firstly congratulations on your new house and the very best of luck with it.

As @CheerLouth has said an outdoor socket is a gift for decorating the house, I plug a weatherproof box from mine that has 4 sockets in it so we can run more lights safely. Gutters are easy with a few packs of gutter hooks.

Not sure how you'll outline the windows and doors without drilling or hammering into your brickwork or plastering of your house. If your idea is to stick rows of lights onto the window frames and door frames then I suppose you could get the sticky hooks, look up Command adhesive hooks for this, they can be bought in any B&Q etc. We decorate the windows and doors by using the little sucker things directly onto the glass and hang whatever off them.

Hope you get great craic from decorating your first Christmas in your new home.

SCOOP 64

The lead for my cutter lights I put through the window and just closes been doing this year's never had any problems, Just make sure when you close it doesn't get caught in the angle bracket.

freshpopcorn

Now that's its April.

We've just three Christmas free months May, June and July.

Until, the Christmas Shop opens in Brown Thomas.

Of you want to be really bad take out July because sometimes in the UK gets stuff in late July.

CheerLouth

Another rainy day…kids fed up of it too - complaining, at breakfast time, that they won't get out to the yard if it keeps up. Little fella is supposed to be back to football on Friday evening but looking unlikely as all of the pitches are closed at the minute :(