Summertime, but the livin' ain't as easy as some people would have us believe

A half century ago, the great singer Ella Fitzgerald - no relation - summed it all up to perfection. "Summertime, and the livin’ is easy; Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high. Oh, your daddy’s rich and your ma is good-lookin'; So hush, little baby, don’t you cry."

We all have our troubles, but in Ireland most of us have access to the sort of goods and services our parents and grandparents could barely dream of. There is a price to be paid for all this, of course, and some of the outlay takes the form of time pressures and a life of endless motion and mobility. But, come mid-year, many of us have the chance to sit back and reflect on a beach, in a backyard or wherever.