Perfect day for hurling on the beach

SAINT Valentine’s Day 2010 remains memorable as one of the most all-round perfect February days for years.

The sun shone all day long in our part of the world and it was a Sunday, so almost everybody was at leisure to enjoy it. We walked, most of the afternoon, and as we drove home ‘tired but happy’ the sun was a great, red ball in the sky, descending dramatically and painting the whole of Courtmacsherry Bay, with the tide in and the surface calm as glass, all the colours of the spectrum.

The peace in the air and the uplifting effect of the light, passing via the retina into the pleasure centres of the brain, induced euphoria. All along the way, we saw folk gazing out at the sea, some with cameras, some with children, some of them lovers with hands entwined. It was like the final scene in a Hollywood technicolor film, the world standing in thrall at the end of a perfect day.