Nature is out of joint, o cursed spite I was born to set it right

The soil is warming with the sun, writes Damien Enright

Last September, we optimistically planted some outdoor vines. The leaves have now appeared; we will soon set up trellises and wires under the simple pergola in the yard. Who knows, in five years time we may be bottling Chateau Courtmac Premier Cru.

Strange weather in Ireland in the last months of 2015 and the first of 2016, interminable rain, watery and cold, spring coming late, the time “out of joint” as Hamlet called the progress of events more sinister.