Terry O’Regan on strategies to deal with time lost due to weather disruptions
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ny tennis fan who tunes in to coverage of Wimbledon every summer is intimately familiar with the frustration that arises when the slightest spattering of rain grinds the tournament to a halt. The TV cameras provide us with panoramic shots of thunder-laden clouds drifting over the London skyline and the players gather up their gear and head for the dressing rooms. On landscaping sites facing similar threats, rain can stop more than play, but it is often a slower process. The oncoming downpour is greeted with optimistic mutterings of, “It might not come to much,” and work continues until the rain becomes torrential. Even then, weather gear is donned,
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You may choose to turn a blind eye to the issue, but in almost every year there will be a few disruptive weather events and work proceeds until conditions are finally intolerable. As workers retreat to uncomfortable van cabs, there are already suggestions that “It’s brightening in the west!” Australians in their bluntly perceptive style call these the ‘wet ass days’! It’s very hard to plan for the weather in Ireland and a delayed tennis match is small fry when compared to a new lawn, raked out and ready for seeding, being washed away by a thunderstorm! I well remember one of the most challenging projects we had around a period house north of Carrick on Suir, it featured geometric slopes and very large level areas all just finished and seeded when a cloudburst created havoc. Landscape folk have little choice but to plan as best they can for weather events. Rain is not the only disrupter of landscaping activities – frost and snow play their part in the drama also. In a world where every breath we take seems to be legislated for, it is extraordinary that the bureaucrats in Brussels (let alone the Custom House) have yet to sink their teeth into the ‘wet ass day’ issue! I recently came across a Dáil Éireann debate from December 1945, between a Mr. Lemass and a Mr. Dockrell. It concerned contributions to a Wet Time benefit fund and payment arrangements thereof. Painters of lamp posts,
HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Autumn/Winter 2021
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WHEN RAIN STOPS MORE THAN PLAY!
