Water

I am crossing the small-ish river Corrib twice a day. I could stay on the bridge the whole day just watching this powerful river rushing down its weir. Fishers are standing waist-deep in its strong current any time I pass there, and I am always wondering how this feels. Is it cold? For how long are they doing that? Is the river really as strong as it looks like? Is it dangerous? Do they slip sometimes?

Next on my daily route is one of the channels, always calm, hosting swan families, fishes, a lot of traffic cones and a couple of bikes. In the afternoon there are usually rowers and canoeists on it, and many many pairs of training shoes lying on its edge, waiting patiently for them to return. And when it is raining and not so windy, the water surface looks like velvet.

Then there is Lough Atalia, the first thing I see in the morning, and the last at night when I look out of the window. It is my indicator for the tides and the wind and wave heights, if it is worth going to swim or not. It is a lagoon (which sounds much nicer than the German word for it - Bodden) connected to the Galway bay.

Galway bay is open to the Atlantic ocean in the West and those are the waters I am actually swimming in (if Lough Atalia advises me to do so).

And finally, the most prominent form of water in Irish life is the Rain: vertically, horizontally, cold, warm, few large drops, many small drops, many large drops, drizzle, downpour, in shoes, on umbrellas, on glasses, rushing out of downspouts, dripping from tree leafs long after it actually stopped raining...