WORDSMITH: Don’t blame it on the weatherman...
We’re obsessed with it, the weather. With us it’s more a language than a state of the atmosphere. We use it as a greeting, instead of ‘good morning’ we say, “That’s not a bad one.” Acknowledging a familiar face on a warm and breezy afternoon will elicit a smiley, “great drying,” which translates as ‘good afternoon'.
For visitors to our shores this atmospheric-language can be difficult to understand. I recall the bewildered look on my nephew's face when a relative greeted us on a Spring day with, “It’s fierce close altogether.” At the time, I wasn’t quite sure what that meant myself, translating it as, “It’s warm and sweaty.” I was right.
November’s been an odd month weather wise; we’ve gone from mild to cold and back to mild again as storm Bert blew in and went on the lash. The cold doesn’t bother me; because I walk so much I tend to overheat. By the time I arrive in town, after the five kilometre walk, I’m always sweaty, even in the snow and frost.
We complain a lot about our weather, but when you factor in the catastrophic weather events around the world, I think we should count ourselves extremely lucky with what the weather folk call our Mild-Temperate-Oceanic-Climate; that may change, but that’s an article for someone else.
I love our weather and seasons. Even though summer rarely graced us with her presence this year, I still managed to savour the sunny snippets and take photos of Cavan in all her glory.
I like to post my Cavan pictures to social media where they garner a good response, particularly from the Cavan diaspora who like to see pictures of home. In the summer, Deric Hartigan, the RTE and Virgin Media weatherman contacted me to ask if he could use one of my photos as a backdrop for his RTE main-evening-news weather bulletin. The image was a sweeping vista of Cavan’s hill and vale, with the focus on a dramatic cloud burst that lit up a distant drumlin; it had spectacle and a cinematic quality that I knew would impress viewers. I was delighted, and of course gave him the go ahead to put my capture of Cavan on the telly-box for the nation’s news-watchers to see.
There’s a fuzzy-feel-good factor in having your pictures or other creative work selected for inclusion in a media outlet or exhibition. One of my favourite features in this newspaper is the PIC OF THE WEEK, wherein readers send in their pictures; they always lift my spirits and garner positive traction.
But I digress, back to my National TV debut on RTE. That evening I duly tuned in at the designated time. As the newscaster finished her broadcast I felt a heart flutter of excited expectation. When she gave the customary smile and announced, “And now over to Deric for the weather,” I readied my phone to get the shot of my shot on the telly. Alas, I’ve never been so disappointed to see Deric. All the drama of my photographic capture was completely hidden behind the graphics box. Deflated, I felt like an actor tuning in to see his acting debut, only to see his face is hid behind a prop and he may as well not have been there. And, to add insult to injury a family member called, concerned, “Gerard, I caught the end of the news and saw your name and address, is everything alright?”
I explained, “They used my picture on the weather.” To which she replied, “There was no picture, just your name and address at the top of the screen, I was worried.”
Suffice to say, my National TV photographic debut did not make the impact I’d hoped. I stared at Deric stood in a field with my name and address hanging over his head and, cringed. My friend Ann is an exceptionally gifted photographer. I was telling her about this column and she told me how she recently phoned RTE to ask if they’d show one of her pictures; five minutes later Deric called her back. They had a great chat and Ann’s image in all its glory featured on the telly.
Deric’s a most amiable weather guy; I blame the RTE Graphics Department for my disappointment. I certainly didn’t blame it on the weatherman.
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