On May in Galway

May 1st, I was told repeatedly the other day, is the first day of summer. It really is summer, too. Today perhaps isn't the best example of a day as, surprise surprise, it's cloudy and gray, but the vast majority of days of late have been warm, sunny, and insect filled. Exams are finishing up - first arts have been done over a week. I have three of my four exams finished with now, and were it a sunny dry day would be down by the bay. As of today we have 15 hours and 12 minutes of daylight; when I left the library last week after ten it was lighter out than when I used to walk home from lab at 5. I no longer get soaked every time I walk to and from college, and when I walk in to catch the bus to exams at 7 it's actually light out now (much preferable to the dark, cold, wet walks made in December). The average May temperature is just over 10C and the average wind speed is down to a mere 7m/s. Additionally, only 18 of our days are "wet", and we only get about 70mm of rain. It really is summer.