Reinvent yourself with night classes or go out blackberrying - Rosita Boland has 10 reasons to look forward to autumn.
Let's face it, it's difficult to say goodbye to summer. It's not easy to lose the long, light evenings and the perpetual holiday atmosphere that descends on the country once school is out. We need things to look forward to, to make the transition to the dark days of winter a bit easier. So what's ahead?
1THE ALL-IRELAND HURLING FINAL, on September 11th. Always a match to look forward to, this year, the anticipation will be on full throttle. Galway's amazing and unexpected defeat of Kilkenny in the semi-finals made for a thrilling match that has already been called a classic. Every man, woman and child with a leg under them in Galway and Cork will be hunting for tickets for the final.
If you're lucky enough to get there, expect a fantastic atmosphere, which should be potent enough to seep through to the many radio and television sets tuned in throughout the land that day.
2 ELECTRIC PICNIC Why not establish your autumn cool credentials early by attending what has to be the hippest sounding festival of the year next weekend?
Stradbally's Electric Picnic describes itself as a "boutique festival" which is subtext for lots of cool acts but in sufficiently comfortable surrounds that over 30s can enjoy it.
Taking place on Saturday, September 3rd and Sunday, September 4th, highlights will include old stagers Kraftwerk, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the Human League, newcomers Arcade Fire and Goldfrapp, and hardy annuals such as Fatboy Slim, The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev. There's also a comedy tent featuring Tommy Tiernan and Des Bishop among others.
You know you're with the grown-ups when there's a wine stall featuring fine wines, a mouthwatering barbecue option and wooden huts for hire instead of the standard leaky tent.
These "podpads" sleep two people comfortably, and come pre-decorated and with a lock on the front door.
It takes place over 600 acres on the Stradbally Estate, Co Laois, and the ticket prices are €62.50 for one day or €105 for two days - including camping. Tel: 0818-719300 or visit the website: www.electricpicnic.ie
3 LIGHTING FIRES If you are thinking about getting rid of your fireplace and replacing it with a gas-effect job, think again. The fire is the pulse of a home. Who wants television when you can look at the ever-changing flames of an open fire?
Every visitor to your home is guaranteed to be immediately drawn to it, so even if your cooking isn't so good, the fire will make up for it. Especially lucky are those people with turbary rights, who can cut their own lovely distinctive-smelling turf.
4 JOHN McGAHERN'S MEMOIRS Called simply, Memoir, this is award-winning novelist McGahern's first non-fiction book. Talked about and anticipated for a couple of years now, Memoir will be published by Faber and Faber on September 1st. It's the story of McGahern's Co Leitrim childhood, his mother's early death, and the effect her death had on the family. To whet your appetite, an extract appears in The Irish Times tomorrow.
5 CLASS ACTS You could try learning something new as the annual countrywide night-class-fest kicks off, offering everything from classes in Tagalog (one of the main languages in the Philippines) to DIY, from creative writing to antique restoring. Forget January. September is when the academic year starts, and no matter how long it's been since you left education, it's the month when the real new year starts. Make your resolutions now to learn something new. Whether you stay the course or not is another matter. Consult the annual bibles, among them, The Wolfhound Guide to Evening Classes, or Dublin's Evening Classes, Oisín Publications.
6 ROAD TRIP This autumn sees the premiere of Tara Road, a film version of Maeve Binchy's novel of the same name, which will be keenly awaited by her many fans. It's the story of two women who swap houses, in Dublin and Connecticut. Andie MacDowell plays the American and Olivia Williams the Dubliner. Also in the cast are Stephen Rea, Ruby Wax and Brenda Fricker. It will be released nationwide on October 7th.
7 AUTUMN WALKS Celebrate the basics again. Stir your stumps, get out and kick those falling leaves and feel them crunch satisfyingly underfoot. Open conkers and invent games with your children. Find a country hedgerow on a road that doesn't have crazy traffic pounding along it and go blackberrying. There's no colour quite as startling as that dusky pink of fresh blackberries crushed with cream. Eat as many as you like and then make jam or jelly from the rest, even if you have to consult a relative as to how you actually do this. Nigella, take note, the Irish Mammy was the original Domestic Goddess.
8 DRAMATIC LICENCE Take your chances and book a ticket for something you'd never usually think of going to. The Dublin Theatre Festival will run from September 30th to October 15th, with new director, Don Shipley. It says a lot about modern theatre that one of the highlights this year includes The Bull, a dance piece, inspired by An Táin, and created by the Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, whose Giselle was such a hit two years ago. More details on www.dublintheatrefestival.com. The companion Dublin Fringe Festival runs from September 12th to October 2nd, and also has a new director, Wolfgang Hoffmann. Hallelujah for a sparky, attractive programme that actually looks readable, after too many opaquely-written fringe programmes in the past that were about as helpful to a would-be-punter as a closed restaurant is to a hungry diner. A highlight will definitely be Semper Fi - who brought theatre to the unlikely setting of public toilets for the Fringe some years back with Ladies and Gents - who are bringing another original-sounding show, entitled Adrenalin. Audiences meet on the steps of the Custom House to be brought to a secret location for a show that promises plenty of surprises. www.fringefest.com
9 AUTUMN FASHION TRENDS There's no end to the sparkly look with sequins everywhere and on everything, from bags to belts and the uber-accessory of the moment, the gold or silver sequinned shrug. According to the fashion bible, Vogue, the key looks for this autumn are Russian, military (again), Victorian and heritage, with a nod to the tailored look adopted by Alfred Hitchcock's leading ladies. Capes will be everywhere. Best of all, black is officially back, although Vogue feels the need to reinvent this classic look by calling it the "New Black".
10 PEACE AND QUIET Not to be ungracious to our many overseas visitors, but it will be pleasant to walk down the streets once autumn arrives without being squashed almost beyond endurance in the process. On the domestic front, hurray to the disappearance of the pesky and extremely irritating bluebottles that fly in the door the second the summer starts, and are hard-as-hell to chase out again.
