Coldest month

I’ve been asked many times what is the worse part about moving to Ireland from tropical Malaysia. I always say the short days in winter is the worse. At the peak of winter solstice, December 21st, sunrise is around 8.30am and sunset is as early as 4.30pm. That means for 4-5 months, I will go to work and come back in the dark.

Weather warning for the week.

The second worse thing about moving to Ireland is the shivering cold from time to time. Year 2025 reminded me that January is the coldest month of the year. This year, we had a weather warning for cold, snow, ice and sleet for a good week. Fortunately for us, the snow fall happened mostly in the south and west of the coutry. Cork and Limerick was snowed in for a few days. Dublin was spared the snow (which was dissapointing to the Dubliners) but we had very low temperature that caused icy roads.

My situation is made worse as our house runs on air to heat pump, think of it as a reverse air condition. I think we have something called a combi tank, which means we can either heat the hot water or the radiators. The heat pump is not very effective in lower temperaturoes (below 4 degrees). So we had to literally turn on the heater almost the whole day and balance out to heat water during shower times.

But all bad things has to come to an end. After a week of blistering cold, we had a great sunny weekend. The dark days and cold is somehing we hope to get used to, or find a way to survive through it. The locals here said they look forward to the sprint and summer in the dark days. I think this is what makes them very positive people.

So cold, the canal froze.
Wildlife adapting to the frozen canal, probably wondering what happened.