It was the wettest of times, it was the driest of times.

I believe it was Charles Dickens who first wrote that, but it is reflected in Met Éireann's weather forecast for the coming week. First of all, it will be icy cold tonight (3 November) as temperatures drop to lows of 1 degree, and frost will form on the grass. While it won't be as cold on Monday, the weather still won't be pleasant, with "scattered outbreaks of rain" and "persistent and heavy rain at times in the east" on the horizon. It should pick up a bit after that, with largely dry and bright with sunny spells on Tuesday. Highest temperatures of 10 to 12 degrees with moderate northerly breezes should make for a fairly tolerable day — which is kind of the best we can hope for in November. Wednesday will start off mainly dry with some sunny spells over the eastern half of the country. It will be cloudier further west with rain developing and then spreading eastwards across the country. The rain will clear on Wednesday night and showers will develop in the west later in the night. Sadly, it looks like the frost will set in again on Wednesday night, but sure look, it's winter now. These things can't be avoided. You're living in the real world.