I was supposed to be in Dublin this morning, tucking into a traditional Irish breakfast at my hotel and getting ready for the annual round of family meet and greets. Mother Nature however had other ideas.

More is the pity. The after Christmas period is among my favorite times of the year.

The Irish still have the good sense to celebrate the week between Christmas and New year's as part of the vacation period.

You won't find Christmas trees thrown outside for garbage collection on December 26th like you do over here.

There are festival race meetings, family parties, good drink and good cheer.

Despite the bleak economy it is still one of the most joyous places to be over the winter break.

Dublin reverts to being the city of old,with no traffic problems and an ease to getting around that is amazing considering what it is like the rest of the year.

So we were all set to fly. Mother Nature had other ideas, however, socking New York with a winter storm for the ages. Rarely have I heard such ferocious winds and seen so much snow in a 24 hour period.

Ironically, we had fretted over Christmas Day that the weather had been so bad in Ireland that we would be lucky to get flying in.

As it turned out a massive thaw meant Ireland's snow vanished overnight but the unexpected storm on the Eastern Seaboard banjaxed our travel plans anyway.

I'm still waiting for news on whether we can fly tonight. More is the pity if we can't as we will have to cancel. Ireland is so special at this time.