Some of them are off to the Canary Islands for Christmas and the New Year. Some, even across the Atlantic to a Caribbean Island. Many find the west of Ireland the ideal. And not only those who own holiday homes. Apartments and houses may be rented. Hotels are welcoming. Younger people, students for example, tend to move in groups. They carry on their Dublin or Cork or Galway socialising in Connemara, bringing life to bars and restaurants.
Not that they don't appreciate the countryside around them, and even, on occasions, the climate. For the air there at this time can be bland and restful. Lakes lie still like glass, and if you are very lucky indeed, the view from the top of Errisbeg mountain may be spectacular. Try to describe the colour or colours of the bog in winter, a subtle mixture. And then the strands.
People are remembered. Roundstone had, a long time ago, two respected figures: Kate O'Brien and, out in Goirtin Bay, Bulmer Hobson. Dick Joyce in Clifden. Roundstone, like Clifden has good places to eat and drink. Carna seems, superficially, at least to be quietish. You wonder what happened to the boat a man was building a couple of miles beyond, near a lovely beach. And is it in Betraghboy Bay that otters and seals can be seen resting on the seaweedy rocks? Perhaps not at this time.
Interesting that our tourist propaganda to Germany recently has played on two themes or two versions of one. The first advertisement shows a long beach with two small figures strolling along. Now in the off-season it says, more or less, enjoy yourself on a beach where you'll find no crowds. The wild, natural coastline of Ireland invites you. Discover this country that makes a new person of you. And then, in another advertisement there is a picture of a house, high-thatched, with a dormer window on the slope. At first sight it's a bit like something out of Grimm's fairy tales. But no. It's Ireland and if you come at this time you will evade all the hurly burly of modern life and not even Father Christmas will find you.
That west coast, indeed, has its share of marvellous strands. But they're not overcrowded in the summer, or rather, not neglected. The golden sand is a reminder of a book, mentioned here before, which consists of large colour photographs of our coast. Ireland - Our Island Home; an aerial tour around Ireland's coastline by Kevin Dwyer.
But Connemara is where the heart is for many people who have no family connections with it, even.