If you’re stuck inside today, take a look at the forecast for the long weekend

Beach road trip it is.

If you're chained to the desk today (I feel your pain) then you'll be delighted to hear that the current spell of good weather looks set to continue right up until the Bank Holiday weekend. At the minute, the outlook is warm conditions for the week with "best values across midland and western areas". Temperatures look set to rise to 22 degrees Celsius although Met Éireann has warned that it will be a little bit cooler along north and east coasts due to "onshore breezes". Although Thursday could be dull, particularly in Leinster, Friday is expected to take a turn for the better, just in time for the long weekend. Think "good spells of sunshine" and it should hold fully dry with more of the same expected from Saturday to Monday. The national forecaster says: "current indications suggest the warm spell will persist into next weekend, the odd burst of showery rain is possible". I'll take that...