The Icelandic couple sitting in the scorching midday sun outside the Bailey on Dublin’s Duke Street as the country steeled itself for one of the hottest days in history will have more reason than most to remember this exceptional summer week in Dublin.As she sipped on her Aperol Spritz, Kristin Samuelsdottir explained that Saver Borgarsson, the man sitting opposite her drinking beer, had proposed just two nights earlier before the pair set off for the Teddy Swims concert in Malahide Castle. It is the couple’s first time in Ireland and as they basked in what was, for them, entirely unexpected sunshine, they explained that when they returned home to Iceland they would have to tell all their friends that the weather in Ireland was just like Spain. “This is like the perfect summer day in Iceland,” Borgarsson said. “All that we are missing is some water to go for a swim.”As she sipped her drink, Samuelsdottir’s new diamond shimmered in the sun. “It never gets this hot at home,” she said before turning to her engagement. “He wrote me a letter 11 months ago with the proposal inside but then asked to wait until he said I could open it. He brought the letter here and told me to open it at our hotel.” They agreed they would have to return to Ireland for their wedding, though accepting we could not guarantee them the same weather next time. Strolling in the sun around the outskirts of Trinity College were Lynn Baluta and Chris King, who had flown in from Pennsylvania earlier in the week. Baluta was wearing jeans and T-shirt and explained they were the only remotely weather appropriate clothes she had packed. Chris King and Lynn Baluta, who flew in to Dublin from Pennsylvania. “I packed all wrong.” Photograph: Conor Pope She arrived in Ireland as the heatwave was beginning and will be leaving as it ends. “It has been absolutely amazing,” she said. “But I packed all wrong. I was told to pack for rain with layers.”In Trinity’s Front Square stood the Trissler family from Portland, Oregon, who were also regretting some of their packing choices. Parents Dan and Lisa were dressed for a typical Irish summer while their teenage daughters Laurel and Ruby were in far more appropriate shorts and T-shirts. “I packed so many layers but I didn’t end up using any of it,” Lisa said. “And we’re heading to London tomorrow and it is even hotter there.”Lisa, Dan, Laurel and Ruby Trissler from Portland, Oregon. Photograph: Conor Pope Laurel said she had travelled to Ireland believing the weather was not going to be on her side. “Everybody told us that it was going to be raining and cold. So I brought, like, a raincoat, multiple hoodies, a lot of pants and only one pair of shorts. And it hasn’t rained once.”On Grafton Street, busker Leila Jane Keeney was belting out Radiohead’s Creep. “It’s not so bad playing in the heat and I am in the shade right now but as the sun moves I might start melting,” she conceded. “Give me the heat any day over gloomy, windy, cold Irish weather. People are always in much better form and full of smiles when the sun is shining.” Busker Leila Jane Keeney was sticking to the classics, and the shade. Photograph: Conor Pope Across the road, flower seller Joanne Grey said she wouldn’t get direct sun until 2pm. She wouldn’t be complaining about the heat no matter what. “We are more used to the rain and getting wet all the time so this is nice for a change.”The queue outside Bambino pizza restaurant on Stephen Street was as long as it always is and at the very top were Shauna McGregor and Scott Smythe and their two hot dogs Ronnie and Coco.Scott Smythe and Shauna McGregor from Glasgow with their hot dogs Ronnie and Coco. Photograph: Conor Pope “It was not nice in Scotland when we took the ferry over to Belfast on Monday,” McGregor said. “I packed all wrong with my jackets and jumpers and I am definitely not going to be wearing those.”Smythe said the two dogs were managing all right in the heat and he had been pleased not to have to scrape melting chewing gum off their paws like when they last encountered a heatwave in London a couple of years ago. Jake Wick working in Murphy’s Ice Cream Parlour on Wicklow Street. Photograph: Conor Pope Jake Wick must have been among the most popular men in Dublin as he stood outside Murphy’s ice cream parlour on Wicklow Street handing out free samples. “It has been a little bit hectic but it’s been good and everybody’s in good form,” he said. “When you get that little bit of sun out, you can see everybody’s got a smile on their face.”