March 17, 2014 (St. Patrick's Day)

Vern and Neal have seen the St. Patrick’s Day parade, so they had no interest in going. I get that, because I’m not a big parade guy anyway. My overall feeling is that parades are far more trouble than the entertainment value is worth. Even the big ones. Snaring up traffic, crowds, standing around waiting, litter… And the stuff in them is interesting, maybe neat, maybe pretty, but… I’d prefer it all in an arena… more like a circus. (And no, that preference has nothing to do with my name…) Nevertheless, I felt compelled, being in Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day, to head out and witness the spectacle.

Went into town plenty early. Found a spot near Christchurch and lined up with plenty of others around 11:00. Parade was to start at noon, and this was near the end of the route. So I didn’t expect to see anything until maybe 12:15. But it wasn’t until after 1:00 when the parade finally got to us. It was slow.

The parade was very colorful, fascinating and diverse. I did not understand most of what I saw, though I suspected a lot of it would be more recognizable had I been raised locally. Brian Boru was represented, which I only knew of because of my ancestry. One of the most interesting parts was a group of Princess Leia Jedis with light sabers. I know Star Wars, but I still didn’t get why that was in the parade. I was pleased to see several U.S. high school bands in the parade, complete with color guards.

When the parade was over, you couldn’t move. I had to crawl through a sea of people to get to a place to eat. But I found a Leo Burdock’s and managed to get in, sit down and eat. I figured the crowd would dissipate a little during that time with the parade having ended. But it didn’t. It was just too crowded to do anything else, so I went back home.