March 17- Saturday – St Patrick’s Day – Wake up at 8:30 to a bright sunny day! Hopefully it will stay this was for a while. The off licenses (liquor stores) in Cork have all agreed to stay closed until 4 pm today, to keep the revelers from getting to early of a start. After breakfast I go to the I-café to post and check email. Get a coffee to take home, and we decide to see if we can find Dripsey, which is reputed to have the shortest St Patrick’s Day Parade in the world. Didn’t take us long to get there, it is in West Cork, not to far from Blarney. As we pull in we see some barricades in front of the two bars there. Asking about the parade, we are told it is scheduled for “half two”, it’s only half twelve now, so we have two hours to kill. The Weigh Inn beckons us so we stop for a pint. The stool next to me is taken up by a local by the name of Jim, I buy him a Murphy’s and we hit it off. He tells us about the area, asks if we are staying for the parade, and reminds us that Ireland vs. Italy is on the TV at 1:30, by which time the pub has filled with people for the Rugby match, and awaiting the parade. Lots of cheering as the Irish team wins by 27 points. At 2:30 I head out to watch the parade, Lisa sits inside and watches it from there. They delay the start as the game isn’t over yet, but about 5 minutes later it is on as the Irish team is quite a bit ahead.
The parade literally goes from one pub to the other, about 75 yards, Lisa is sitting by the bar, just inside the door in the Weigh Inn where everyone has to go by her, so she gets a good view of everything. I am outside, and get to see it all through my video camera, it was quite a sight, with 4-500 people watching, mostly locals. Not the 10s of thousands that are in Cork or the 650,000 reported in Dublin, but I think this one has a lot more character, and we really enjoyed ourselves.
A short stop at the Blarney Woolen Mills on the way home, supper around 7:30, and we head to the An Seanachai for some music tonight. Suppose to be “Trad Routes” again, last time it was Liam and Ger, tonight just Liam, but still a good time. Not as busy as I thought it might be for St Patrick’s Day, but busy enough. The only signs of St Patrick’s Day are a couple girls with green bobble head bands, several of the older folks have on living shamrocks, but most are dressed as usual. I think the weather is getting to me a bit, there is a nasty cold front coming in and my sinuses are killing me, my nose is running constantly. I hope I can shake it soon. The pub closes at 1:00 and we head home for the night.
March 18 – Sunday – I sleep in until 8:30, quick breakfast, out to get a paper. When Lisa is ready to go, we wander down to the Mother Hubbard that has just reopened. After a coffee and scone, it’s home again where I can suffer with my running sinuses in peace. Should be a good day to stay in. Today is also “Mother’s Day” in Ireland. The weather is a bear, gale force winds, lots of clouds, rainy, even though the sun peeks out 2 or 3 times. Ugh.
