Knick Knack Paddy Where?

Most un-Patrick's Day ever.

Not that I celebrate St. Patrick's day much, but I was surprised by how little folks capitalized on the day. Other than all the pubs advertising St. Patrick's day specials and some hints of green among a few kids, saw hardly any displays or recognition of the day. It's the closest I've ever been to Ireland, and I must say that even in the quiet suburbs of Massachusetts, I've seen better displays. That's not to say that there aren't scores of kids out right now getting drunk in the name of St. Patrick, and that scores didn't start very early today, but it's just not advertised or celebrated as much in Eddie Bert as it is at home. Case in point: Alan, the green-less Norther Irish who spent the day sober. And he told me that back home, despite all the Guinesses consumed, no beer or river is actually dyed green. I actually wore, unintentionally, way more green than he did. The rain coat. Backpack. And the Nessie on my sweatshirt. "That's so Irish!" Alan said of my Nessie. "You mean, from the Highlands of Ireland...?" "Oh. Right. Loch Ness isn't in Ireland."

Talking about the significance of St. Patrick's and why he's actually a saint, we all came up a bit fuzzy. I demanded to know the man's miracles (something 'bout pigs...). And vaguely recalled snakes. Fi was proud that he was English, just like she was, until we found out that he was actually Welsh. And Alan just really liked the fact that the Irish had enslaved him. We all have our historical biases. And we all have our accents. Though we can't always pinpoint them. When we asked Alan the difference between a Northern Irish accent and an Irish accent, he put on all sorts of voices different than his normal tones, but none sounded quite right. Fi could only do the different English accents by saying the name of the place, like 'Somerset.' She could also be called upon to do the same for 'South Africa' and 'Australia.' And Dave flat out refused to do a Welsh accent, despite being Welsh, because he claimed he just didn't know how. So we're still at a loss of what it sounds like (Except Fi, who could say 'waaaaales.') And I thought all of this was quite amusing and shed great light on Britainnia until they asked me to do American accents. All I could say were 'New Ywok' and 'Bahstin.' But I stand by my excuse: when you've already gotten a Sri Lankan Taiwanese Massachusetts Suburbs accent, it's hard to put another.

Most ironic moment of the night: Fi's New Yorker flatmate coming in drunk as Alan the Irish was just finishing up lamenting about St. Patrick's day and then their subsequent discussions on alcohol, St. Patrick's traditions, and pubs in Belfast, with the New Yorker leading the way and the rest of us not really knowing what she's talking about. I wonder how she'd react to a red-suited man.