Saturday, March 18, 2006

A St. Patrick's Day Of A Different Colour (or, Water Is Thicker Than Blood)

I always look forward to St. Patrick's Day, but this year especially, since my trip to Ireland. It's like every March 17th my blood starts to boil just a bit and I feel like dancing a merry jig and all of that stereotypical nonsense.

Accra itself was looking rather Irish: it was cold, windy, it rained that morning and after months of drought, things were starting to look a bit greener! (Indeed for myself, it was the first rain I had seen in Ghana since November)

For some reason, as with Independence Day, I wasn't feeling motivated to jump on it. On top of this, Felicity (my Aussie chum studying in at Columbia University) was celebrating her birthday at a highlife bar in La Paz - not quite the St. Paddy's Day I had envisioned! Alas, I felt that I should be there for a friend, religion and heritage aside...

Regardless, I had fun and we ended up having our cake and eating it too, since we all wanted to go to the famous Ryan's Irish Pub. By the time we got there (midnight) they were almost completely out of beer and a local band was finishing their set on the patio. Where was the Guinness draught? The ceilidh? How about the Irish Rovers? The Pogues? Thin Lizzy?

So Ghana hasn't quite nailed down the St. Patrick's Day tradition. Considering the massive crowd that came out for it, next year's should be better. But I'll be back in Old Ottawa South by then. So for all of my friends on Bank Street, I'll be seein' ya at Patty's Pub same time next year. 4pm, right?

No comments: