I’m pretty sure that Darth Vader never visited Ireland and that Princess Leia never had a sip of Guinness. So what’s this doing in the St. Patrick’s Day parade? Enquiring minds want to know but there was no explanation.
Traveling this weekend, taking our granddaughter for some tropical spring break fun. Even she thinks it’s a good time to be out of the U.S.
One of the balloons in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. This one puzzled me. There was no sign or banner identifying it, and nothing about the sponsor. The figure looks like it is wearing a hard hat and safety harness.
As I’ve noted here in the past, St. Louis likes a chance to drink in public. Budweiser, the local famous brew, markets heavily on St. Patrick’s Day. The can labeled High Noon in this person’s right hand, is nominally vodka and fruit juice. The chap in the Scots tartan has a fat cigar in his left hand. (Calling Dr. Freud!)
Most of us have seen the big helium-filled balloons at parades or other events but I’ve never seen how they get their lift. I came up from the train station downtown and found this. Those cylinders must be three by three or maybe four. I could not see an outlet and, try as I might. I could not see a connection point to the balloons themselves. Then there is the question of how the helium is produced and compressed into the tanks.
There is a delicious silliness about someone riding a Harley tricycle with a Santa hat and beard in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. It’s all about gesture, the show, the image and a laugh. I like it.
St. Patrick's Day in St. Louis. The parade on the Saturday before the date is a really big deal. The weather yesterday was simply perfect and the crowd was huge. I worked the staging area, which was enough for my creaky spine. This thing was odd but the joke was obvious.
Granddaughter Ellie walked with the Clark School of Irish Dance, more about which later. Travel day Tuesday and then a change of theme.
I know the Vikings raided much of the east coast of Britain but I didn't know they made it around the corner to Ireland. (The English took care of that themselves.) And on such a gorgeous day, the Irish aren't generally so dour. Maybe this chap needed someone to get him a beer.
An instance of the old meme about the luck of the Irish, I suppose. Ireland has had stretches of time when it had extraordinarily bad luck (potato famine, anyone? brutal English colonialism? The Troubles?) but that can be said of many peoples. It's doing quite well these days, though. I've had my share of good luck even though my Irish green and gold is alloyed with Polish red and white.
St. Louis has two St. Patrick's Day parades. We've seen some images from what you might say is the official one downtown, always on the Saturday before the event. The other is on the day itself in the narrow streets of an old Irish neighborhood with the picturesque name of Dogtown (which is not derogatory - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtown%2C_St._Louis). It's much more let the waist band out and be as goofy as you please. More to come.
I should have mentioned yesterday that March 17 has special significance in our home. Mrs. C and I met in a bar on St. Patrick's Day 49 years ago. The place was so crowded we were almost pressed into one another by the pinball machine I awkwardly asked her if she would like to play. Now here we are, happily growing old together.
It's a tradition around here at big events to hang a big American flag from the ends of the fire department's longest cranes. There was one of those near the beginning of the parade route. I've never seen another kind of flag used, let alone that of another country. Here, near the end of the march, the Irish flag was on display. My heritage on my father's side is Irish, from County Clare in the west. We have visited the island several times and once spent a couple on nights in my great grandfather's farmhouse, then used as a simple tourist cottage. My mother's side is Polish. Never been there, have no known family there, but I love Chopin.
I've said many times that St. Louis loves an excuse to drink in public. There were a number of pop-up bars along the St. Patrick's Day parade route. This one got our attention. It's probably hard to read the menu at this resolution but the next to last item on the larger card says Breakfast Shot. Intrigued, I asked the bartenders what that meant. "Melted butter with a shot of Jameson," the woman explained, "chased with a piece of bacon. Full Irish breakfast!"
Both the crowd and the number of participants in this year's St. Patrick's Day parade was smaller than normal, perhaps because it was canceled for the last two years. There are usually a few great high school marching bands but there wasn't much beyond this group. You can see how cold it was. Can you play the saxophone while wearing gloves?
