St. Patrick's Day

One of my fondest memories is St. Patrick's day 1993, when I was a student at University College Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. It was a grand time, as they would say, and though I was alleged to be studying St. Thomas and Hegel I spent most of my time hanging around in bars and playing snooker.

Of course there was no school that day, and the first thing we did was go down to Galway Cathedral, where they had brought out this ancient priest to say Mass in Irish. Then it was just a big festival in the whole town, with bands in the street, several different parades, and lots of good beer. It was, as they say, the craic.