"THE" St Patrick's Day

The big day, the very big day here indeed. Took the ferry from Bulimba to go to Riverside where the irish pubs flourish and already saw on the boat some leprechaun doing just the same . I was in Orlando some years ago for the 17^th of March so I knew how outside of Ireland this irish day was celebrated, a lot more than in the Emerald Island itself. The Irish and their friends are of course in bigger numbers all over the world than at home. And here it was everyone everywhere dressed in green. Impressive. And moving to see so many thousands people caring to show how much they appreciate and miss the green land over seas. Of course Lydia and I were as well wearing our St Patrick outfit. Green from top to toes including the panty! Lydia met a group of her friends and was going to remain with them pub crawling while I would meet again Maureen and Mark Finnane who had invite me to join them as their guest in the Brisbane Irish Club . I was not prepared for the intense emotion I felt when I saw the huge magnificent harp room with hundreds and hundreds (Thousands should I say) Irish assembled together to celebrate their luck to be Irish or from Irish descent. Tears came to my eyes when I heard the fiddle and the flute so vibrant in that enormous room filled with joy and when I saw all the people dancing, singing and “gig-ing” all over in such an amicable spirit. Would you believe there are more than 10000 people adhering to that club for Brisbane alone. How is it that those people after enduring so much adversity have kept their strength and their capacity to revive the whole world by becoming such an important part of the New Worlds. I do not know but I felt such a love for them, such a respect and I was so proud to be there among them, thanks to Mark and Maureen that I almost forget I was not even physically Irish. At least for this life. But at heart still there is no much more irish than me and if I did meet people from Kerry in their Kerry outfit, from Galway Bay ( without their shawl ), from Sligo in their Eircom Tshirts, most of all, once more, I met that irish one in me and the sense of belonging was overwhelming .