St Paddy's Parade

There is not a lot to say about the Paddy's day parade here in Galway. I tried to explain why I wasn't very impressed, I told my friends about the Santa parade which in Invercargill at least I would have thought was about as basic as it gets. They asked if it was just Santa. So I said no, and tried to explain about all of the big floats, but they don't really get it. Apparently here any decent parade-worthy item goes to Dublin. I don't think there was even one real float at all, there were a couple of trailers and one boat that came close though. Yet the parade took nearly an hour and it was freezing cold out and starting to rain. Primarily the parade was made up of walking groups, anybody can join in it seems, I think it was mainly schools and community groups and sports teams. There were a couple of marching bands - not the pipe bands that we have down south. There were bagpipes though - I think all together there were two. There were random loud cars. There was a really big dog. I took photos but they are not much to look at. So St Paddy's day was cold and for me rather quiet, there was no trouble but I did see some old men so drunk that they had to hold themselves up against the sides of buildings. Apparently in small towns and villages the farmers come in on their tractors and that makes up the entirety of the parade.

Well that is all from me because life continues to be somewhat boring, all work and no play. Before too long I get to travel again and finally there will be bigger news. For now, I am going to go and make banana bread because I am hungry!