Belated St Paddy's Day/What It Means To Me To Be Irish

"In Manhattan's desert twilight in the death of afternoon we stepped hand in hand down Broadway w/ the first man on the moon.
And "The Blackbird"broke the silence as you whistled it so sweet and in Brendan Behan's footsteps I danced up and down the street.
Then we said goodnite to Broadway giving it our best regards tipped our hats to Mister Cohen dear old Times Square favourite bard,then we raised a glass to JFK and a dozen more besides
when I got back to my empty room I suppose I must have cried
Thousands are sailing again across the ocean where a hand of opportunity draws tickets in a lottery
Postcards we're mailing of sky blue skies and oceans from rooms the daylite never sees where lights don't glow on Christmas trees and we danced"
Thousands Are Sailing The Pogues

So apologies for no blog yesterday.............no I wasn't off painting the town green in honour of St Paddy's Day,nor did I gorge myself on Bacon & Cabbage after my run,the sad truth was my two co workers decided yesterday was the ideal day for them to both call out sick and muggins here got lumbered w/ the workload off three people on the loading dock......needless to say I got well and truly mullered and after a 10 hour work day I still had a 9 miler on tap,which it must be said was much needed to relieve my stress level,I was well and truly "cream crackered"...knackered so I naffed off to bed by 8.15pm,not one of my more memorable St Paddy's Days in recent years......but in keeping w/ the sign of my fridge door that I xeroxed from a magazine years ago"I have Irish Alzheimers,I forget everything except the grudge" I plan to take next years St Paddy's Day off which is a Thursday.....so I may as well take the Friday off as well.............we'll see how those two like it then....Gobshites!!!

Anywho as I had planned to write yesterday,being Irish is a huge part of who I am,ok I wasn't born in "the ould country"but unlike alot of these wannabe Irish not only have I actually been there....I can also find it on a map for christsakes!!!!
Named after my father,my grandfather and the man himself I won't be mistaken for an Italian anytime soon...........Kevin Francis Patrick Forde........
One of my earliest childhood memories is of my christening photograph hanging on the living room wall,the Irish Tricolour on one side,England's Union Jack on the other,from a very young age Kevin and Eileen taught me to respect the land of my birth but also remember the land of my ancestry,it was one of the many great life lessons they installed in me during my life.
Asides from a name that couldn't be anymore Irish if it tried there could be no mistaking where my loyalties lie these days,my shamrock bandanna and shamrock running socks that I always wear for my races,my love and devotion of Ronnie Delaney,Marcus o Sullivan and the Governor Eamonn Coghlan despite growing up in England as a middle distance runner in the era of Coe,Ovett and Cram.
The dozens of Ireland Soccer,Rugby and Cricket jerseys hanging up in my closet,I know we'll never win a World Cup or European Championship but this doesn't diminish my love of"The Boys In Green",we're a proud nation,a nation that's taken all that's been thrown at us,tipped our heads back and laughed and said"is that the best you've got?"

I realize it's now March 18th and perhaps"unfashionable"in some quarters to be displaying a sense of Irishness................unlike the masses who've now moved onto the"next thing"I'm still Irish,like the rest of my countrymen and women,we're Irish 365 days a year....and in the case of a leap year 366.
Slanite