I love that quote by Banjo above. Very fitting on St. Pat's Day.
It is interesting to see what a big festival this day is in the USA. It was never that big a deal in Ireland when I was a kid (but it has become one, due to the American influence). Anyway, no matter....it's a great excuse for a party.
From me:
"May the widgets ratttle freely in your Guiness can".
Actually, we tend to drink Smithwicks since it is a hometown brew from my Mom's town (Kilkenny). The Smithwick family is somehow related to us (yes, I know know Guiness owns them now).
Anyway, we went to the Morristown St Pat's parade (biggest in NJ) with our Curved Dash Olds quasi-replica (built mostly by my student SAE chapter). We'd hoped to run a Hatz bio-diesel engine but snapped a rocker arm in it, so we ran on the same Techumseh gas engine we used last year. Worked great.
Our place in the parade was just behind the
"Morristown Madams" roller derby team.....and group of athletic young women with a definite "Jersey Edge".. They were great fun to watch with their stunts. At one point, one of the Madams slipped and fell, and about 1000 young guys came over to help her up. Such Gentlemen!
We were followed by an old flatbed Ford truck (yes...like the line from The Eagles song). It was loaded down with cheering people.
You can see the truck and The Madams in our video (below). Also, me and Lin driving the buggy and later, my Lab Coordinator driving it.
And I got to wear my rarely-used, real Irish sweater (made by relatives, about 35 years ago). We had a great time.
~Our 2007 St Pat's Video~
~Morristown Madams~
parade buggy