Has Paddy’s Day Burned Out?

When I lived in Dublin, Patrick’s day was always about getting up early, like Christmas, to get into town before the crowds. Getting a place by the barriers was always tough but, failing that, my Mum and Dad hoisted us onto their shoulders so that we could see the huge colourful parade that lasted for hours. Wearing costumes we had made at school that year, we felt part of the Paddy’s Day spectacle and it was magical.

So, our first parade after we came to live in Cork was shite!! No rush for the barriers required, a couple of colourful floats drifted by, no pageantry; just one band and the whole thing over in 20 minutes. What a disappointment! The following year my father said, “lets have a fun day at home this year…. A bonfire!” and I realized now that he had kept the garden waste and was using willing helpers, still dressed in homemade Paddy’s Day costumes, to help him clear the garden. We had a ball feeding the fire – my brother flicking blazing bushes around the garden like fire bombs.

Brilliant Day!!

Later when the fire was just ambers, my mum rigged up a little grill and we cooked sausages while rapped in our coats in the dark. Most of the time the sausages had to be fished from the ashes as they fell through the grill, but we ate them all the same.

The Irish in Canada

After a few years of burning garden waste, the novelty wore off and even the prospect of grilled sausages in the dark didn’t cut it.

Swedish Mid-Summer

Lately I noticed that Paddy’s Day is all about drink, a custom I have fallen for also. This year I was reminded of the charred sausages of my childhood when my boyfriend and I feel asleep after putting food in the oven to cook following our Paddy’s Day celebration. Even I, well practiced in the custom of eating charred Paddy’s Day food, couldn’t eat the remains of the chips, chicken and sausages cooked 2.5 hours too long.

Thinking about this makes me wonder – as an adult I’ve noticed that all national days (Canada Day, 4^th of July, Swedish Mid-summer) are celebrated with drinking, and I've enjoyed every minute of it, but I’m actually looking forward to the day when burned offerings will be edible again.

 St. Patricks Day 2012

Am I only as interesting as the colour of my hair?

Former 16 year old self

What a cliché! For years I have been talking about going back to my 14-year-old hair – long, thick, wavy fair-haired but not typically blonde.  How I hated that dull boring hair until recently a friend asked me “why don’t you grow your hair long?” The answer is.. I cant.

My hair is so over worked that it simply refuses to grow. My mother stuck a picture of me at 14 on the fridge door, how I envied that thin young girl, her amazing head of thick healthy hair. Was that really me?

So decision time?

Friday 10am sharp, I was strapped to the hairdresser’s chair. No escaping now, the processes of remedial hair care had begun.  Two dyeing processes were suggested to remove the peroxide blonde. Unfortunately she hadn’t seen the photograph on the fridge and perhaps didn’t quite understand what my ultimate goal was. I was feeling great that I was finally taking a radical step, going dark is a very hard thing for a blonde who has more fun to do. But even I was shocked when the towel was removed after the first pre-colour stage. “Is going to much darker than this”. I whispered teary-eyed thinking privately, “shit what have I done?”

Round one

“No no no” the hairdresser replied, seemly unaware of my distressing tears and the fact that I was stuck to the chair by my own sweat. 

Words or tears would not adequately express my feelings when the final colour was revealed!!!

So naturally everyone said, “OMG its beautiful, it really suits you” trying to avoid doing their share of suicide watch.

On Friday night after a couple of drinks I frighten myself in the bathroom when I a stranger in the mirror looking back at me. I had to reintroduce myself to old acquaintances “don’t I know you from somewhere?” was asked a surprising number of times.

So do blondes have more fun? The jury is out – but one thing I do no for sure blondes get noticed more, but what are people noticing??