Paddy's Day

[MrB]

My usual Friday lunchtime hole was packed full of irregulars drinking Guinness and generally restricted my space, particularly annoying during my usual round of Golden Tee. Having said that, it's been busy most weeks due to our extended winter. Roll on the summer when they all sod off to outdoor pubs and leave us in our dingy pit.

Anyone else experience any pseudo-Irish related discomfort?

 

[Bob Cratchitt]

The best part of today was seeing a load of idiots wearing green hats with Guinness t-shirts on dancing around the entrance of Liverpool Street station whilst a traffic warden was writing a ticket out for their transit at the front with said idiots at the back of it.

 

[southend_utd_fan]

Yep Loads on them on the train!

 

[Guest]

Crap day. Waste of time!

 

[Guest]

Agree completely there SOTW. St. Patricks day is a complete waste of time... why so many English people celebrate it yet ignore St. George's day is beyond me...

 

[shrimptank]

WIth St George in my heart keep me English!!!

 

[Ron Manager]

Whilst I agree that it's sad so many English people celebrate St Patricks Day and not St Georges Day is there any harm in Paddy's Day itself?

It''s generally a good natured pi$$-up where people have a bit of fun and that can't be a bad thing. Maybe instead of slagging off the Irish we should try and learn a thing or two from them when it comes to our national saints day.

 

[EastStandBlue]

High street was packed with idiots drinking Guiness, complaining of the taste but enjoying the thought of getting pi$$ed for a reason...

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

Our Irish Bar was packed from sunrise until well into the night. I didn't go. I think it's great that such an occasion can be celebrated with such gusto (and with little noticeable problems) but until the brewery industry acknowledges St. George's Day and other national saints days as aomething else worth celebrating then I consider March 17th as just a cynical ploy to remove as much cash from your wallet as possible ...

 

[Ron Manager]

Quote[/b] (Xàbia Shrimper @ Mar. 18 2006,10:16)]Our Irish Bar was packed from sunrise until well into the night. I didn't go. I think it's great that such an occasion can be celebrated with such gusto (and with little noticeable problems) but until the brewery industry acknowledges St. George's Day and other national saints days as aomething else worth celebrating then I consider March 17th as just a cynical ploy to remove as much cash from your wallet as possible ...

Like Christmas, Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Valentines Day, Haloween, The World Cup, The Olympics, all of our Birthday's etc etc etc

Sadly almost everything in this world is a cynical ploy to extract money from our wallets.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Quote[/b] (Xàbia Shrimper @ Mar. 18 2006,10:16)]Our Irish Bar was packed from sunrise until well into the night. I didn't go. I think it's great that such an occasion can be celebrated with such gusto (and with little noticeable problems) but until the brewery industry acknowledges St. George's Day and other national saints days as aomething else worth celebrating then I consider March 17th as just a cynical ploy to remove as much cash from your wallet as possible ...

Absolutely

I cant believe not one brewery chooses to see the potential cash to be made by bigging up St Georges Day...

I dont care what their motive is - but I think its time we stopped apologising and started being proud of being English, including celebrating our saints day etc

 

[Kenny]

as Firestorm pointed out on here previously, St Patricks day is the Guinness marketing departments dream.

 

[Smiffy]

Quote[/b] (Spaceman Spiff @ Mar. 18 2006,11:06)]

Quote[/b] (Xàbia Shrimper @ Mar. 18 2006,10:16)]Our Irish Bar was packed from sunrise until well into the night. I didn't go. I think it's great that such an occasion can be celebrated with such gusto (and with little noticeable problems) but until the brewery industry acknowledges St. George's Day and other national saints days as aomething else worth celebrating then I consider March 17th as just a cynical ploy to remove as much cash from your wallet as possible ...

Absolutely  

I cant believe not one brewery chooses to see the potential cash to be made by bigging up St Georges Day...  

I dont care what their motive is - but I think its time we stopped apologising and started being proud of being English, including celebrating our saints day etc

Totally agree Spiff, but in this PC day and age, if we dared to celebrate St Georges day, we would probably be deemed racists in our own country.

 

[Birri]

bombader bitter keep trying to get st georges day make a holiday I always get emails from them.

 

[Uncle Leo]

If you want to celebrate St George's Day, do. Go out, drink London Pride, eat bangers and mash, wear white and red etc etc. Just because the breweries and the state don't recognise it, that doesn't stop everyone else.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (Whatever @ Mar. 18 2006,06:16)]why so many English people celebrate it yet ignore St. George's day is beyond me...

As people of said already on this thread, your question can be answered in one word:

Marketing.

The craven gullibility of the masses should never be underestimated.

Matt

 

[Napster]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Mar. 20 2006,10:31)]The craven gullibility of the masses should never be underestimated.

Matt

Like thinking Maher's good!

 

[Wessex Blue]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Mar. 20 2006,10:31)]

Quote[/b] (Whatever @ Mar. 18 2006,06:16)]why so many English people celebrate it yet ignore St. George's day is beyond me...

As people of said already on this thread, your question can be answered in one word:

Marketing.

The craven gullibility of the masses should never be underestimated.

Matt

Was reading recently that Charles Wells (brewers of Bombardier) have an online petition to get St George's day recognised as a national holiday.

Would be nice to have it as a holiday but as per St Pat's it's only being done in a cycnical attempt to shift more beer!

 

[Firestorm]

Just had a quick read up on it. Apparently the St Patricks day celebrations first started in America In Ireland up until 1970's the pubs were shut as it was a religious festival , however "Beginning in 1995, however, the Irish government began a national campaign to use St. Patrick's Day as an opportunity to drive tourism and showcase Ireland to the rest of the world."

just like Christmas & easter its a religious festival hi-jacked in the name of money.

I imagine that St Georges day celebrations have, in the main , been oppressed  in our history, primarily as he was a Roman catholic saint, with his patronage appointed by a Pope. The anti catholic times of the revolution would have certainly meant that celebration of our patron saint would have been discouraged. A national day is something which a lot of countries have , largely related to a very significant day in their history be it  independance, revolution etc. I can't think of any date in our history (1966 excepted :-)  ) which carries the historical relevance to July 14th or July 4th  ?

 

[canveyshrimper]

Any day that we have kicked the French's arses, Agincourt, Waterloo, Trafalgar etc will do for me.

Also it does not have to be St George's Day - we could celebrate Shakespeares Birthday the same day.