A chara, – It is not just the sight of thousands of amateur drinkers turning the whole of Dublin into a vast Temple Bladder that makes Arthur’s Day repugnant. Leaving aside all the ephemeral geographical features, the rivers of gold, the reeking pools of lime, that pop up each year on this day, making a swollen sewer of our streets, it is the corporatisation of our city and culture that is most disturbing.
Dublin once had a football stadium, now it has an insurance field, a music venue got turned into a huge phone booth and a rather fine theatre is run on gas. Now a drinks company has a day and name all of its own. Our national drug of choice has been elevated to a quasi-national holiday.
Can you imagine Afghanistan having a Chasing the Dragon Day? Great craic altogether . . . Whatever about venues, it is very depressing if companies get their hands on “Days”.
What next? Lever Brothers Day, on which we all gargle Fairy Liquid and burp bubbles for a laughs? Make mine a home brew today. – Is mise,