Top o’ the morning…
And the bottom of the glass to you all.
In honesty I don’t celebrate St Patrick’s day very heavily when I am not on the ship; at least, I don’t recall that I do, but since I’ve spent every March 17th in recent history ship-side it’s possible that I may have forgotten my own traditions!
Either way, I have too much respect for my own – rather mild – Irish heritage to see it degraded into an excuse to drink emerald coloured beer. After all, the day is actually celebrating the driving of the Druids out of the Emerald Isle, but as usual, I digress.
On ship? Whether you tend towards it in the ‘real world’ or not, St Patrick’s day becomes a full on, boisterous, wearin’ o’ the green. And, theatre girl that I am, I go big, or stay home.
Last year we were required to wear the emerald green sequened tail coats (they loan them to us from the dining room), this year…I asked for one. Sadly, they couldn’t find me a small, so I spent about 45 minutes on my cabin floor with a needle and thread doing temporary alterations so that the ridiculously garish garment would fit me. Normally I would not be caught dead in that much bling, but in this particular case, put that …thing…over a pale green cocktail dress, add the right shoes, the right make-up (thank you Amras and Alasse for picking me up emerald green eyeliner what seems like so long ago), fasten a “kiss me, I’m irish” bow in my hair…and presto, instant leprechaun.