Paddy Takes A Pledge

I've gone through a variety of St Patrick's Days across the ages. As a young man, it was a sporting occasion. As a student, it was a fairly indolent event. It was only when I moved to London and the homesickness kicked in that I became a born-again yahoo, roaring and expressing myself in immoderate terms. Often this took place at the Forum in London and the soundtrack was delivered by The Pogues.

The ceremony took up most of the day around Camden and Kentish Town. The fun was mostly good-natured although I must confess that there were refreshing drinks involved. The theme song was 'The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn', a crazed Shane MacGowan lyric about Irish folks abroad, about dispossession and parlous behaviour. And in a sense, everyone at those gigs felt a little bit of that. We were exiled in the big smoke, a bit lonely, a bit neurotic, and on every March 17, we were glad to be with mutual travellers.

This year I'm planning a sober but positive Paddy's night, in the company of Ursula Burns, Jackson Cage, Paul McMordie and more, It's an event that's been set up with the encouragement of the Universities and their Community Relations Department. I'll, um, drink to that.