National holiday

In Muriel Spark's A Far Cry From Kensington, a mentally unstable character commits suicide. During the investigation of the woman's death, the police question the protagonist and other witnesses, hoping to learn what might have driven the woman to take her own life. Upon learning that the victim was Catholic as well as mentally ill, the police officer shakes his head sadly, and says "Catholic doesn't help with an unsound mind." The first-person narrator adds a knowing comment: "He spoke with an Irish accent, and probably knew what he was talking about."

For some reason, Americans of Irish descent are fond of saying that the Irish don't make a big deal of St. Patrick's Day, and that it's only sentimental Irish-Americans who dress up in green and wear funny hats and drink and sing songs on March 17. But it's March 17, and I'm in Dublin, Ireland; and I just left a street where I was part of a crowd for which the phrase "crush of humanity" was coined, so I can assure them that this is not true. Yes, there are plenty of Americans here, but most of the revelers in green are as Irish as Finnegan's Wake, and shillelagh law is all the rage.

I've been playing with Adobe Spark. 

My mother has knee problems and can't walk long distances, so we took a taxi from our hotel to get as close to the parade route as possible. When the taxi driver stopped to let us out, he said "Be careful, ladies. It's St. Patrick's Day, and everyone in Ireland is an asshole today." He spoke with an Irish accent, but he didn't know what he was talking about. The Irish are lovely, even on St. Patrick's Day.