“My local Irish boozer is a quiet, no-thrills establishment – and I love it. But my friend’s drink order made jaws drop.”
We’ve skipped a bit past “Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day,” and it’s roughly four months until the Irish holiday hits. To be honest, I’m in no great hurry to get there, given the annual pushback fated to occur whenever celebrants are reminded (by me) that they’re doing/saying it all wrong.
Hip Hops: Erin Go Blagh 2024, a much needed St. Paddy’s Day etiquette primer
Two very lonely words: “truth telling.” People actually turn on you, but no matter.
Following is a fellow traveler’s tale from the United Kingdom, which prompted these musings.
Guinness shandy? The request that stunned my favourite pub into silence, by Adrian Chiles (The Guardian)
Last week something happened that may have damaged my standing in this establishment for ever. I popped in early on a Friday evening with some old friends, a couple about my age who were down from the West Midlands for the weekend. One half of this happy couple is a very enthusiastic drinker; the other hardly takes alcohol at all. My favourite bartender was on duty, a lovely woman from Dublin. I ordered a couple of pints of Guinness and asked my non-drinking friend if she would like her usual, a still mineral water. “No,” she said. “I’ll have half a Guinness shandy.”
