I got to thinking with the National Drinking festival around the corner, is it time DF participation in these parades came to an end?
The reports I have seen in the last few years have been similar. Local Councils organise themed parades, something of a carnival. Lots of people dressed as clowns, out for a bit of fun on a bank holiday in early spring/late winter.
And then, usually to the front, an organised, sometimes armed body of serious faces marchers, who look as if they'll trample anyone who gets in their way.(We all know it happens). Is it appropriate any more? Is this type of participation more appropriate in an Easter Parade?
In Limerick in particular, with the current Minister, the parades are beginning to resemble the old May Day parades in moscow, and the PDF get dragged in, with their equipment, on their day off, taking what was once a RDF only affair. The next problem we have is after the parade, often guys in uniform decide to hit the pubs, and get their faces in the local rags, obviously photographed later in the celebrations. Causing embarassment to all.
Maybe it's time we left paddys day for partying, and the Easter commemoration for military displays?
The reports I have seen in the last few years have been similar. Local Councils organise themed parades, something of a carnival. Lots of people dressed as clowns, out for a bit of fun on a bank holiday in early spring/late winter.
And then, usually to the front, an organised, sometimes armed body of serious faces marchers, who look as if they'll trample anyone who gets in their way.(We all know it happens). Is it appropriate any more? Is this type of participation more appropriate in an Easter Parade?
In Limerick in particular, with the current Minister, the parades are beginning to resemble the old May Day parades in moscow, and the PDF get dragged in, with their equipment, on their day off, taking what was once a RDF only affair. The next problem we have is after the parade, often guys in uniform decide to hit the pubs, and get their faces in the local rags, obviously photographed later in the celebrations. Causing embarassment to all.
Maybe it's time we left paddys day for partying, and the Easter commemoration for military displays?
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