St Patrick's Day 2013 (Part 1) - Lads day out

A few of Jude's friends returned to Boston from Ireland for St Patrick's Week and they quickly hooked up together and headed out for a bit of craic. Here are Ian, Dave, Jude and Jason.

Today Marguerite had very kindly told Jude, 'Go you on out with the lads today Jude, I'll look after Ben, go you out and have some craic'.  Well sure that was like telling a fly to buzz off, or a cow to moo, or a dog to bark, or ........ let's just say Jude did not need dragged out!




Unlike last year Ciaran didn't waste any time pretending to be sensible and so he got stuck right in at 3.00pm in the afternoon by a) spilling swally all over himself ........











.......... b) chatting up the birds ....














.............. and c) by taking the guessing out of the game and managing to get his top off within the first hour!

Go on Ciaran ye good ting ye!

Meanwhile Tom is having a moment at the bar.  He's taking forever to order his swall.  Tom, being the easy going fella he is, is prone to being so nice that he'll wait for the bar maid to eyeball him instead of the other way around.  Here he is losing himself for a moment and standing at the bar staring at the optics, the cash register, bags of crisps ..... often times he'll even start to dream of home, in Tom's case that's Derry - the town he loves so well. 

An hour later and Tom is smiling like a kid on Christmas morning as he has successfully overcome the challenge of getting a beer.  Here he is celebrating with Ciaran and Jude.













On last year's pub crawl the lads managed to take in a grand total of ......... one pub!  So this year they were determined to beat that and beat it they did in stunning style, well most of them did.  Here they are leaving McGreevy's as they made their way to  .......









............. The Pour House.  So this group of merry men are - back row L-R - Dave (Mayo), Jason (Fermanagh), Caoltan (Donegal), Bryan (Dublin).  Mid row L-R - Patrick (New York via Tyrone a few generations removed), Jude (Down), Michael (Kilkenny), Ian (Dublin). Front - Tom (Derry).

Jude reckons you'd get a fair 7's hurling team out of this squad.

There are two persons missing from this pic ......





......... Adrian and Ciaran.  Adrian is, like Jason, also from Fermanagh.  He has the funniest Fermanagh accent ever and he can pull a great funny face as he shows here.

Ciaran was left behind in McGreevy's and never actually managed to stroll the 50 steps to the Pour House all night.







. Jude is wearing his 'Me lucky Celtics T-Shirt' ....... yep, that's the same one he wore on the St Patrick's Day pub crawl last year!  And wha?  Sure that's grand, no bother at all, don't worry about it.  Meanwhile Jason is wearing his Sunrise Records T-Shirt.  What's the big deal about that?  What follows is a little test of your observational skills.  Answer later.             








In America St Patrick's Day really does rumble on for at least a week ....... for some hardy souls it begins on 01st March and runs to about the 20th. It's great because in a country as huge as America it really is something that everyone gets on the whole Irish / St Patrick's bandwagon for a few weeks.  It affords folk the opportunity to celebrate being Irish and all the great things about Ireland, not that the lads need any excuse!







So out of all the immigrant groups who have help build America into the great country that it is, why is it just us Irish that have our own special day/week/fortnight to celebrate ....... why not the Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, Mexicans, etc? Well it's simple, it's because us Irish ....... we're just special, that's why!

Take 1 - Bryan open yer eyes man! 















Take 2 - Bryan .... for the love of Guinness ...... open yer eyes man!

Take 3 - 'Sure now oi've got me oyes open and sure this edjit from Derry has his shut', said Bryan (spot the Dublin accent there ..... wha?)

Tom's saying - 'Whe ... whe ... whe .... whe .... where's the bogs at lads? 










In The Pour House the lads staked out the spot downstairs at the 'Party Road Crossing' sign which you can spot there in the back of many of the pics. 












Party Crossing this was indeed as the lads began to get ever so more tippsy / swalled up / hammered / wrote off, etc. This pic's a little blurred ...... a bit like the lad's vision at this stage!    

Happy St Patrick's Day / week / fortnight to ye all.

The scene at Party Road Crossing.













Today Tom was determined to catch Jude off-guard, i.e when he would not posing for a pic but maybe looking a little on the stupid side.  This was the best Tom could come up with.











Oh ..... and this one too.














Adrian and Jason goofing around.















Ahhh sure some photos are just class ....... just like this one of: (clockwise) Bryan (with glass), Tom, Jude, Jason and Ian.













 Caoltan's playing it cool, Tom's letting it all out and Dave's saying, 'what do you want from me?
 

How many bars have we hit on today's crawl Patrick?  Well that would be two then.

It's always great to have Tom back in Boston.  Last summer these two broke the world record for number of tennis games played in one summer by persons who were in full-time employment!












Here's that pic without the hand - So one night last summer Jude and Tom played tennis for three hours and then headed straight to the pub (ehh .... smelly) and as they were so dehydrated that they were talking like washing machines after about two beers! That very same evening they had so many beers that at one point mid conversation they both forgot what they were talking about!  It was time to go home at that stage.  Wha?








Tom, Jude and Caoltan have some craic.
















 'Here ......... does anyone agree with me that Mayo were robbed in last year's All-Ireland football final?  They were robbed ..... we should have won ...... I'll never get over this ye know, never', rambled Dave 'stepladder' Egan.  

What's the story lads?















Bryan - 'Hold on lads....... nah actually just go ahead ...... take the pic ..... sure oi'll probably have me eyes shut anyway, I like to shut me eyes when I'm having a swall, when I'm dreaming of Ireland winning the World Cup and when I'm getting pics taken'. (Take 1)












 Dave, Jude, Json and Ian having a laugh.

How's the observation skills there folks?  Do you notice any changes?     

And again ...... do you notice any changes?















The lads had decided that it would be great craic to confuse folk by swapping their T-Shirts.  It was very funny of course if not a little confusing.  











Dave was on the look out all day for an American bird with big green ears, a southern accent and loads of make-up.  He looked and he looked.













Anastasia and Ian having a laugh.  















'Wha?   my round again, I don't believe it, how does that work, all I do is buy rounds, some of you tight gits need to buy a round', said Tom.

'And another thing I nutmegged Darren Gibson so that makes me a good footballer right, for years around the streets of Derry folk couldn't get the ball off me, I was like Georgie Best me, class, best footballer to come out of Derry I am'.






'Sod off Caoltan ........ go on clear off ..... can't ye see I'm wearing her glasses ...... that means I'm in ..... it also means you're outta luck Caoltan ..... I think I'm onto a winner here ...... now bog off Caoltan'.  












Adrian made a huge effort today to deck himself out in green for St Patrick's Day with wearing this wee necklace thingy.












Bryan - 'Hold on lads....... nah actually just go ahead ...... take the pic ..... sure oi'll probably have me eyes shut anyway, I like to shut me eyes when I'm having a swall, when I'm thinking about Harrington winning the Masters and when I'm getting pics taken'. (Take 2)      

Meanwhile the sing song has well and truly started.







Story?????















Some girl owned this hat and it made it's way around some of the lads.  Here is Jason trying it on.

Oh yeah, remember that Dave was on the look out all day for an American bird with big green ears, a southern accent and loads of make-up.  And he looked and he looked ............. well .........








....... he found her!














Ian - 'Did I borrow your glasses earlier?

Girl - 'No, what do you mean?

Ian - 'Ahh never mind'.  

Ian starts to forget who he has and has not chatted up or borrowed glasses from tonight.







'Alll roit Juude, I'll keep me soddin oiyes open dis toime if it shuts ye up like, bloody hell what is it about having to have me oiyes open all da toime anyways', muttered Bryan.

Jude, Ian, Jason, Tom and Bryan enjoy the fun.













Jude, Ian and Tom catch up on all the craic.  Jude last saw Ian at his leaving party in March 2012 and Tom in October 2012 so it was great to catch up today.











So how were the observation skills there folks -  well in case you did not notice this was perhaps the 5th or 6th outfit Jason (on left here) had on tonight.











A couple of days later and the lads all met up for dinner at the Village Smokehouse in Brookline.  They all wanted to meet Ben and so Marguerite brought him round for 10 minutes or so.  They were all ever so slightly wrecked at this stage but fair play they all made it over tonight.








It's a big deal when a child gets his / her first Man Utd kit.  Jude had planned on waiting until Ben's first birthday to get one but Tom beat him to it and very kindly brought Ben one over from home.  That was very kind, thanks very much Tom.









On the day the lads were returning to Ireland Tom and Ian met up with Jude and Ben for some lunch in Coolidge Corner.  Here they are in 16 Handles frozen yogurt shop.    

And here is Ben in his fantastic Manchester United strip! Doesn't he just look great in that!