Paddy wagon

"The Irish been coming here for years," Bono sang about New York. "Feel like they own the place." The sentiment is truest on Saint Patrick's Day, which is this coming Monday. Monday, as days of the week go, is possibly the day least associated with any kind of social drinking. And it is therefore the best day to have an excuse to drink.

Of course, I'm too old to need an excuse to drink. Also, I'm approximately 0.00% Irish -- one look at my face and you'd know it, too. So it was heartwarming, if a little strange, to be greeted this evening by a car full of Irish-American ruffians on the street shouting "Happy Saint Patrick's Day!" in my face as music by the Dropkick Murphys blasted on the stereo. After all, who cares if you're Irish or not? In a city still populated by perpetrators of hate crime, it's refreshing to know that some people enjoy sharing holiday cheer, even if Saint Paddy's Day isn't, you know, a real holiday.