There’s something very rejuvenating about Fathers’ Day — an affirmation that we old lads aren’t completely bad after all, not entirely without our decent points. And truthfully, you wouldn’t have it any other way. We raise our children and we set them free. We don’t place obligations on them to observe ritual or custom. We just hope they get it, and when they do, it makes us that much richer: so much the better if they come back of their own volition and say, right, Dad, let’s go for a couple of pints.
Gold couldn’t buy you that.
And so it came about that, after a long hard day slogging away at the garden, chopping down bushes and power-hosing patios, I found myself in Nancy Blake’s wonderful establishment, enjoying music played by good friends including one I haven’t seen in quite a while since he moved to Dubai. Thank God for Ramadan, that time of year when Irish people flee the gulf en masse to visit and entertain their friends back home. I hope we’ll catch up again before he goes back, though I expect to be travelling myself fairly soon, so who knows?
Of course, these days no trip to town would be complete without a visit to Cobblestone Joe’s where they now serve the best pizza this side of New York City, thanks to their snappy new pizza bar and even snappier new chef.
What precisely could be wrong with this? A pint, a delicious thin-base pizza and a live shit-kickin’ band in the company of those you love most in the world?
Well, two things, I suppose.
Firstly, we were thoroughly hockeyed by Tipperary in the Munster semi-final, with the result that the town was full of people in Limerick and Tipp shirts. Never a good look. The men of Tipperary proved me right when I said having six fingers is an advantage and the tinfoil industry got a huge boost.
Secondly, being without a camera and taking a truly bad picture on a phone, of people jiving in terrible hurling shirts and worse.
For this, I apologise sincerely and promise it won’t happen again.
For all the rest, let us celebrate Fathers’ Day and give thanks to the universe for our good fortune.
