To Arthur!

If you've been anywhere near Ireland in the past few months, you have heard of Arthur's Day.  Arthur Guinness was the founder of the much-loved Irish porter.  Last year on September 24th (also a Thursday) the Guinness company began to publicize "Arthur's Day" to celebrate 250 years of Guinness.  This year, Arthur's Day fell on the 23rd.  He is believed to have been born on September 28th, but since no one knows for sure, everyone celebrates on a Thursday around that time.  Arthur signed the 1,000 year lease to build the Guinness factory in 1759, so at 5:59 (17:59 military time) everyone holds up their Guinness, shouts "To Arthur!" and promptly knocks it back.  Larger cities like Dublin, Cork, and Galway have sold tickets to larger pubs where various bands/artists will be taking part in the celebration.  The line-up includes groups like Snow Patrol, Paolo Nutini, The Magic Numbers, José González, Westlife, Imelda May and The Maccabees.  Although tickets were sold out within the first 2 hours, buyers don't know which bands will be appearing in which venues, thus adding to the suspense and excitement surrounding Arthur's Day.



Despite my aversion to beer (especially dark beer) I plan on spending 5:59 in the Foggy Dew pub below our apartment.  I will probably just have time to drink a pint (though I will likely be enjoying Bulmers, an Irish cider) before I have to leave to make it up to the District 1160 Annual Rotary Conference in Ballyconnell, County Cavan.  Although I can't take Michael with me, I'm sure he will be happy to remain behind celebrating what may turn out to be one of the more important Irish celebrations of the year.  To Arthur!