St. Patrick of Greektown

Last night was St. Patrick's Day - well I guess it was really all day. It turned out to be an unforgettable one. It started out normal enough, working from home and specifically trying to help out my new developer C. He suggested we meet for a beer in the Greek part of town and even though I knew I had to be at a board meeting at 7:30 at nearby community centre, I took him up on that. We had a blast and ended up downing a coupla heavier drinks, one round we bought and one foisted upon us by the congenial scottish-irish bartender. I was late leaving for my meeting and on the way out tipped a roond for the friendly aforementioned Anthony. and his attractive team of bartendresses Jasmine and her just as pretty colleague whose name now escapes me.
I hurried to my board meeting and arrived so late that they had actually filled out a delegate form for me which we were to submit for the national policy convention which I shall be attending in the capital in June. There was one slightly awkward bit at the end where our erstwhile candidate took the floor to elucidate his displeasure at feeling like he had been thrown under the bus not only by national but by the riding association as well, and he did so without looking me or the other member of the candidate committee in the eye. Awkward but over, and hopefully past us. Nothing to suggest that our recommendation was anything other than well thought out.
But the real fun started when I left there and got a call out of the blue from my friend M., calling from a lineup outside an Irish pub back in Greektown. This was doubly surprising but on one hand he had been out of town for several months on work, and in fact I had had no idea that he was even back in town, plus the fact that he and his girlfriend N. were anywhere in the east end of town, because he has always been strictly a west end boy. I did not have to be asked twice and headed straight there. When I got there I ended up in line behind a couple of nice ladies named Becky and Diane, and I chatted with them and the door man while we wiled away our wait. When our turn came, I made a spontaneous decision to spring for the cover for my new companions - a gesture which they accepted gratefully. They were both spoken for, but I did not care about that, I was just having a good time and wanted to share that feeling. When we got inside I found M and N in the dense crowd, and we mingled with our fellow honorary Irishmen and women, including I remember one Russian gentleman with whom I chatted in my badly broken Russian. While this was happening, suddenly a pint of beer arrived over the crowd from the other side of this little wall, being handed from hand to hand, with the message that it was for me. It came from one of the girls I had met in the line. A girl I did not know bought me a drink and sent it across half the bar. Welcome to my new life! I ended up talking to a whole bunch of men and women, and at some point I could not find M. or N. and just had to go home and did so, alone, but content that I had found my way out of the horrible forest that had kept me so lost for so long.