Weather today is gray and rainy. It's Irish. It's Saint Patrick's Day, and we're going to get drizzled on for the parade. The parade is going to pass down John Street, running westward. Across John's Bridge, this street becomes Rose Inn Street. Parade route is then up the 80-yard-long Rose Inn Street, to turn right on High Street.

John Street/Rose Inn Street and High Street are the ancient main roads through town. The old walled city runs north-south along the River Nore, and also extends east across the river to include St John's Priory and the area around the church buildings there.

Northward, High Street turns into Parliament Street—you'll see that a lot in old European cities (from my place at Calle Azafran in Seville, I could go in a straight line to the shopping center El Corte Inglés, and walk on five streets within a mile.)

Kilkenny is not a large town, and the parade route cannot be very long. I'd say it's about a ten-minute normally-paced walk from the top of John Street to the end of Parliament Street. Maybe fifteen.

A guy just came in and said to the attendant here [at cybercafé] "Nice Saint Paddy's Day weather." Yep. They say it always rains on St. Patrick's Day. Nobody's going to get too bothered by it. Doesn't bother me. Yesterday, I got to get out and enjoy some truly nice weather. There were a couple of hours around early afternoon when I was able to walk about town in my button-down shirt and cardigan sweater. It was warm enough [while] moving. Nice to be out without a coat, and get some good sunlight.

So a day of gray drizzle isn't a bother. Kind of appropriate, in its way. The feast day of Ireland's patron saint — gray, green, drizzling Ireland.

— 17 March 2002, Kilkenny