‘What I miss about lockdown is hardly worth sayin’, the silence, and no pint of Harp. And the evening before us with no friends comings in. And no pint of Harp. And Sgt O’Brien and the way he might look at ya: “Five kilometres? Is that right now? Would they by any chance be Irish kilometres? Go on with ya!”
‘And no pint of Harp. The PUP money was good and the walk ways were free, even if you could break a leg on the stones around here. And you certainly could sink a pint of Harp. If you had a pint of Harp’.
Of course it is too early to say `goodbye lockdown’, whatever about the pint of Harp, as rare now in most Irish pubs as those dearly departed beers; Time, Phoenix, and Watney’s, for example.
Though Harp was a lager, an altogether superior beverage in its day when - laced with lime - it assisted youth through the choppy waters of the late teens/early 20s when its mild, sweetened alcohol supplied a scarce courage so you could at least smile at the way she might look at ya.
Nowadays Harp has been supplanted in Ireland by `probably’ (the best lager in the world) and others, but it is still popular north of the border, up Portadown way, as I found when covering strife at Drumcree over eight long summers.
I digress. Yes, it is still too early to say goodbye to lockdown, with a Covid variant now for everyone in the audience; Kent, South African, South American, Indian, and whichever you’re having yourself. It is what viruses do. They evolve. Like the flu, and why there is a different flu jab every year.
Some, like the so-called Spanish flu (it began in the US!) 100 years ago, evolve into harmlessness as we humans develop the required anti-bodies. That virus affected mainly young people, killing approximately 23,000 in Ireland.
As of now, it seems existing vaccines are effective where all current Covid variants are concerned but it is likely we may need booster shots every year, as with the flu. Probably both together.
It may be goodbye to Harp, but not to lockdown just yet.
Harp lager was created in 1960 and first produced in Dundalk, now in Dublin, with the Brian Boru harp as its emblem.
inaword@irishtimes.com
