Caroline O'Donoghue: Does St Patrick’s Day mean anything to me?

I’m trying to figure out whether St Patrick’s Day means anything to me at all, writes Caroline O'Donoghue.

It's St Patrick’s Day week, and once again, I’m in London. The parades are cancelled this year, and without them, it’s hard to know what the day really means. Even as a kid, it was hard to know what it meant. St Patrick’s Day usually was smack in the middle of Lent, and being children, we were obsessed with the idea of keeping Lent sacred, and figuring out what was “cheating” and what wasn’t. Could we eat sweets on St Patrick’s Day? If not, how on earth else do you celebrate, if you’re a child?