Despite notions of sophistication, Ireland is just a tiny, mad place

Over the years I've come to realise that we are all country bumpkins, the city folk are just less so

Irish-American rock blasts out of the speakers in Irish bars across North America for St Patrick's day.

It is March 17, 2016, and Stef and I are in the smoking area of 'The Blarney Stone', a pub in Vancouver that is Irish in the same way that Domino's Pizza is Italian. 

There are over a dozen eight-seater tables in the smoking area, all overflowing with Paddy's Day revellers.