London's fifth annual St Patrick's parade was a triumph for tolerance and inclusiveness. Sceptics had wondered if Michael McDowell and Ken Livingstone could jointly lead a march in the same direction.
But despite having to negotiate Piccadilly Circus - where it could have gone anyway - they succeeded. The 4,000 people following them ended up in Whitehall, as scheduled.
There were some limits to the inclusiveness. The dramatic shift in power under Red Ken's mayorship was nowhere more evident than at Trafalgar Square, where a few bewildered pigeons looked down on a day-long green-themed party. Although the mayor of London has relented somewhat in his anti-pigeon pogrom, allowing limited feeding, the birds still have the look of the dispossessed about them.
This was in sharp contrast with the humans below them yesterday. Once the poor relations in this city, the Irish are now encouraged to behave like they own the place. They turned Trafalgar Square into an emerald isle for the afternoon, with even the fountains gushing lime-coloured water. The pigeons got off lightly in being allowed to remain grey throughout the event.
Understandably enough, considering what happened in Dublin 40 years ago, Horatio Nelson turned his back on the festivities. But the rest of the attendance, a crowd of several thousands, faced a stage where entertainers included Altan, Gemma Hayes, and Brian Kennedy. With a symbolism of which St Patrick would surely approve, this was only one of a trinity of Irish-themed concerts in the city centre.
The emphasis was on participation in Leicester Square, where musical workshops included one on Irish dancing, with several hundred people joining in. The third leaf of the shamrock was at Covent Garden, where a small stage provided musical accompaniment to a food fair in which 40 stalls tempted Londoners with such Irish exotica as salt beef, oysters, and Barry's Tea.
The greening of London extended to the nearby Royal Opera House, where The Irish Times and Tourism Ireland jointly hosted a "St Patrick's Brunch". Simon Gregory of Tourism Ireland predicted there would be as many visitors from Britain this year - five million - as there are people in Ireland. Meanwhile, in a bit of good news for those who can't make it home, The Irish Times managing director Maeve Donovan told guests that the international edition launched last year would soon be expanded to Manchester and other cities. Teeing up a big seven days in Anglo-Irish relations, she wished horse-backers well at Cheltenham and, of the game at Twickenham, added: "May the best team win." Whatever happens during the rest of the week, this was a great day for the Irish. Organisers put the attendance at 150,000, although given the number of tourists drifting around London, this is guesswork.
It's also estimated that there were 40 shades of green on display and, in the parade, at least one shade of red.