It was almost impossible to get a pint of Guinness as many of the revellers were packed in pubs trying to avoid the rain. That was last year.

Although a downpour threatened at times yesterday, the rain didn't come. You still couldn't get a pint though because the pubs were brimming with crowds of people dressed in gold, white and green.

"A nice pint helps me keep warm," said Mike, from Erdington, holding his glass of Guinness Extra Cold.

It doesn't take a genius to realise that drinking Guinness on St Patrick's Day (or thereabouts) has nothing whatsoever to do with the weather. It is solely about being Irish.

In fact, Digbeth could be showered with meteors and there would probably still be plenty of men looking up at the sky with white foam covering their moustaches as Guinness flowed like a waterfall down High Street Deritend.

So it was that all things Irish came to Birmingham yesterday as the city became the focal point for Irish communities across the country.

Despite a number of poor imitations springing up across the UK, Birmingham has the world's third biggest St Patrick's Day Parade and the largest on these shores by far.

More than 100,000 people braved the biting chill and lined the streets of Digbeth to cheer the passing floats and marching bands.

There was also the many Irish organisations such as Gaelic Football teams and Irish dancing clubs. Spectators stood in crowds ten deep on much of Deritend as the noise of Irish folk music pierced the air.

But the live music also gave some of the crowd an excuse to carry out impromptu River-dance impersonations as bagpipes, drums and flutes were expertly played by marching troupes. Another way of keeping warm.

It must have been difficult for some of the musicians, who had no choice but to endure the transformation of their healthy warm hands into half-white, half-blue limbs which could register almost no feeling. Every time the bands fell silent, they would be rub-bing their hands together in an attempt to get some feeling back.

Among the floats was one re-enacting James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. The story involves a rural labourer who is seemingly killed in a fall but revived by spilled whiskey during his wake.

I couldn't help but think that Finnegan (real name John Costella from Erdington via Galway) was the luckiest man in the parade.

Lying under a blanket with his pyjamas on, constantly taking a slurp out of a drinking container.

"Is that real whiskey in there?" I asked. No reply. What some people will do to promote the Irish community, I thought.

However, one man not in the mood for a hearty drink was Birmingham's Lord Mayor Councillor Mike Nangle. Born in County Armagh, Coun Nangle, was in bed for much of Saturday with food poisoning. He has also been waiting for a heart operation for a number of months.

He cancelled his planned trip to New York's St Patrick's Day Parade this Thursday because of his health concerns but made a special effort for Birmingham yesterday.

"It was very important for me to come to this event which, for me as an Irishman, is one of the highlights of my year as Lord Mayor," he said.

"It is a very good atmosphere and a very good turnout. The parade really is a major event on the Irish calendar and is known by Irish people across the world."