After a night of drinking porter in the pubs of Limerick he staggers down the lane singing his favorite song […].
He's in great form altogether and he thinks he'll play a while with little Patrick, one year old. Lovely little fella. Loves his daddy. Laughs when Daddy throws him up in the air. Upsy daisy, little Paddy, upsy daisy, up in the air in the dark, so dark, oh, Jasus, you miss the child on the way down and poor little Patrick lands on his head, gurgles a bit, whimpers, goes quiet. (1.14-15)
Poor Uncle Pat, another casualty of alcoholism. This passage has to be one of the saddest in Angela's Ashes. Pat's one of the many kids whose lives are ruined because of their father's drinking.
