It started out as expected with a crowd gathered in good spirits for the Chinese lantern and dragons parade. A crouching tiger was intent on trying to ruin the evening, but it was the crowd reaction that surprised me most.

The sheer numbers that turned up to see it was the first surprise, probably helped by the fact that the public were invited to join in. It may not be next to Machu Pichu on your bucket list, but walking with a lantern hanging off the end of a skimpy bamboo pole behind dragons and drums is still a rare activity for your average Paddy on a night out. Let's not speak of Ballyshenanigan though...

With the sun well set around half nine and a large crowd gathered on both decks of the east pier, the candles were lit in the coloured paper lanterns for the bucketeers. With a bang of drums and crash of eastern cymbals it began, and as they beat out their rhythm the two colourful dragons postured dramatically in time with the beat on their journey toward the bandstand. There the male and female dragons performed a symbolic act: taunted by 'villagers' with food tied in leaves using coloured thread which dragons fear and will not touch, they fought and pranced but finally kissed and got happy, bringing cheers and applause from the crowd.

It was all very lol, but obviously the idea of Irish people enjoying non-Irish culture was too much for one guy, he shouted “Idiots!” so loudly that the crowd chatter abrubtly muted. I couldn't see who it was so like everyone else I just ignored it and went to get more shots of the spectacle, now making its way back. But twice more the same voice shouted the same word, getting louder and angrier. Each time I got a better fix on the location of this middle class Dublin accent and zeroed in.

Now some of the crowd must have seen the beligerant, but there was no challenge, not one person said anything back. I couldn't believe it. There were plenty of Gardai but the guy sneakily ducked and dived, timing it. In fairness the correct procedure is usually to completely ignore behaviour like that, but by this stage he was causing concern to some people in the parade and onlookers. It's understandable, if he's crazy enough to do that then what else might he do? The last straw for me was seeing the look of fear on a little girls face. That made me angry, Bruce Banner angry. Just as we neared the end he shouted it again, but this time I was right behind him and barked "What's your problem?", one young chap nearby added "yeah!" in support, and fair play because that sent an important message.

So crazy guy still walking turned his head and was about to say something until he saw my Klingon head storming up. I didn't want the situation to really escalate, well I felt like taking him down to Chinatown but that would upset the kids and worry the parents far more than shouting. Anyway he didn't know what I might do, come to think of it neither did I, and I couldn't predict his response to a challenge either. But he knew the crowd weren't on his side, maybe the stupid pills just wore off but he did the sensible thing and stomped off in silence. Sorted.

The irony is what I have in common with crazy guy. Neither of us are sheep, it took a robust sense of individuality in both cases to do what we did. I disagree with his action and whatever wrong-headed half-baked views are behind it, but I can identify with giving a damn, and willingness to act despite the risk. The paradox is that I got more fired up than him, but that's because he frightened a child. It wasn't the massacre at Beslan or schoolchildren in N.I. being terrorised on the way to school, but still, seeing an innocent child frightened by an adult needs a response.

Now what about the crowd reaction, or rather lack thereof? Fair enough there were lots of families there, parents are right to avoid risk. The lads of Chinese descent who came to entertain us couldn't very well do anything unless it was in self-defence, you can imagine how anything else would be twisted in the retelling, so their hands were tied and they had to take it on the chin. There were plenty of guys in the crowd who were free to confront the problem though. Maybe they didn't see any scared kids, were afraid to stand up as an individual, were just about to act when I pipped in, or their pants were on the ground, whatever, intervention should have happened sooner.

Think about it, that little girl was frightened by the cultural intolerance of a lone adult male bully, and this was going unchallenged amid a huge crowd of decent adults. What sort of lesson is that? Kids see cheating sportsmen, lying politicians, selfish bankers etc getting away with it. That element of our culture stinks. Cartoons are cool though, the baddy gets an anvil on the toe or what not because justice is a value we want to instill, but on this night some kids saw it happen in real life. It wasn't a huge drama but ultimately it added to the success of the event, so all's well that ends well. Universal glee was back on the menu and by the time we reached the finish it was all smiles again. Sweet.