I spent the afternoon watching videos on youtube of the Irish in london during the 70s, 80s and 90s. The atmosphere in those pubs, that’s how I remember it when I was a kid. It was every night, wall to wall. And all weekend.
It’s gone.
Even the best sessions these days, it’s still just once a week and a few musicians round a table while the rest of the pub is largely empty and indifferent.
Just sayin’
One of the cruel jokes of growing older is how our nostalgia tends to be positively slanted. We remember the good stuff, and not so much the bad stuff. So our mental picture of the past can be a bit distorted. Sure I miss the old days! But it’s hard to say how much of that is distortion of the memories, how much of it is underlying angst with getting older, and how much of it is reality…
I was just having conversations about what I miss about Ireland from only 20 years ago, since so much has changed. But in so many ways, it has changed for the better for people living there. So my nostalgia for how “quaint” it was when I was first visiting is a bit misdirected.
Not having been around the London sessions scene at all, I can’t really comment directly. But in my experience, the sessions in Denver have blossomed. In the 80’s there was one Irish session in Colorado. Now they are all over the place. And my Sunday session has grown such a following with punters that they generally have to arrive an hour before the session if they want to be anywhere near the music, and we have to occasionally turn players away, because there’s just no room. So it’s not all doom and gloom from my perspective.
It’s nothing like the old days.
Nostalgia isn’t what what it used to be. . .
I have a sneaking suspicion why nobody goes to the sessions you go to anymore…
Today is tomorrow’s old days.
Donals, are you angry or very frustrated? I don’t mean to be disrespectful but you are posting what seems like a warm remembrance of sessions from your early days but then it seems like you are enraged by the first response;
which you easily dismiss.
I am confused about what you are “just sayin’ ”
Ben
Depends on your location.
I’m home. How does it depend, CeartgoLeor?
Everything is passing, and nothing stays the same. At least it sounds like donals took advantage of the trend when things were in full swing. A friend kept trying to persuade me to visit local pubs in the 70’s that held sessions. At the time, I was much more interested in contemporary music, and declined. At least I came round to it, albeit decades later. As far as live music goes, especially in English pubs, unfortunately many seem to be exactly that……………….“ empty. ”
What about other pubs? Manchester, how are the tunes in other cities? Might not be exactly like the “old days” but is there anything out there?
It just seems sad to only have YouTube as the best thing left.
YouTube is not all that is left.
Thinking it is is fatalistic. If you don’t appreciate today, if you cannot make the most of today, if you cannot enjoy a guerrilla session today, forget you.
I’m going to play tunes as long as I have breath in my body. And if you don’t like it, don’t listen.
Bye.
Live in the present. Don’t miss out on it; it’s brilliant. The past is only a part of your present memory. Just enjoy it and enjoy today.
A bit of Wittgenstein here:- the past is actual, but you can’t mentally reflect this actuality, like a mirror. As Reverend said above, you can only hold a distorted representation of it in your head. And so, the baggage of the past that you fill your head with and carry around, is only your private baggage. It can be heavy or it can be light. Only you can decide. Accept the past in it’ s actuality and play the music in your present.
The problem is that everything is so commercial and organised these days whereas the music used to be far more natural and spontaneous.
Yes, there are plenty of sessions but it tends to be along the lines of “this player(s) night” where the booked musicians turn up to do their alloted two(maybe three) hours and no more. They may be quite welcoming to visitors or not, depending on the location and set up but it’s still a set routine. In most cases, the regular punters aren’t that interested but they put up with it.
We’ve always had pubs where sessions were encouraged in Edinburgh but, in my memory, the best sessions always occurred outwith the the regular nights and set times and were often more spontaneous get togethers. It may have been because visiting musicians were in town and wanted to meet up with their pals or just the locals going out for a pint or two and then deciding it would be quite good to “strike up a tune or two”.
Things have obviously changed quite a bit. Pubs and other venues are less favourably disposed to live music(Informal sessions, even more so) unless there’s money to be made while musicians are less willing to participate unless things are “organised” and preferably with some financial remuneration.
Anyway, as other posters have said, we have to make the best of what we’ve got I suppose…..
Not sure if you’ll find any answers here DonalS. Things change and they sure have changed a lot in terms of Irish society anyway over the past 10, 20, 30 years. We’ve more information than ever, more cultural influences washing over us, consuming is the new way of life etc. Our young adult children, I hear them refer to ‘elevators’, ‘malls’ and ‘gas stations’ for fecks sake. The sort that filled the pubs you recall are too busy watching Netflix series or the ever ongoing ‘Premier League’ soccer matches these days.
“ever ongoing ‘Premier League’ soccer matches”
Sadly, the more traditional pubs which have been ideal for music now all have large wide screen TVs for the few remaining punters that are left so that they can watch sport all day long.
Trad music was part of a folk culture. Folk culture has been destroyed by the workings of market capitalism. Long gone are the single place of work communities with their strong ties of family and kinship. Long gone the pubs and clubs where the people that worked together and lived together, socialised together. For better and for worse folk music and trad music has been appropriated, commercialised and basically flogged to the highest bidder. It is the province of romantics, bored pensioners and career minded kids and music teachers as much as it is anything now.
🙂
I daresay I fall into the “bored pensioners” category these days but I’ve always enjoyed traditional and folk music, not specifically Irish, all my life although my tastes within these genres have changed and adapted over the years.
I’ve always been interested in playing music since my teens although I didn’t use to go to sessions back then. Also, I don’t do the “folky guitar” thing so much and for many years have been more interested in “melody” instruments… as most others here, I’m sure.
It’s absolutely bang on about the damn football though. With the single exception of the year Leicester City won the premier league 🙂 the intrusion of football into pub space has pretty much reached saturation. To the point where bereft of live games the same pubs keep the telly on ad nauseam with every bit of broadcast rubbish even out of season.
Re the football, I recall that in the 1960s and 70s etc. that matches were played on Saturday afternoons. All the various fixtures seemed to kick off about the same 3 o’clock time and then you’d get the long stream of results about 5 pm, followed by Match of the Day on BBC on Sat night and that was it for the week more or less.
Now the commercial broadcasters have the fixtures spread over several week days and with staggered match times to avoid overlap. It’s almost impossible to escape in many pubs both in Ireland and U.K. too I’m sure.
one thing I don’t miss about the old days - I gave up fags in ’81 but still had another 30 years of breathing
everyone else’s smoke and coming home after a gig or a session hacking and coughing and smelling like an old ashtray. And don’t knock Youtube too much - its a great resource for learning tunes though admittedly there’s loads of shite too…………………….
I miss the fags 😀 I gave them up around 9 or 10 years ago now and still get the occasional craving!
Yeah non smokers die too!
I expect they were saying the same things fifty years ago. There’s not much new in the world.
Doomed Romantic here.
In the states, TV/media spectacle is the pinnacle of culture. Entertainment occupies us round-the-clock. Like folk culture, preserving democracy is a dying form, as it’s not as entertaining as sport, beauty pageants, automobiles, gadgets..
I wasn’t there for the “old days”, at not for Trad. For me these days are them! If I live another 40 years or so (not likely) I’ll probably complain about how thing’s “ain’t what they used to be”.
“In the states, TV/media spectacle is the pinnacle of culture”
Hey things must be looking up, there was me thinking you didn’t have one at all 🙂 !
Geezum.
If you want to start playing trad and you don’t come from Ireland or strong Irish ethnicity, today is the best possible time to be alive.
[I apologize for my inappropriate cheer. It won’t happen again]
Next time I meet anyone from Digbeth I’ll ask if it’s changed and how. As Kingbreaker says, for us English I suspect there are more sessions around.
Of course, they are probably not as good.
I was there for the old days 50s/60s/70s/80s when many pubs in London had regular sessions. It was the only place to go to pick up the odd new tune. We certainly couldn’t get Radio Eireann and there was feck all trad music on the BBC. Along came reel to reel recorders and that was a great innovation, especially with the coming on stream of the portable reel to reel recorder. Many disadvantages of course, not many of us owned a car so it was a case of humping an accordion across half of London on different buses to get to a particular session. Not forgetting the drunks in the pubs who sometime pestered the hell out of the musicians and the inevitable fights at the end of the night. As nearly every one of us were smokers in those days, the smoke laden atmosphere in the pubs that would cut the eyes out of your head didn’t worry us in the slightest. Nowadays everything seems to be so sophisticated, organised and it has to be said, clicky. There are many wonderful players but you would only ever see them on the trad telly. As for sessions…the pub scene has changed so much now that they are few and far between. Even if you do find a session you could find yourself playing in competition with a giant TV screen showing football. At least we still have the Session where we can air our views in the privacy of our own home…………
I guess my short answer to the question ‘Do I miss the old days?’ is NO. And that’s a definite! At 66 years old i can honestly say that I wouldn’t want to swap where I am now for any previous time of my life. There are good bits and bad bits in all times, but I reckon than people who complain about today would find themselves feeling horrified if they were magically transported back into the so-called, ‘good old days’.
Depends on your point of view. Growing up in the urban American South in the 50’s and 60’s the “great folk scare of the 60’s” was an inspiration, but a distant and rare one. Occasionally there would be folk songs played on the one fm station in town, but only occasionally. I grew up only 5 blocks from the legendary frailing banjo player Buell Kazee, but didn’t know it until I picked, up the banjo 15 years after his death. My grandmother was a close friend of collector and performer John Jacob Niles, but she died before I left heavy metal (tuba) behind and found more traditional instruments.
There was one brief, magic period when I fell into a weekly Wednesday morning session with a group of old time enthusiasts in a faculty office at the University of Kentucky; 2-3 fiddles, mandola, fretless banjo, guitar and lap dulcimer in a tiny room equipped with desk and file cabinets. It’s a good thing no one lost an eye.
What today lacks in freshness it makes up for in access. There’s trad music for listening and learning available in a bewildering array. The challenge now is not finding, but narrowing the field.
It’s a joy to hear about your good old days. Thank you. At age 64, I’m beginning t0 work on mine.
The thing that gets me about nostalgia is that there just is no going back. All we can do with the past is learn from it. Sure, appreciate that you had it, but don’t let your enjoyment (or otherwise) of the past get in the way of your enjoyment of the present moment.
I don’t like the TVs on when a session is going here (U.S.) and I did not like it when I was at one pub in Ireland either. It would be different if everyone was watching what is on, but when there is music and a TV is on just for the sake of having a TV on I would rather not have it on (for the sake of the music). If the TV is far enough away and not a distraction, that’s fine. But I really don’t like a TV on just a few feet away when there is a session.
From Steve T. - “…thinking you didn’t have one at all.”
Oh but we do - however approaching dystopian it is..
Catty, I scrolled back, lost the thread, don’t have TV.
Are we good? Hope so, because I’m happy either way…
@ catty
I’d say the approach is firmly over and the oversized pick up of ignorance is parked squarely ( well as squarely as the average red neck can manage after a couple of six packs and a dose or 2 of Trazodone ) outside the trailer.
I was just playing my fiddle and feeling happy, and at the same time I thought about this thread. I could never have arrived at where I now am without the internet and most especially this site. Despite all the knuckle raps I’ve had from Jeremy for my occasional misdemeanour’s, over the years this site has remained invaluable to me; both to my musical education and my mental well being. I’ve received so much education and inspiration from ‘The Session’, as well as so much enjoyable banter from you weird and wonderful mob. This possibility never existed in the so-called, ‘good-old-days’, and personally, I’m just grateful for this modern digital world. Apart from my enjoyment of about i and seeing it on the internet, I don’t care how it used to be,
Gobby,
I agree with much of that. Although I’ve always played music after a fashion, I doubt that I’ve have reached the level I’m at today(such as it is) without sites like this and making use of “modern” facilities such as adult music classes, workshops and so on. And, yes, even by making use of “the dots” from time to time even although I’m also an ear player.
My comments about sessions in “the good old days” still stand. They were better and more spontaneous and I’ve even noticed the change in my own time of attending them. However, they were not always situations where you could get into that easily unless you could already play the music very well….many here would argue that this should still be the case!
However, the thing was that unless you had been brought up in the tradition or extremely self motivated, there were far fewer opportunities to learn the music back then.
I was a bit more fortunate than most as I already knew many of the musicians socially and some encouraged me to “sit in ” sometimes even although I wasn’t really ready. Even then I lacked confidence though.
Of course, many sessions are still daunting places but I can play well enough these days to choose those which are right for me. As for beginners and improvers, there are now many more opportunities to play traditional music which didn’t exist before.
Actually Johnny, I’m not really qualified to talk about the old days when it comes to sessions and fiddling because (a) i only started ten years ago, and (b), I’ve been a recluse for most of the last 20 years, and although I’ve played solo in pubs and such, I’ve never been to a session in my life. That’s probably why the good days seem like now for me.
I first learned the violin over fifty years ago as a child - then gave up, having little interest or aptitude for classical music. I always loved traditional music - went to ceilidhs and folk festivals - and when I was thirty, had a brief fling with folk fiddle, which I had to give up again because of work.
Five years ago I turned to the fiddle again in retirement. Comparing my childhood playing with now - I have metal strings which can adjust easily but sound nice - a good fiddle which someone bought for me over the internet - a teacher who knows about traditional music - two pub sessions a month to go to - have been to four short courses to play traditional music & will be going to another with my husband in November - and best of all, there are mp3s - my teacher keeps me supplied with tunes - and YouTube videos which can be slowed down, plus this site and others where music is freely available. Plus we have bought lots of fiddle and folk music cds to learn from.
This afternoon, having finished my practice, I found a demo video of a slip jig on YouTube, slowed it down, and learned it ‘just like that’.
Honestly, we had a great time following the festivals when we were young - but this is the best of ages to take up the playing of traditional music.
It’s magic! 🙂
Well, here’s my perspective: In 1983, when I started with this music, Casey Burns was new to making flutes, I got my first eight-key because I was introduced to the brother of Jerry Donahue, who played guitar with Fairport Convention and he was selling his flute. No internet in those days. The Thistle & Shamrock had just gone on the air. A local guitar shop of some fame (McCabe’s) booked every Irish and Scottish band that came to the U.S. I MC’d some Irish dance competitions and got involved with the California Traditional Music Society. Fintan Vallely put out the first book on Irish flute in 1989. Somewhere in that time range, I met and heard our own Richard Cook play flute. Almost all of the foregoing is no longer a part of my life. Some are gone. Some evolved. Some were a product of their time. .Prior to 1983, none of it existed in my world. So I guess the good old days for me lasted about three or four years in terms of the largest impact.
Now, if I were just starting, I would have all the internet has to offer, far more recordings to listen to, the community on this site and the availability of more and better instruments. I am involved with the best session ever. Time goes on and I live in the present. Not always what I wish, but I would never bite the hand that feeds my musical soul.
When reading books like “Last Night’s Fun”, or listening to session recordings from the 70’s and 80’s, I can see how anyone lucky enough to have been involved in the session scene in those days, must miss it. How could you not?
Yes. Get off my lawn.
I see no sign of what you are talking about…
Regarding the old days.
It looks like the vast majority of folk writing in this topic don’t miss the old days because they weren’t there. Some are too young, some lived in a different country, some didn’t go to sessions, some lived nearby a legendary musician but didn’t know that and it didn’t make any difference anyway. Their nostalgia is false, fake, insecure, inauthentic.
However, most contributors are, in my view, keen to (over) share why their opinion of something that didn’t affect them was important in their life, their musical “career” or their own, private, all-encompassing, essential world perspective.
They want to share, they need to share, they need to say “look at me, it’s me, over here. I can’t play a note but I am an expert in everything. I know it all and I will explain it to you, whether you want me to or not.”
People play tunes. They socialise. They dream of changing the world. The world doesn’t want to change, in truth, nobody does. I don’t know why, neither do you.
No. You don’t.
Welcome back, allan21.
The world changes whether it ‘wants’ to or not. Twas ever thus.
I miss the good old days - good tunes, good times. Parties with old and young musicians, people listening, people dancing, kids, girls falling in love with musicians, old fiddlers who had learned from old fiddlers, stories about old times … who wouldn’t miss it?
Change is a constant in the world, and a lot of it is out of our control, but a lot of it isn’t. One thing that I have noticed about very people who are very successful in this world is that they are good at making the world around them look like they want it to.
So instead of whinging about how good the old days were, do something about it. For example, if you don’t like sessions in pubs where they have sports on the TV, go out and work to find a publican that understands what you’re after and will support you. Maybe you can be the voice of change that works out a symbiotic relationship with a pub that really works for both parties, and becomes a popular hotspot for trad music. Or as a more extreme example, open your own pub (and then you’ll probably learn why they keep the sports on the TV). Or organize kitchen sessions with the people you want to play with and you don’t have to worry about the television. If enough players don’t come out, work harder to get the players to come out. Or work to help new players get to a level that you would like to play with, and they’ll be loyal to you and come to your session regularly.
In other words, you can take life by the horns or risk being trampled…
I must be missing something here, besides the good old days. Some guy says he misses the good old days and he gets a series of scoldings. Jeesh.
As for me - for all any of you know, I may have opened my own pub and found I had to keep sports on TV. Why wouldn’t that make me miss the good old days?
I agree with what Reverend said. I guess we all have different personal philosophies, but to my mind the whole question is pointless. I mean, the past only exists now, in your mind. That’s as close as you can ever get to revisiting it. So Sure, embrace your memories if it pleases you to dream, and use your past to steer you into the right future ( as per Reverend) but MISSING the past is like trying to move forward while dragging and anchor.
One other thought;- When I was young I was great at football, and the older I get the greater I used to be!
The past is gone.
Just play some tunes.
Don’t think about it, don’t analyse it, don’t take credit for it; just play!
Nonetheless Allan, you wrote that 3 minutes ago!
Ah well Gobby.
At least I did something.
Tonight I went out and played with my pals in a session. We played some tunes.
Some were mighty.
We had fellowship. No talk of meditation or triplets.
We played some tunes.
Well done Allan, nothing better than living in the present moment. But to me playing tunes IS meditation (or as close as I could ever honestly claim to get to it).
I don’t think it’s as easy as simply re-creating something that doesn’t exist anymore (or maybe never existed where your from) as Reverend seems to suggest. Things have been lost, culture has been lost, has died out in places, no harm in acknowledging it. All this ultra-positive thinking stuff comes off as insincere to me. I’m not trying to argue with anyone’s philosophy of life, I just really don’t understand why people would get upset over a little nostalgia. The future’s certainly not looking good these days.
Hmm!… I hadn’t interpreted Reverends comment as suggesting that we actually try and re-create the past as it was imagined to be. Also, culture certainly has never died off, just evolved.
Being overly focussed on the past or on a future that is not looking good is pointless. If anybody has fear of the future (and you can have fear of nothing else but your imagined future) then act on it now. Now is all we ever have. Also, reelsweet, I don’t know if you were referring to me when you wrote, “I just really don’t understand why people would get upset over a little nostalgia”. Well it would admittedly be pathetic and shallow of me to get upset by such a pointless thing as that, and I neither have the time, interest or temperament. All I offer is MY OWN HONEST opinion (i.e., devoid of insincerity) . The real things we should get upset about are happening right now.
There is another aspect to this. Everybody talks about nostalgia, but not everybody has had a happy past. I honestly don’t believe I have one ounce of nostalgia in me. I remember my past in rather vivid detail, but not from a sense of nostalgia but from pure realism and acceptance. My past was what it was. But I spent half of my life with clinical depression because I couldn’t escape my obsessive reflections of my past. I finally learned to just accept it as it was and drop my pain like I’d drop a hot coal. Sure, throughout all those years I functioned in society and played in bands in pubs and had more exiting and rare experiences than most people have had. But nostalgia? Now way. I would never want to go back. Despite much hell I regret nothing from my past because regretting it is what I had to escape. Learning that much from my past has finally put me in a happy place and time. I don’t, as I think has been suggested, deny anybody nostalgia if they enjoy it. Why would I? But we have all had different life experiences and when I answer ‘NO” to the O.P.s question I am merely stating my own experience (as asked for in the question). It is not intended as an argument, orto be interpreted as a position of positivity or negativity, it is merely my own cold realism
“ had more exiting and rare experiences than most people have had”
Really? Lucky you eh!
What is “exciting and rare” is often a very personal thing.
I have done quite few things and have had experiences that nobody else has. Others may not necessarily find them exciting or interesting . There’s also many things I’m not too bothered about doing either. Quite often, the view of a mountain is better from the bottom than the top.
Thanks Johnny.
Steve T, I think the intention of my comment was that those exiting and rare things did nothing to give me happiness or grounds for nostalgia. If I am, as you said, ‘lucky’, I never felt it at the time. But because the unique and private circumstances of my past have brought me to my present contentment, you can now say “Lucky me!” But nostalgia just doesn’t come into it FOR ME. I now hasten to add that I love to hear about other peoples nostalgia in the form of stories, so please nobody else think that my personal opinion is an argument.
My post, in essence saying that it’s a fab time NOW to be playing the fiddle, was not intended to snipe at anybody who misses the old days or who thinks they were better than the present. It was just my point of view.
I have read Gobby’s posts with interest. I do think that hankering back to the past can spoil the present and stop the future developing as it should. For example, I woke early this morning and couldn’t drift off again because I was replaying a horrible argument with my sister that happened a few months ago. Because my part in it was to fend off her attacks and stop her terminating all conversation with me, it’s impossible for me to resolve the ill-feeling by saying sorry. So the only way forward is to try and numb myself to the painful memory - which doesn’t work in the small hours…
But we all look back at a youthful and enjoyable past with regret sometimes.
What I think would be nice is if those who do miss the old days were to share some of their memories here, or even write a book or an article about it.
I don’t think there’s anything in this thread, logically speaking, which should lead to any dispute or ill-feeling. Surely we are all just telling it like it is - or *was*. 🙂
If, somewhere, there was a place now with a lifestyle just like that of the Irish in London in the 1970’s and earlier how many people would chose it - the whole package - work, housing, access to the media, everything that created the culture - not just the tunes.
@meself - “I must be missing something here…”
This thread has been edited (thankfully, because it started off with a bit more vitriol). So yes, you are missing some of the context, but not your fault…
And my last post about trying to make the world around you into what you want it to be is not about trying to recreate the past, it’s about trying to shape the future to suit your needs. If that means trying to recreate something great from the past, that can be part of it, but it’s really all about the present and future. 🙂
If I could edit my 1st post on this thread (made in older days) I would; but now I cannot.
It seemed fine when I posted it.
Cheers!
I guess people take that concept of ‘missing the good old days’ in very different ways. To me, in the context of this discussion, it’s something like saying you miss old Rover. It doesn’t mean you refuse to participate in the life around you to the point that you become dysfunctional, or wish that you could go back in time and live the life you had when Rover was a pup, or even that you’ll never have another dog - it just means you miss old Rover, because he was special, and you’d be happier if he hadn’t run out in front of that truck. Similarly, if you say you miss the music scene of the 1970s, it doesn’t mean you want to go back to digging ditches, sharing living quarters with a bunch of no-accounts, and being hopelessly in love with someone who won’t give you the times of day, or whatever. It just means something like you wish you could walk a few blocks to some place where you could hear or play music that you really like in a way that you really like ……
Rover *was* special - but Young Shep is shaping up quite nicely.
He’ll never be an ol’ Rover, though!
AB, you said, “catty, I scrolled back, lost the thread, I don’t have TV…”
I’m afraid I don’t know what it is you’re referencing there. Perhaps you have me confused for another poster?
~ ‘Rover *was* special - but Young Shep is shaping up quite nicely.’
~ ‘He’ll never be an ol’ Rover, though!’
True - but if you can’t be with the dog you love, love the dog you’re with. 🙂
Well put! But not at all inconsistent with what I was saying above: “It doesn’t mean … that you’ll never have another dog - it just means you miss old Rover, because he was special, and you’d be happier if he hadn’t run out in front of that truck.”
Catty, I was referring to this post.
https://thesession.org/discussions/41255#comment828043
Cheers,
Ben
Our good old days are ours to treasure fondly. Our job now is to make these days the good old days young players will look back to just as fondly. And so ad infinitum.
‘Our good old days are ours to treasure fondly. Our job now is to make these days the good old days young players will look back to just as fondly. And so ad infinitum.’
Brilliant. The meaning of Tradition - a living tree, not a dead stump.
The best use thing you can do with nostalgia is turn it into music: https://youtu.be/olqvPg3GL1M .
…Sorry, nothing to do with trad but it’s a good song - and a good version of it.
Anyway, nostalgia is the inspiration behind many a traditional song and tune (although without words, it may not always be as obvious).
thanks Creadur - no nothing to do with trad but it did remind me that the 12- string riff on the Byrds
‘Mr Tambourine Man ’ was one of the first things I ever learnt to play……………
I do miss the old days when I could go to a different folk club every night of the week except Saturdays. No entry fee payable, because I sang. No sessions existed though in our area.
Today in York, sadly I cannot go to sessions either on Thursday or Saturday ad I feel very deprived. Hooivor - I have just spent a week at Whitby, fiddling and squeezing most of the time, with the occasional song. Because of the hills, I am fitter than when I arrived, and I met many friends, many of whom were about when the world was young.
Good stuff this nostalgia!
^^^ I grew up in York, and summer trips to Whitby were always special. I am *green* with envy. 🙂
Kingbreaker,
I agree. I am not Irish, don’t come from Ireland. I’m not italian either (my surname lies), and I think that being alive now, with all these really great resources is the best thing ever! My best friend is Irish, and they ‘adopted’ me so I guess that stands for something!
