Back to School

I recently heard a John Prine song, ‘ Just Waitin ’, which I'd strongly recommend giving a listen to, and it's about twenty years ago I came across Dr. Seuss'  wonderful little book, ‘ Oh, the Places You Will Go ’, in which he writes of ‘the waiting place’,    Despite my best efforts not to be, this is where I find myself right now. Waiting for that phone call. Waiting to make a lot of phone calls and send a lot of emails, press releases etc. etc.   Waiting like many for news of my college grant application, waiting to get a date from a guy who’ll check out my new to me car for it’s NCT - that’s our roadworthiness test which needs to be done annually one a car gets to the age mine is. Today too, it was waiting for the rain to stop and not much chance of going busking which, apart from buying some of the groceries, keeps me patient and sane (though some may disagree with the latter). The main hold up though is wait time for the files for my EP, F

I can remember summers like this. The sun is shining and there’s nothing urgently needs to be done and there’s almost two whole months stretching out before me until the school year begins. It’s a familiar feeling but now it’s different. My memory goes back to a time, 51 years ago - and to earlier summers - and the start of a new school term was one that filled me with dread and was something I could put out of my mind for most of the holiday until, for the last couple of weeks when I’d begin the countdown and hope it wouldn’t be as miserable as the last year and the one before etc., etc. Fifty years ago, at 16, I left on a Friday and began my working life the following Monday. Things change. A friend told me that University of Limerick were beginning a Masters of Arts in Songwriting and thought that this sounded like a course ‘made for me’. The day I googled it was also the day after the application deadline but a couple of emails back and forth got me an interview/audition an