Back to School

My year in college began on the 4th of September and my busking in Limerick got off to a very slow start, mainly for two reasons.  Firstly, finding suitable places for me to play - quiet streets with a reasonable footfall and a good acoustic, and with parking not too far away - takes a bit of research.  I don’t mind walking but nowadays Clara’s hip problem is much worse and anything more than a few hundred yards is out of the question.  Secondly, while September in Ireland is often among the best months of the year weather-wise, somebody must have forgotten to remind it this year and we’ve had a phenomenal amount of rain. I’m hoping that October through to next July will be better. Today was one of the sunniest days since I arrived and around noon, I went to a small shopping centre where, since finding it - only about a kilometre out from my Limerick accommodation - I’ve been welcomed by the shop-keepers and their customers, with smiles, positive comments as we...

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...