christmas booty

There's still an outstanding package from ThinkGeek, but so far I have scored a DVD writer (Mom & Dad) and a shiny new digital camera (eldest brother). Also in this years' haul: Rashomon on DVD, some books, the traditional Terry's Chocolate Orange, 8 Christmas cards, many drinks.

None of the other sort of booty so far, alas.

A funny thing happened on the way to the bar...

...actually, it happened in the bar. Late on Christmas Eve, my mother suggested that the three of us (her, Dad, me) go to town for a few drinks. So we went to a bar that's owned by my secondary-school maths teacher, not least because it's where I usually drink in Youghal. As I wandered to the bar to order drink, a guy with a ponytail and a vaguely familiar face nodded at me and said hi. I nodded back, unsure who he was, but willing to be polite if nothing else. Got my drinks, sat in the corner with the folks.

Shortly afterward, Ponytail Guy sat at the next table with another guy, and both of them produced guitars, at which point I recognised Ponytail Guy as being Bobby, an extremely talented local guitarist and part of the local music scene for as long as I've known him (in fact, I first met him through playing in a band with a friend of his). Bobby and Derek (the other guitarist) proceeded to play a few songs, some their own and some popular guitar stuff. No amps or mikes, just steel-strung acoustics and good voices. All present were merrily tapping feet and nodding heads, the older folks included. Kinda amusing to see your parents bobbing along to REM or Radiohead...
After they'd played a few songs, Bobby turned to me and said, "so, will you play a song?" Whee!

So I played "Wish You Were Here" and "Wonderwall" and just as I hit the last note on the latter, the G string let go. Which was as good a way as any to finish, I guess. I returned the guitar to Bobby, who set about replacing the string, and returned to being an audience member for the rest of the evening.

Two moments: one was glancing over at my folks while playing the first song and being needlessly amused at the thought of them nodding along to a Pink Floyd track (released the year my sister was born, coincidentally), and the other was related to me later; one of my mother's friends, sitting at the next table on the other side from the music, leaned over to my mother and said in all innocence, "I didn't know there was three in the band".

After that, it didn't matter what Christmas threw at me. I got my ten minutes of public attention and that was Just Great.

...and in the other pub...

Broenwynn arrived last night, and we ditched bags at the house and went to the pub, pretty much. So we're each on pint number two when a familiar-but-unfamiliar figure walks in the door: Colin, my old barman who joined the army. Seven weeks basic training has, we agreed, transferred bulk from his stomach to his shoulders. Much to my surprise, he appeared to have turned up in the bar "on spec" - with no plans on who he was meeting - since he sat with us, bought us both pints, and stayed there until we lurched out some time later. A few of his friends came in and joined us, and there was a bit of a small world moment when an Australian friend of his started talking to Broenwynn and discovered that they're both from roughly the same part of Oz. We left a little earlier than planned due to some confusion over Bron visiting the chip shop across the road and then not being allowed eat the food in the bar (legal health & safety reasons) and also general tiredness from jetlag on her behalf and Christmas on my behalf. Still, though, a very fun evening, and Colin's asked me to give him a shout if I'm heading out again before he goes back to boot camp.