Needed to do 4 miles really but will add to tomorrow's to make that up. Felt strong running today and think my general fitness has improved, thanks to keeping it up over the holiday in Devon and despite the daily drinking during said holiday. Just over a month now until the run so need to get more longer runs under my belt. 8 miles on Sunday. Finally got to watch some Olympics too after listening all week on 5 Live, which was perfectly nice and evocative. As was this...
Soundtrack - The Pogues
Two reasons for this selection today. One, while I was away The Pogues played at Stockton Weekender so was a bit gutted to miss that and watching the video back it looked decent with MacGowan on surprisingly good form. Wouldn't expect anything less than brilliance from the rest of the band really. Like a lot of English people I consider The Pogues to be Irish music but it's not really and borrows from a lot of different genres as the album "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" highlights. There's a decidedly "global" feel to the songs with middle-eastern, tex/mex and even swing filtered through an admittedly celtic sieve. I attended a day at Sidmouth Folk festival on Wednesday and saw Eliza and Martin Carthy perform which was great but the highlight for me was when I wandered into The Anchor Inn to see something a bit less formal. a group of, mostly bearded, musicians sat in a corner jamming through traditional folk tunes of a mostly Irish provenance on a variety of instruments.I say "jammed" but they knew what they were doing really and sat out of tunes they were unfamiliar with. I was dying to join in but wouldn't know where to begin without adding a decidedly cacophonous element to the proceedings. I toyed with the idea of playing/singing some pop/neo-folk stuff but wasn't convinced they would stray from what appeared to be a very strict repertoire and I would have probably gone down like a lead balloon with my clumsily played simplistic nonsense. I didn't have an instrument with me either which was possibly a bonus in hindsight.
A few younger, mostly beardless, musicians drifted in and joined in. Three sisters, one of whom was definitely called Hannah (hence the blog title) brought a bit of a looser energy to the table, two of them played fine fiddle and two (does that make four?) even did a bit of traditional Irish dancing which seemed to involve holding their skirts down whilst stamping out an imaginary fire in a highly synchronised manner. It was marvellous of course and I bloody loved it.
Coincidentally I was just about to have a conversation with Hannah about running (she is also doing a half-marathon later in the year) when a salty old sea-dog cornered her and scared her back off into the musical pit so if by some strange quirk of fate you are reading this Hannah then good luck. If an old codger like me can manage it then I'm sure a young slip of a thing like you will have no problems ;)
I chose the Pogues song because one of the only things I recognised them playing at the session was Rocky Road To Dublin which forms the central section of the medley. I'm determined to learn it but it's trickier than it sounds and that's without the lyrics! Check out The Dubliners' version for a lesson in breath control.
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