Swansong

Today was the last time we'll see Cathal at one of our weekly music sessions - for six months at least, while he goes to the UK on a career break. To mark the occasion, it was he who took the floor for the last thirty minutes of today's get-together. He no doubt likes to think that it was in honour of him that the turn-out (thirteen, no less!) was the largest in a very long time.

Because of the numbers and the amount of music which had to be gone through, it was later than usual when we broke up and headed to Clontarf Castle for a pint and a bit of chit-chat. Cathal stood a round of drinks, some of us sampled the pub grub menu (Clontarf Castle probably wouldn't appreciate having their food described in those terms), the talk was extensive, and at the end of it all I gave Cathal a lift home.

The evening and night were devoted to work, and I'd even got up sufficiently early to get some work done before going to the music session. So the next big rush-job has begun.