Surprising chanteuse

It's a ridiculously long time since I've posted a blip. I've been all too well aware of that as time has passed, but a combinstion of the bad weather and yet another bout of ridiculous busy-ness has meant that day after day went by without my having either opportunity or inclination to upload anything. It's strange, really: being hospitalised and undergoing heart surgery wasn't enough to cause an interruption, but now a few flurries of snow, combined with a few days of hard work, have led to the biggest break since I began this journal way back three and a half years ago. It's disgraceful, I know.

While I haven't been uploading, or even visiting Blipfoto much, I've still been clicking away despite everything. A lot of the results are pretty terrible, and will need some tender loving post-processing care, but I will be filling this ugly gap which I've allowed to develop.

So, back to business ... This evening saw another of my occasional meetings with a potential member of the Music Group. We were first due to meet over ten days ago but ahd to re-schedule twice because of the snow. We culd have gone ahead last Thursday, but another group member had volunteered to join me on this occasion, and he wasn't available then. We met in my all-time favourite venue, which was busier than usual tonight. We had a great old chat with the new guy and were very, very surprised when we broke up to find that it was almost 10.30 (we'd met at 7.30). I'd planned all along to grab a bite to eat in town after the chat, and Peadar (the other guy from the Group) decided to join me. I felt like Indian food, he was happy with thhat, and we went to the Jewel in the Crown on South William Street, a favourite of mine.

There was a large group there ahead of us who were celebrating a birthday in rather noisy style. I must admit to some reluctance to stay because of this, and feared that it would get even more noisy as time progressed. That proved to be the case, but it got noisier in the nicest possible way, with different people in the group taking it in turns to sing. The people at the table seemed to be well known to the staff, and one of the waiters was actually inveigled into singing also. That was soon followed by a rush to grab one of the chefs, who contributed a beautiful Indian ballad (at least, that's what we assumed it was). But then came the biggest surprise of all ...

Suddenly, totally without warning, a most beautiful voice began to sing. It belonged to one of the girls at a table near the wondow, unconnected with the celebration group. She was obviously a trained singer, and she immediately reduced the place to total silence as we hung on to every note and then broke into tumultuous applause. I've forgotten what it was she sang, but it made a heavenly moment and put Peadar and me in the best of form. A really nice surprise, then, and the perfect way to end the night.