I'm not used to having St. Patrick's Day off-work. I'm used to scrambling to memorize a bunch of Irish drinking songs that I learn once a year and grabbing a utility player to noodle and sing along. Last night I was in bed writing by 9pm, while the world around me got drunk.
Kirsty's music doesn't exactly fit the bill of a night of raucous drinking, so she, wisely, didn't bother looking for a gig on St. Patrick's night. Seeing as our routing took us through Manchester, we just decided to stay the night at Kirsty's flat.
It was nice to have a day off where I wasn't a guest in a stranger's home (though I think Kirsty's angry with me for asking her to stop treating me like a guest here -- but, hey, she deserves a day off too). Besides sightseeing, my favorite thing about touring is meeting all the wonderful people from all over the world, but, whew, is it tiring!
Staying with hosts is a great way to hear about the local area and see how people actually live (yes, they do drink tea at every occasion!), but after over two weeks of it, I'm peopled out. If you know me, you're probably shocked at the prospect, but it's true. A chatty person by nature, I also love hearing other people's stories and asking a million questions about their lives. So when the conversation begins at 1am after we've come home from the gig, there's no bedtime in sight. Last night I was so thankful to be able to lie down with a book at 8:00 and sleep whenever my eyes nodded off. No cups of tea to politely accept, no fascinating family stories to tempt me, no new gardens or bookshelves to explore ... just time to completely wind down.
That said, I'm looking forward to tonight's house concert in the Lake District. Despite today's blog, I love playing house concerts because of all the great people I get to meet. Socializing is kind of like eating cupcakes. You know you shouldn't do it every day, but it's just so fun and tempting...
Kirsty's music doesn't exactly fit the bill of a night of raucous drinking, so she, wisely, didn't bother looking for a gig on St. Patrick's night. Seeing as our routing took us through Manchester, we just decided to stay the night at Kirsty's flat.
It was nice to have a day off where I wasn't a guest in a stranger's home (though I think Kirsty's angry with me for asking her to stop treating me like a guest here -- but, hey, she deserves a day off too). Besides sightseeing, my favorite thing about touring is meeting all the wonderful people from all over the world, but, whew, is it tiring!
Staying with hosts is a great way to hear about the local area and see how people actually live (yes, they do drink tea at every occasion!), but after over two weeks of it, I'm peopled out. If you know me, you're probably shocked at the prospect, but it's true. A chatty person by nature, I also love hearing other people's stories and asking a million questions about their lives. So when the conversation begins at 1am after we've come home from the gig, there's no bedtime in sight. Last night I was so thankful to be able to lie down with a book at 8:00 and sleep whenever my eyes nodded off. No cups of tea to politely accept, no fascinating family stories to tempt me, no new gardens or bookshelves to explore ... just time to completely wind down.
That said, I'm looking forward to tonight's house concert in the Lake District. Despite today's blog, I love playing house concerts because of all the great people I get to meet. Socializing is kind of like eating cupcakes. You know you shouldn't do it every day, but it's just so fun and tempting...
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| Peaceful English garden in Cornwall. |
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