Accidental folkie

Tags: w*rk, friends, music, churchy stuff

Date: 21 April 2008 18:33:11

As many wibloggers are folkies I thought it would be interesting to share reflections from a very folkie month. Those who know me would know that I'm not really a folkie, and a reluctant one at that but in April the folkies have been out to get me.

Since Easter (give or take a day), I've managed to see:

Chris Wood: with the Mrs
Karine Polwart: with the Mrs and housemate, D from Up North and Mr Folkie
Kirsty McGee: with D from up north... Ramblin' Folkie was a bit jealous apparently
Lau: with Ramblin' and Mr Folkie

and I'm going to see Billy Bragg and Chris Wood (and friends) this weekend. What has happened? I also went to see The Imagined Village which I blogged about here. I have to say that The Imagined Village was still by far the best of those gigs. I'm still not convinced I'm really a folkie despite the membership of the folk club and all, but there are worse things to do with an evening than spend it in a seedy looking pub with an extremely eccentric woman announcing people who play music not entirely to my taste. Or for that matter spend an evening with a good friend in a fascinating venue which isn't sure whether it's a cafe, bar, deli or garden centre.

It's been really lovely to have the excuse to have friends to stay, and to go and see others - the current pace of life suits me much better than madly travelling round the country. I will also confess that I'm particularly looking forward to the next gig, being a Billy Bragg fan (and having seen him several times before). I'm also intrigued as to what it's going to be like to see the act from behind - I've managed a ticket in the choir stalls. Always up for something different, I think it might just be that.

On the work front, things are going well. We've found our first community member in addition to me and so I'm sorting that out. Also I'm enjoying the opportunity to spend time in prayer three times most days, and finding silence particularly good. I'm back with the holy again this week as I'm preaching on Sunday and hope that it goes smoothly. I'm quite impressed - it's Monday and I've known what kind of things I want to talk about since last week - normally I work it out the weekend of the preaching. Now I just need to write it. So with that instruction in mind, I shall go off and do just that.