It's my last night in a hostel.

I had been busking last week, when a man ran up, asking, "are you a musician?" Considering I had been playing the last 20 minutes.... anyhow, he put a paper in my hand and said I might be interested in it. Now, there's a ton of people out on the streets, trying to sell the bible, the koran, karma, scientology, everything you can think of, all with accompanying pamphlets explaining the joys that will abound if you follow their particular path. I thought this was the same thing. But, turns out it was an ad for a Folksinging session.

I went to that session last Friday. It's in the Galway Social Space, near the Gaelic theatre. I think the building is wedged in between a cafe and a tatoo parlour. Its old (like everything else here!), and has a revolutionist air about it. I met the man running the session, Thomas, and we went upstairs to where it was being held.

Thomas had only started the session a couple months ago, so the word still isn't completely out about it. Besides myself, only a few other people showed up, and they had no idea what it was supposed to be about. Nevertheless, everybody gave a song! I showed off my collection of Canadian songs, with "The River Driver," "The Dewy Dells Of Yarrow," and "Come And I Will Sing You." We had a couple Argentinean and Israeli songs, along with traditional English songs from Thomas. However, everyone but Thomas and I left early to attend a play. Turns out that Thomas is big fan of Martin Carthy, so we hung around for another hour singing songs off his albums. I'm going to go this week as well, as it's hard to get a chance to sing with other people.

I also went to some good sessions over the weekend. At one I met up with Glen Watson, a flute maker. I'm looking for a flute with keys, so I might go over to his workshop to check out his flutes. Sam Murray is also in town, and his flutes are available in a few music stores. There's a flute maker from France that might be in next month, so I might check out his as well. It's great having so many instruments, and instrument makers around.

In order to get around a little easier, and to drop off my CV at more places, I've also bought a bike. I picked it up this morning and road out past Salthill, then looped north of the city on the N6 highway, before heading back into town. Halfway out, my peddle started to fall off. The nut that holds the peddle arm began to unscrew, so it was an interesting ride back to the bike shop. It was fine though, after the bike mechanic tightened it. It's a blue bike, with front and rear suspension.

At a session on the weekend, I was talking to Jonas, the banjo player, and it turned out he had a room available in his house. I went and looked at it this afternoon, and I'll be moving in tomorrow! Since it's all musicians living there, no one minds each other practicing tunes. My room is a little small, but it has a closet, desk and shelf space, along with internet access, and the door closes, so things will definitely be better than a hostel. The hostels I've been at have been great, especially the Claddagh hostel, but eventually, you want a room you can call you own!

It was great today, riding with a warm breeze, by the coast of Galway Bay, the palm trees gently swaying in the wind, and the cherry trees starting to bloom. It's surreal to think that its still snowing in Winnipeg!