Day 2: Observations from Ennis

Day 2 dawned early for a trip into Ennis to meet with Michael 'Blackie' O'Connell, who would be my pipes instructor. First stop was the public library for me to get my internet fix. After that, Bill decided to show me around town a bit while waiting for Michael to return his call regarding the scheduling of my lesson. As I'd later find out, Bill had talked to him two days prior, but hadn't really arranged much in terms of a schedule. Such is the Irish way.

Eventually, he got in touch with Michael to find out that he was working and wouldn't be able to do the lesson until around 5. So, we proceeded to kick around town a bit to kill some time. At one point, Bill dumped me off on my own to explore the glór music center, which I inquired about after having seen it profiled on a segment of a travel show a few weeks back. It turned out to be rather disappointing, as the show and other things I'd heard made it sound as if it were a place where there was musical magic happening all the time, but in reality, it's essentially just a small--albeit very nice--music venue, and there were no performances going on during the day while I was there, although there was a nice cafe and a beautiful gallery of photos from Kilkee, just down the coast from Bill's school.

After my visit to glór, I was to meet Bill at the Dunnes Stores across the street "in about an hour". Irish time being what it is, I finally caught up with him about 3 hours later after an extended period of sitting in the cafe at the store, sipping a cappuccino, people watching and consciously working to remind myself that a constant need to be in touch and have everything happening against a pre-determined schedule is not essential to life. Still, I did make a few phone calls to Bill, leaving voice mail once after about an hour beyond the scheduled meeting time and getting through to him again about a half hour later, when he informed me he'd be there in "fifteen minutes". Another half hour later, I spotted him down the aisle. To be fair, it turned out one of his many daughters had had some car trouble, and he'd been helping her out. I'd say all was quickly forgiven, but there was really no fault to find in the first place. We still had nearly an hour until the lesson, and there wasn't too much else to be seen in town at that point.

We headed back to the car to collect my pipes, then made our way over to Michael's place for the lesson. Bill dropped me off and left us to it. Michael was much younger than I suppose I had expected (and younger still than I had thought when I found out his age after spending nearly the full 90 minutes with him). I had pegged him to be about my age, give or take, but turned out to be off by about 6 or 7 years, apparently. Regardless, he is a fantastic piper and a very friendly fellow indeed. And patient too, which was an absolute necessity, given my state of affairs once I strapped into this beast that passes for an instrument in some parts. And that's really about all that needs to be said about the specifics of the lesson itself, other than to state that I'll be seeing him again on Friday, so either it wasn't that bad, or he is really desperate for the money.

Here's a few observations and thoughts from wandering around town with Bill:

1. It's always interesting, and sometimes a bit of a fun game, to try and figure out whether someone Bill greets and exchanges pleasantries with on the street or in a store is a random stranger, a friend or acquaintance, or one of his 15 children. We've gone into many stores, and I've lost count now of how many of them were tended by one of his daughters.

2. Given that I was meeting my pipes instructor for the first time--and also that I expected it to be someone much older--I made the decision to, not necessarily "dress up" as in suit and tie or anything, but to put on a good appearance. I wanted to convey that I was serious about this, and not give the impression of being some schleppy young American without a decent sense of respect for the elders in the music community and the tradition, so I put on my corduroys and a solid button down shirt. Since it was a bit chilly, I also had a light sweater on over top. Back home, this would be considered a solid "business casual" getup. Through my observations on the street and in the shopping aisles of Dunnes, I was a bit comically horror-stricken to realize that I was dressed nearly identically to just about every 60+ year old man (Bill included) I saw. Had I only substituted jeans for the cords, I could've at least brought myself down into the mid 40's to mid 50's range. To be fair, I hadn't exactly planned on spending the entire day seeing and being seen around town like that. I thought we were going in more or less directly for the lesson and back out (as did Bill, apparently). Of course, when I met Michael and found him to be in his mid-20's and dressed far more casual and hip than myself, it made the whole exercise even more pointless, but... so goes it. Friday, I'll be a bit more comfortable for sure.

3. Another little game I like to play when people watching, either while on a trip or in some other large, mixed crowd, is to keep a mental tally of American sports team/college paraphernalia I see. So far, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox appear to be the only ones on the board, with the Yankees having about a 6-1 lead over the BoSox. It seemed to be about that way on my last visit too, as Yankees gear is incredibly popular, for no particular reason other than its association with America (which, shockingly, still seems to hold some fashion appeal, anyways). I'm a bit surprised I haven't seen any Notre Dame gear yet, and though I'm sure it will lead the college rankings in the long run, I do so hope that Michigan can somehow jump out to an early lead.

On a related note, I can say that I've had my first quasi-UM connection though: I spoke with one of my potential future Galway housemates the other day, and it turns out her father is a fellow Michigan grad.