January so far

Well, January's been a funny month. Mark went into hospital for what was meant to be a minor operation, and ended up off work and unable to leave the house for over two weeks. (Just got back to work today) He went in on the same day that Graeme's wife Judith had their second child - a wee lass this time (Julia).

So this meant the Kilrea concert was a three-man effort (no Mark), but we were back out on Saturday night past in North Belfast at Clifton Park Avenue Baptist Church. It was great - those inner city working class congregations really know how to put on a good night! They're not afraid to sing with real gusto, and they make a great drap o tay forbye. Some of the Ulster-Scots mightn't have been understood so well, but they got maist o it wi nae bother ava. Gibson was on fine form with the cowbell and the washboard, and Ivan did the usual (but still very funny) joke about the two of them being twins!

We were round at Ivan's last Thursday, starting to get our weekly practice & prayer meetings back into gear after Christmas, and ended up playing some great old songs which we might play live, or even record. A wee Sunday School chorus "I Love Him Better Every Day" which becomes "I Love the Gospel Rock n Roll" (the lyrics are "my feet are on the Rock and my name is on the Roll" - it's yet anither yin Graeme and Mark learned from their Aunt Rhoda and Aunt Betty in Carrowdore Mission Hall), and then the old Monroe Brothers song "Drifting Too Far From the Shore", which we segued into the first verse and chorus of the old hymn "Over the Deadline", and it really worked well. The seafaring theme works for us here in the Low Country near Portavogie, and having been to Fraserburgh during 2006 the common culture and faith of Ulster and Scotland is demonstrated yet again.

So, some good and some not so good, but it's all beyond our control anyway. We're just trying to make ourselves available.