Sunday, January 14, 2007

Celtic Connections and 3am Haggis


My regular sleep times are roughly 3am to 10 or 11am (midday if I'm relapsey) and usually I'm okay this. My friends who have kids and careers all fall asleep about 10pm and get up at 6am or 7am. People ask, but what do you do at 2am?


In January, if I'm well enough, I love to go to the Celtic Connections club. It runs from midnight to 4 or 5am and it feels like an exotic secret. There may be three or four hundred people there, but they are mostly friendly people who can play fiddles, accordions and flutes, people who defy the conventions of sleep and eat haggis and chips at 3am and whoop along to an eightsome reel. For a few shiny hours, I am one of those people. I have no instrument, of course, but I am a valuable audience clapper. Nice Man introduces me to his folky friends. The atmosphere reminds me of the old days on Islay, when everyone knew each other. I feel Celticky at heart. I am glad to be out at 2am, even if I spend a couple of days recovering.

-C

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It sounds wonderful. A definite upside to ME sleep disorder. I would love to come along one day, maybe in 10 years time when Sofia grown up! I haven't been able to stay up happily after 11pm since I was 1989 i think..

murdoness said...

I'm loving the world Celticky. Genius. I'm a gaelic speaker doing Celtic Studies in Glasgow Uni and i'm goning to definitely stick that word into my dissertation.

(I'll reference your blog!!!)

PS, I'm a huge B&S fan, and i've been in Glasgow for 4 years now (i'm from the Western Isles) and the odd thing is how many people i know who know Stuart. Glasgow is a small place, freaks me out.