November 2011
I could hardly wait for the folk festival to start. The twang of the banjo, the fury of the fiddle, the slightly off key mouth organ.
It's all a part of the folk festival and I was so looking forward to it.
I had already started to practice.
I've got my "yahoo" down pat.
It took a while to get it right. I didn't realise how much technology has taken over my life.
It was the Leader of the Opposition who pointed out to me that it was just a "yahoo" and not a yahoo.com.au.
I had my line dance steps perfect.
But then I have been line dancing for years.
I was even part of a line dance competition. We didn't even win a place.
The others blamed me.
I don't know why.
I was perfect.
My mate unfortunate O'Day told me that I was the only one in the group to get the steps right.
It's a terrible burden to be perfect.
I remember well the folk festivals of my youth. Hundreds of folk gathered in one place.
Then, they were never called folk festivals.
They were called family gatherings.
My grandfather would give grand speeches.
"Be proud." he would shout,
"For we are the only family in Ireland who never had a king in it."
On reflection, I realise that a couple of my cousins were queens.
But we never had a king, which was, according to my Grandad, a priviliged position.
His rationale was this: what good was it to be a king without subjects and we being the only peasant family in the whole country, would be fought over by all the kings for the privilege of having us as subjects.
Not much has changed over there.
With a population of five million, Ireland has five million political parties.
We are an opinionated lot.
Another of my grandfather's quirky ideas was to have no national flag. So whenever anyone saw an empty bare flag pole, they would think of us.
He had a great interest in philosophy and philosophers.
He told me once that Socrates, while sitting on a bench with a cup of hemlock in his hand said:"sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."
Obviously", my grandad said,"he was never hit in the mouth with a telephone book."
I must say, I enjoyed the folk festival and I am looking forward to the next one.
We will be having a folk festival of sorts when we present this year's pantomime at the K.V. Hall in December.
The proceeds of which will go to the preschool.
I am looking forward to that. Although my grandfather will not be available, I expect there will be some opinionated views expressed in the pantomime.
Sean Kramer