mns  2008-01-30 14:25   

Love and happiness go hand in hand. On New Year’s Day my sister got married on a ship in the Antarctic; a Russian captain oversaw the event as they coursed between icebergs and wild seas.
Two weeks later, back in Dublin, my children, Steffen and Sophie, were the witnesses at the civil ceremony – a proud and wonderful moment for me, and I was so happy to be there both as a sister and as a mother.
It was such a great day, and I will long remember my sister walking down the aisle to the strains of Brown Eyed Girl and how I felt so proud of her.
Somewhere during the day I managed to lose my hat, an item of which I was particularly fond, though my brother did ask me if it used to be a peacock and had I shot it.
No, it was never a peacock and, no, I didn’t shoot it. Its synthetic feathers came from some factory – I assume. I think it may be floating somewhere on Leeson Street which is where I went to get the coach back to the airport. If you happen to find it – well, enjoy it.
Sadly, I doubt it survived the wind and the rain that evening.

From there it was a dash to London where I recorded An Angel at my Back (due out in February). I am so grateful to JC who drove me down as he kindly (and correctly) reasoned I would be exhausted if I took the train, the tube and the bus.
It took us a brutal five hours on the motorway, but was definitely better than the alternative.
The recording went smoothly and was also very interesting. It was in a different studio to previous recordings and it is amazing how similar and yet how different this can be.
In the past I had recorded without earphones, all communications from the engineer coming through a mike in the booth.
This time I had the choice of regular earphones or a violinist’s earphone. (This is a single one so that one ear is kept uncovered so that the musician can hold the violin.)
I hate earphones and have seldom used them for listening to anything as I feel blocked off from reality when they are on, but the truth is when needs must etc…
Initially it was slightly unnerving as everything I said I could hear coming back into my head, and, when something was being played back so that I could pick up the thread, I felt disconcerted when my voice began again. But of course you get used to it very quickly.
The recording went much faster than expected and, just as JC was commencing his tenth cup of coffee, I emerged and found him reading outside a lovely old pub.

Nothing compares with London’s traffic. It was so awful. I had forgotten what it was like, and while there are a couple of things I really miss about London, the truth is that not having to cope with London traffic is in itself a wonderful compensation.

Coming back home to the quietness of our courtyard, the red bricks of the buildings, the peace of home was joy. We curled up on the sofa with a bottle of wine and a salad we had picked up on the motorway, too tired to even speak.