'once you move into the pubs you have to be acutely aware that life goes on outside of our music and you need to work with that fact - too many musicians, and not a few singers, seems to believe that the world stops turning while they are singing or playing - life really isn't like that'

I think you're right there Jim, once you go into a pub a musician has to put up with the noise and everything else. Not sure singers do that though, they usually just keep shushing until everybody shuts up before they start. In fact my son was rather taken aback recently when he was taken aside in a local pub for continuing a conversation with a friend while a singer was doing their bit on the opposite side of the house.