This thread has become very bizarre and I'm glad Trish has brought it back on track.

Yes, I'm surprised at some of the tunes people don't know. This seems to happen at some of the very "regular sessions" where they often play the same tunes "week in, week out". So, it's nice to visit different pubs, places, towns etc and while you may still feel nervous about starting a different tune yourself it's great when someone else plays a lesser known tune that you've gone to the trouble to learn.

Re Barbara,

I'm feeling more generous to her as time goes on and as I've thought about things.
She's obviously just reminiscing re how the pub used to be and probably she'd also have objected to poor singers who burst into song "uninvited" or just presumed that they had the "right to sing" as well.

I think her issue is more to do with the fact that it's now an actual *music pub* and her assumption(mistakenly held, I'd argue) that anything goes.

Whether or not she doesn't like the music herself, it's never really *bad* or even "lamentable* in Sandy Bells. Most of the time, it's organised and the regular sessioners will moderate things in their usual friendly way... Especially on a Tuesday night. ;-))))

Of course, it may be boring to non players or not one's choice of repertoire but that's a different thing. As I said, there's plenty of other choices in Edinburgh.