I was playing at a little house concert/historic site, it was the last tune of the night. I'm doing "The Wild Geese" on union(uilleann) pipes and for once, my single row of regulator is in tune, and sounding sweet. So I get to the last note for the big finish, with harmony and...

Now I should mention this house is over 250 years old and has an enormous fireplace in the room. The site director loved to crank the beast up for atmosphere even if it was 55F outside, and it tended to dry the air horribly. Harp out of tune, fiddle strings slacking, bow, etc. Well...

On the last beautiful not the main stock shoots out with all the drones and the reeds inside, and all I could do was just sit and stare at it along with everybody else. No applause, just silence. I think they were all waiting for me to start swearing, crying.. I don't know.. SOMETHING. I picked it up, checked for damage (there was none)stuffed it back into the socket and simply said : "Thank you for coming, good night"

Robert Mouland www.wireharp.com