Hello from Switzerland

Somewhere between JFK and Zurich, September 11th, 2024

“I’m on a plane, I can’t complain” Nirvana ( name the song without checking for bonus respect)

On my airplane seat screen a figure silhouetted against the stars advertises “Music to focus the Mind”. It’s a very nice photo. The music is as bad as a stale donut. Nobody put their name to it. I hope it is made by machines and no living soul is so tired and defeated as this plundering Muzak. Now I feel bad for the robots. I must send them some E.W. Harris tracks so they know that they have not been forgotten. I suppose in a way, this music has focussed my mind

You see, I have opinions. They rattle in my head and sometimes they come out. Positive and negative. Like the river. Rhymes with vile.

“Shows potential” says the airplane quiz game. After plenty of family traveling time this summer, travelling solo again is lonesome.

Ears popping. My gum is in the overhead. Swallow a smile. The debate was hard work? Personally, though I don’t like cats, I couldn’t eat a whole one. Also, the good Clare’s allergic so they’re off the menu in this immigrant’s house.

What a year. Jesus. H. Christ. And we’re not done yet. Not that the new one will forget the pain that this one bled. I need to sleep. I can’t sleep yet

I am climbing a mountain Friday.

You (plural, you) looked at me as if to say,

“I don’t think you can do it.”

And I looked back with a “fuck you.”

You saw right through it.

I’m only mad because I think you might be right

Same thing most of the time.

************

Ah Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave. What can I tell you? Dad got sick and he died. Just like that. All in the short time since you died on Valentine’s day. Dad on July 28th. And what can I tell you? We were all with him. It was beautiful. It was terrible.  He was calm. I might be fine. I dream of you. I dream of him. I dream I’m forgetting some BIG something. Whatever it is, it’s not either of you. I’m gigging away. I think you’d like the new Adrianne Lenker album. There’s a line in it “I wanted so much for magic to be real”. That’s the one that cuts me down every time. A gateway drug to repressed feelings. I’ve a couple of new ones written and many more half written. I’m hoping to do some real work on them this next few weeks. Saoirse has a a new Pterodactyl joke you’d also like.  I miss you. We all do.

I’m in touch with the lads a bit more. We speak of you always.

I went looking for the heron. By the glashaboy. All summer.. I couldn’t find her at first, But there she was by the river’s bend where the water drops.

A memory unbidden of rafts made of pallets and bottles falling apart. I always thought making boats would be easier.

Saoirse learned about the Twin Towers at school today. I wish she hadn’t had to, I want her too to live in a world where magic is real. Where people don’t fly planes into buildings full of people they don’t know. Or kill hundreds of thousands of people who had nothing to do with it. I want the tooth fairy and Santa and unicorns and the invisible string and grandad in the sky and International Law and Peace in the Middle East and, and, and, and…

Ironically, today was the first time since 9/11 that i didn’t have to take my shoes off at the airport.

 

Lake Brienz, Friday September 13th, 2024

The day before my father died, we were all with him and he said:

“Look at the awful tragedies around us and here we have this happy memory. Be cheerful, be happy and rejoice.”

You’d like this place Dad. I told you about it last time, just this past December. Before you, or any of us knew you were sick.

I am back at Reusser guitars in beautiful Brienz. The hike was cancelled. The weather was too bad. It could be dangerous as it is hard to tell where the cloud ends and the snow begins. I’m perfectly willing to take their word for it.

I have had this thought before. The low hanging clouds obscure the mountaintops and the world outside looks like an unfinished painting. The great creator went for lunch.

This place is stunningly beautiful and my hosts Mirjam and René are amongst the kindest of the kind. Their house was recently hit by a flood and rather than cancel my scheduled gig for Sunday they’ve added a second date tonight to replace the one up the mountain.

They had a full house and I feel like it went really well. Brienz has hugely respected woodcarving and violin making schools and I enjoyed meeting with people from these worlds.

 

You can see footage of me singing on Lake Brienz from last December’s tour  here.

Saturday, September 14th, 2024

Today was reserved as a day off/ a post mountain climb recovery day. Although I didn’t climb the mountain I appreciated the day off. René brought me to a nearby town to experience my first Swiss Alpabzug. This is the day when the shepherds return to the town having spent the entire season grazing their animals on the mountain. I learned about the history of this tradition. Way up the mountain, with a whole load of cows and no people to sell the milk to, the shepherds learned to make cheese and would roll the wheels of cheese down the mountainside at the end of the summer. The cows were adorned with bells and could be heard approaching long before they made it to the village. I made a little video of it just for you dear reader.

I’m in my room, the shutter are open and moon is climbing above the Alps and reflecting on the water. Seems as good a time as any to turn this thing off.

Thanks for reading, thanks for listening,

Niall