It's a small world, and getting smaller by the minute.

We often hear tales about how small our world is, and every now and then, I have experiences that would suggest this to be true. You can log off now if you don’t want to hear any more of these tales, as I am about to recount just such a tale.


As a fairly recent blogger (2009) you could describe my sphere of influence and readership as small (holding fore finger and thumb together and pressing really hard), yet even in this microcosm of life, I have managed to find connections that, quite frankly, boggle my aging brain.

It all started back in April when I took a trip back to the UK to visit family and friends. Quite by chance, a friend who was also visiting her mother had just been up to a village on the Northumbrian coast called Low Newton, and noticed that there was a “ Northumbrian music session” planned for Monday night at the Ship Inn. She called me to see if I was interested to go. Are the Kennedy’s gun shy?

I was staying at my friend Terry Docherty’s (who makes all my instruments) and I know Terry is partial to a few tunes and a nice pint, so we agreed to meet there at 8.00. We joined the throng and played until we were thrown out at about 11.00. A wonderful night was had by all and we said our goodbyes to a very accepting and talented crowd of musicians. Terry had been chatting to a guitarist called Andy Craig (a wonderful photographer as it happns), who had been sitting next to him, and they duly exchanged contact info.

The next morning, Terry called up the stairs and said, “Wally, you had better come and see this”, so I plonked myself down in front of the PC with my coffee and started to read his e-mail. Apparently, when Andy got home, he realized that the Wally Bell he had been watching play the Cittern on Youtube, was the same person he had just been playing with in his local pub. He told Terry that I had been instrumental (no pun intended) in his buying and learning to play one, and that he watched everything I posted. I was astounded.

What has this got to do with blogging, I hear you murmur. Well, the pub we played at is owned by the mother of a lady whose blog I follow, called “Calamity, Kids and other stuff”. You might have read her blog. If not, you should. Not only that, but ExmoorJane’s blog (another great read) recently described going to the same pub while up there on vacation with her family.

Let me put this in context.

This pub is in an out of the way part of Northumberland, which is in an out of the way part of Northern England, and 3 of the people I follow blogging (not stalking) either drink there, play there or are related to the owner.

See you all there next spring