After 20 years, I finally own an O'Riordan pennywhistle. I've been on pins and needles waiting for it to wind its way through the postal system.
O'Riordans are the whistles favored by one of my favorite artists, Joanie Madden. I've been wanting an O'Riordan whistle for close to 20 years. When I was younger, I didn't want to get put on a waiting list (because Pat O'Riordan always had a long waiting list), and I preferred to make 'instant gratification' purchases of whistles that I could get immediately used or from makers without a wait.
Later in life, he had stopped making whistles due to age and health, but they occasionally, if rarely, came up for sale now and again on the used market, so I figured I still had a shot.
Pat O'Riordan passed away in March of this year, rest his soul. And I feared I'd never get the chance to get one of his whistles. They were already high-dollar items on the used market, and with his passing, I was sure the prices would go up or that people who had one would choose to hold onto it.
This set came up on Ebay last week, and I managed to sneak in the winning bid. It arrived in excellent condition, with the original care and playing instructions from 1985.
As it so happens, this set was originally owned by Bill Ochs, the man who wrote the tinwhistle tutorial book and cassette set that I used to learn to play the tinwhistle. Bill also passed away relatively recently, unfortunately, and this D/C set was among the whistles that his widow was selling. I'm lucky to have gotten my hands on it.