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And we thought you’d appreciate some good aeronautical news and that is that Aer Lingus is working Nine to Flyve for Dolly.

The Irish national airline carrier has only marked The Queen of Country’s passing by dedicating their flight to Nashville.

In Dolly’s name… renumbering their Dublin-to-Nashville service EI95.

Aer Lingus currently has transatlantic fares available from €199 each way, as part of a return trip.

Bookings must be made before 29 September 2026 for travel between October 1-March 19.

A Parton gift

Talking of books the promotion of reading was one of Dolly’s great passions.

And we all know of her roots and that she pledged to get the world reading.

After growing up in a Tennessee home where her Daddy couldn’t read.

Which since its inception since 1995 has gifted more than 330,000 books to under-5s.

Now taking a leaf out of Dolly’s book Aer Lingus are donating books on their Nine to Flyve flight.

Every child on the first EI95 service will receive a book to enjoy during their journey.

And to take home as a memento of the flight.

Which parents will be delighted with to keep the wee ones quiet.

While Daddy and Mummy Dolly listen to their Dolly playlist on their headphones.

Or maybe watch 9 to 5 on the infotainment.

To get them in the mood for celebrating Dolly at the Grand Ole Opry.

Or further afield at Dollywood.

We shared a fondness for Eurovision and Country music although he typically was a legend of both, rather than just an observer like me.

Shay was the star columnist in the award-winning Weekend lifestyle section of the Irish Daily Mail which I edited for five years.

His life was, of course, one well lived and any time in his presence was time well spent as Shay, like all Dubliners, was a natural storyteller.

The hand that life deals us all had been unkind though to Shay in his latter years after he lost his beloved wife Dee Dee.

And he contracted MS which frustrated him as he could struggle to articulate himself.

All of which made his Irish Daily Mail column so much more precious.

As a vehicle to talk self-deprecatingly about his own condition and his life in music in general.

Music gave Shay the opportunity to travel and to sample life in another country when he went off to live in Nashville.

And it was while in Music City that he brushed shoulders with the Father of Rock’n’roll himself, Chuck Berry.

Shay regaled the tale in his own inimitable way recalling how he had found himself back stage at a Chuck concert.

He had been given clearance to approach the great man and knocked on his dressing room door.

Beckoned in he found Chuck with a blonde sitting on his lap.

Chuck looked up with a big smile on his face and said; ‘You get two questions’.

To which a stunned Shay said: ‘Are you joking?’

And Chuck shot back: ‘One question left.’

There will be laughs aplenty and the best music tonight in Heaven.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam