Probably right

Just got home after being stuck in lousy school all day - have I missed something?

*Scratches head in bewilderment*

Is it safe for The Bag to come out to play again now????

Bx

Bagpuss is back!

Maybe now some sanity might be restored to the forums.

Or maybe not...

Bagpuss is always welcome.

Back to more normal arghhhhs.....

Give me friends any day, but family..... Family party being organised for later in the month to celebrate what would have been grandma's 100th birthday. No one told us so we'd already made other plans, now mum's brothers are offended that she's not going (not that she wants to go anyway!) and are trying blackmailing tactics... After 67 years she's finally decided to stand up to them and they don't like it (i.e. they're men, she's a woman...)


Can you let us into the secret as to those chocolate biscuits...butter beans and breadcrumbs wasn't it?

Miffed with the AB for updating their requirements for Organ for the 2011> period. I suppose someone had to be the last sap to buy the old book.

Looked at the new syllabus for grade 8 and found a pedal exercise not in my copy, so I duly coughed up 7.50 for the new book.

Did they really have to render the whole previous book useless for the sake of 1 measly page? That's the only thing that is different, and the exercises for the previous 7 grades are superfluous (to me, anyway!)

Bah.

I've been doing some shredding-mainly old papers but also some discs from my PC. I've just realised I've shredded my 'Yellow Brick Road' CD by mistake. Some might say Elton John deserves to be shredded..but I liked that album! Serves me right for leaving it out on my desk. Looks like a visit to Amazon.

Can't make my mind up ...

aaaaaaaaaggghhh!!!!

I've just found out you have to register before you can enter for an exam online!!!

AND it can take "up to 48hours" for ABRSM to process that registration and the CLOSING DATE IS FRIDAY!!!!


That's only 48 hours too - I may not get my 'registration' back from them in time

lottie - can your teacher enter you?

Ewwww....not good...wonderful album .

Currently listening to Don't Shoot Me...which was a Christmas pressie from Bagpuss. Ah, the nostalgia...

OH seems to expect me to do everything.

I put a lot of effort into our business to really make it work and he seems to think prepping half a clarinet (at most) a day and playing about on his computer is all it takes. Then he complains that I am lazy.

Recently, I've managed to fit at least an hour of piano practise into my day, everyday. As far as he's concerned I ought to stop playing it so much and stop going out with friends in the week - although when I get back I will work into the night getting things ready. (This is fairly rare anyway, perhaps once every three weeks or so).

Today, I'm annoyed, we picked a replacement desktop computer up (the one we had broke) and since we got back with it he's just played about on that (admitted I'm glad to get my laptop back to myself!!), whilst I have prepped a flute. He now expects me to do what is normally his job, making dinner ...

... but I'm the lazy one ...

I don't think online entry closes until midnight on Friday which means you had almost 56 and a half hours from when you made this post...

#!%$&"*!

%*?()^?@#

%&"^?!

there. that's better.

Oh dear Corenfa, whats all that for ?

Work annoys me sometimes Just cleaning out my keyboard

Just found out that the unfortunate soul who was so unhappy with his life as to jump in front of the evening train last week was the brother of one of my school friends. So sad for her and her family.

That is awful. I really feel for his family as they will be agonising over this for years to come.

I was on a high speed train just north of Dunbar (in southern Scotland) when someone walked in front at a remote level crossing. His car was parked beside the road there, so it was clearly a pre-meditated act. It was a beautiful spring day; the sort of day that made me feel glad to be alive. I suppose we can only guess at what goes through the minds of people who feel there is no other option but to take their own lives.

SB

I used to get cross when I was caught up in the commuting aftermath of such incidents; that changed when the son of a couple of members of our choir committed suicide by stepping in front of a train. The overwhelming sadness of the entire family at the funeral and the accounts of how desperate the young man (who I knew slightly) must have been as a result of the depression which caused him to take his own life, caused me to change my mind. It's not an act of selfishness at all, just the tragic end to feeling that life isn't worth living.

Since then, a couple of my closest friends have been through bouts of depression. I've tried to do my best for them - be there if they need to talk, encourage them to take one day at a time, offer hugs - but above all to seek professional help.

Unfortunately sometimes even all the professional help in the world makes no difference. A dear friend chose to end it all some years ago and she was doing all the right things- had friends, had professional help, had medication. Nobody knew what the specific trigger was; I think she just got tired of dealing with everything. I know that there were many other times she had thought of it, and went to talk to someone - why didn't she that time? We'll never know.

(Of course, I do not mean the above to indicate that one should not seek professional help. It was just a trigger for a specific memory)

I wish she was still around because I would love to talk to her about piano. She was a late-returner to piano like I am now, and we did a lot of chamber music together. I was trying to convince her to move here because she was in a situation where she was that was hard to get out of and I thought physically not being there would help. I still wonder if I'd managed, would she have been here now, but I don't give myself a hard time about it, I just wonder.

I spent an hour or so this morning putting exam marks onto our new university computer system* and was somewhat puzzled, when I tried to do my last class, that the students already had marks were which weren't mine...

I e-mailed the administrative member of staff responsible for the system, who hasn't replied and a couple of colleagues who have replied and it seems that the system hasn't been set up properly. Instead of having access to the individual marks' column we have been given access to the final mark column, so the student gets as an "average" mark the mark of the first person to put a mark in and this then blocks access to everyone else

*The previous system was pen and paper

Weds: up early, go to London for a couple of meetings
Thurs: all day conference. Stultifying tedium would be an improvement (newish senior execs who think they've invented the wheel )
Fri: conference continues. Have to then pack up desk for an office move (to a different building on campus)

Not sure when I'm supposed to do the day job......

Why do all my pupils lose the ability to play, the moment the exam entries have gone in..?

W

It was ever thus...

Mine have that problem too!

But this has just happened to ME!!!! I entered my exam yesterday and now feel slightly sick every time I think about it!!!!

Even to the extent I didn't practice yesterday .... but I'm away to do my scales this morning


Promise.....

Me too. Last week I was confident they would be okay to enter for the exam, so did so. This week one of them couldn't even find the first note of each of her pieces and the other one had forgotten all her scales!!

I tried to make an online entry last night but my internet crashed! I've just sent an e-mail off to the AB in the hope I can still enter my one candidate for Session A.

Hope you manage to get it sorted primrose. That's my biggest worry whenever I've had to put an entry in at the last minute - will the computer die on me?

My Aargh is - I spent all of yesterday checking my mailbox and my frontdoor letter box for a promised cheque from a pupil who wanted to do an exam this time. I warned that I do not do entries without the payment in front of me (or preferably cleared in my bank account!) It never arrived and I found a message on my mobile (left at 8pm!!) with a poor and transparent excuse, and saying that the cheque was ready and waiting for me! As if I'm going to go to their house to fetch it! So, I haven't done the entry. They've only just paid me what they owed for last term's lessons, never mind this term's. Trouble is - I stressed all day and all evening about it and still feel agitated now. Grrr.

That's my first Aaargh! ever! Do I get points?

Ooh, I think double points at least for that one, Morceau ! I would have felt stressed too - waiting for something to happen so that you can action the next bit takes up energy that you could put to much better use. Sounds as though you gave them every chance. Let's hope they take the hint for another time!

I sent out letters to my 2 stressing I needed permission and money by last Wednesday. One phoned to say okay and could she let me have it when her daughter had lesson Friday - she offered to bring it up to me, but I said okay and went ahead and entered her - the other one came for lesson on Friday and I said I hadn't had the slip - she'd taken it to the office in school instead of getting it to me!! Just as well I allowed a couple of days in case something happened. Anyway both entered now and all okay.

Usually the AB are good at sorting things like that out : but do phone on Monday to check if you haven't had a reply by lunchtime.

Thanks Barry...I can fill in the application form and they'll accept my entry! God Bless the AB!

Sister gone into hospital last night via ambulance

Oh no. I hope she is ok.

Oh dear, fingers crossed she's fine....

Hope all's ok...

Hope she's better soon.



My first aaarrrrggghhhhh is music teachers who can't spell minIm. I have just inherited two sisters for piano lessons. Their last teacher has very kindly written minUm in PEN all over their books. She has also written crochet - she must teach them knitting too! How impressive! The second is saxOphone! it is not a saxAphone!

It's not so much the spelling, but the writing in pen over music books that would annoy me. Argh!!!!!!

I was up until last night (1am) doing accounts for my business, haven't finished and no piano practise done

I was up until last night (1am) doing accounts for my business, haven't finished and no piano practise done

Heslop1, all the best to your sister - I hope you get good news about her today.

BT back for the 3rd time. They have told me that due to issues with the wiring they can only get one of the phone line ports up and working.

He should be back within 30 minutes as he went to visit the exchange to activate the line.

Luckily with DECT phones I only need to plug one phone into the phone line.

Aaargk.

What is the matter?

I really san't cay.

Common root: 'croche' meaning 'hook'...... . Where on earth do they get 'minum' from?