Fixing some problems that should never have been there in the first place

Ahh, the best kind of problem....

Just finished dinner - feeding my family of ex, two kids, no cat, watching skating on ice, and contemplating the recital rehearsal, recital, rehearsal exams, and exams of my piano students, and feeling guilty that I have not had time to practice the piano or talk to my girlfriends.....arghhhh plus its raining and 1 degree celcius outside

plus I went jogging in smog........bad.........!




ahhhh......biscuits

Teaching some half-term lessons - all very useful.

Running through my complete Diploma recital, twice!

Second time around I decided not to include the repeat of the first movement of the Schubert, yet on both occasions the timing was pretty much the same!

I am now increasingly of the opinion that without that particular repeat my brain feels that there is more time to devote to the Liszt and Debussy, so they are not hurried at all, otherwise I'm probably all to mindful of the 38.5 minute limit, if only subconsciously!

Starting to assemble a new show greenhouse ourside the office. Trouble is, the aluminium is burning hot to the touch because it's so sunny!

a bit of

Watching the denouement of this year's Great British Menu.

All dishes appealed to me this time, but were rather at odds with the peanut-butter-and-marmite sandwiches I was eating during the programme!

eating supper - not with a £10 bottle however.

Mine was only a fiver. A nice Pinot Grigio to go with omelette and salad. I got a tub of Ricotta on its sell by day for 10p so it was omelletes with ricotta, tomato and shallot salad with ricotta and a green salad - without ricotta. Still plenty left.

Prior to that was the usual curate's egg of an oboe lesson. Funny thing is, no matter how rough the rough bits are, I always come away feeling really positive.

Did you make the omelette using the curate's egg?

Packing. Movers coming tomorrow. My digital piano is packed =( and I really miss it already.

Awwh how long will it be before you can play again, corenfa?

Fortunately not too long. The digital will have to wait until the building work is done, but on Sunday I will get to play the Steinway that I have occasional access to. It's just that most evenings I practice for at least and hour, and I can't this evening, so I don't know what to do with myself!

No it was all "good egg".

Awwh well, as you say, it'll not be long

Indeed.. many thanks for the moral support. and I'm lucky that I have a "backup piano" so it's not a total drought. It's a nice backup piano as well, so I still count myself as blessed.

I remember when I was a horn student feeling like this if I couldn't practice on a particular day! It would take a lot to make me not able to practice then... being too ill to get out of bed I think was the only reason ever.

Morris Dancing and drinking the odd pint.

I did a Morris Dance at Junior School once; one with wooden swords. Holding the 'sword' in the RH, so that it 'disappeared' back over the right shoulder, then taking the sword of the person in front, in the LH, when the music ended, the RH came over your head and the swords interlocked to form a regular octagon, which, being the tallest, it fell to me to hold up - that's probably why I remember it!

Watching Doctor Who. Not the best-ever episode, by a long way.

Eating chocolate (although I'll feel bad later!) - I'm on cadet camp

Different, but not disappointing. We have been spoilt to date.

Helping my dad to clear out the loft.

Moving up in the world then?!

I haven't been in my loft for years - to start with it's not too accessible, rather low for me to stand in and in any case I don't care for climbing ladders. To be honest, there's not much up there anyway. I was called "lofty" by a couple of friends in school, but usually that's reserved for short people, so I don't really have any affinity with lofty ideals!

The word "loft" looks/sounds absolutely ridiculous to me now it was quite an experience-it's by no means tall enough even for me to stand up in, so my dad was having serious bother! There was all sorts up there, including what looks like every single issue of Q magazine from about 1975 to 2000 (2000 to present day are stored underneath my bed.....)

The word derives originally from meaning 'air' then 'sky' (German for air is "Luft"). It eventually became used to describe an 'upper chamber'.

My form tutor was the school Classics master (the last one they had). I was always interested in words and definitions; he had on his bookshelf an Etymological Dictionary. I went out and bought one for myself.

Etymology is the study of the derivation of words. In an Etymological Dictionary it lists how the meaning of a word has changed over time. I never studied Latin, nor Greek for that matter, but I do have an interest in language.

I loved Latin, but unfortunately it wasn't offered at school after year nine as in the words of my head of year "Latin teachers are, quite literally, a dying breed." I can't do "modern foreign languages" though!

You can't? I would have thought that the Latin would have come in handy with grammar, word derivations, tenses etc?

Well, I could, but they're exceedingly tricky for me to get my head round! And nope, it's not offered anymore due to there basically being no teachers there to teach it!

Quel dommage! Wie Schade! - What a pity!

watching lord of the rings - again lol

I was doing the Saturday shows with the UK tour cast of the musical - Whistle Down the Wind.

Tidying up-relatives are coming for a brief visit this afternoon, so all action stations....

Tidying-up relatives! What a picture that conjures up in the mind!

you'd think the blooming Queen (or at least the house inspector!) was coming to visit, not just my auntie, uncle and cousin!

I can't imagine that either of my sisters consider tidying-up on my account, although my visits are sufficiently infrequent for them to have had plenty of notice.

Watering the tomato plants in my greenhouse at home. The outside plants and pots need no such treatment after all that rain!

What rain?! Here in sunny Gloucestershire the sky went dark slightly, delivered about five spots (a countable number anyway!) then brightened again!

"The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hooray ....!"

I was practising a Beethoven piano sonata, after getting fed up with being blown about in the garden trying to pot up my herb seedlings.

Was it the Tempest Sonata by any chance?

haveing a nap

it was cos i have a migraine though it hasnt gone away but has been vaguely dulled in a drug haddled haze

Hope it passes soon Clari-netty.

I get migraine's occasionally; swirls in front of my eyes etc, often brought on by bright sunlight flickering through the trees as I pass by them. You have my sympathy.

thanks clavicembalo thay are horrible arent they. i get them all the time. they are soo debilitating.

I was on the train to London to attend the Baroque Day last month and the sun started flickering through the trees as we flashed by. I thought, oh dear, I'm going to go all that way and end up not being able to read a note for blurred/foggy vision. Fortunately, it wasn't set off on that occasion, but I did hold my breath.

It better not happen when I visit Bristol for my Dip'!

Oh no! Just noticed - I need to change my signature to show SIX weeks to go!

Arriving back from a very wet, shortened concert in Harrogate.

good luck for the dip



hope all went well despite your dodgy weather, its still hot down here

It did thanks. Fuller post on other thread.

Returning from a gig!

eating a home-made large meal of chicken curry, seafood fried noodles, and tomato/chilli/apple/onion salad. burp