Thursday 7th September - the pace is slowing down...

Morning - dental hygienist for me; it wouldn't take long if we had changed to a dentist closer to home, but since we are still going to the same practice nearly an hour's drive away - well, we have only ourselves to blame!

Afternoon - for me, a very pleasant time in a local cafe, sitting in the shade in the corner of their courtyard having tea and shortbread with a friend and a little flock of sparrows. They were twittering about in the thick hedge immediately behind me, taking turns to see if there were any crumbs (there weren't!)

for Himself, a far more strenuous time - shopping for my father and taking the food round (which also involves checking the fridge, clearing up any consequences such as storing the apple juice carton on its side - it always leaks  -and dealing with any food past use-by dates etc). He does all of this now - I used to go round too, but the trek up to my father's flat is too far for me these days.

and - whoop whoop - he persuaded my father to try on a pair of trousers and a shirt from the selection I had ordered, and they have all been accepted! I have to shorten the trousers, but I knew that was going to be necessary.

Evening - look what we found when we were looking round the garden and doing the watering;

I thought it was very obliging of them to flower so close to the path. I planted the original corms several years ago much further back, nearer the main trunk of the smoke bush.

And these were delivered at some point during the day; I shall do my best to get them into their ready-prepared containers in the hope of new potatoes at Christmas.

 Tomorrow we only have one thing in the diary; our friend, the curate at our church, is coming for coffee, and also to do a 'Home Communion' service for us; like a Communion service in church but just for us. I am so looking forward to it.  

Wednesday 16th August - Sunflowers - a welcome distraction

 

There are a number of places now where you can pick your own sunflowers, and one is quite close to here. I rang a friend on spec, partly because I was putting off doing some tedious task or other, and partly just for a chat. She was quite near to our house on her way back from lunch at the sunflower picking place with a friend, and was keen to drop by for tea.

She very kindly left us with two of her four sunflowers! What a doubly, trebly welcome treat! Tea in the garden, with a good friend, and two sunflowers as a memory!

I thought I might start teaching a course in procrastination - not how on to overcome it, but on how to enjoy it without guilt. 'Tomorrow is another day' and all that ... 

I suspect it isn't the skill of procrastination that people might want to learn, but that of developing a carefree approach to whether things get done or not.  

It is heading for 8pm and I still haven't Done That Task. Still, there's plenty of time before bed? No?

Sunday 13th August - Almost nothing

 has happened today in terms of events to write home about; 

• a friend called round to collect her very, very late birthday present on her way from the 8:30 service at church; 
• 
  
• I managed to persuade myself to join the live stream of the second service at 10:30 (joining very late at nearly 11!). I'm glad I did; I heard a very good sermon. 'How can I learn if I have no-one to teach me?' asked the Ethiopian when Philip, the disciple joined him in his chariot (the story appears early in the book of Acts) and explained the Old Testament book of Isaiah to him. Ethiopia is now called Sudan. So the new Christian faith must have reached Africa early in the 1st century.
• 
  
• The usual after church zoom for us stay-at-home members was, as usual, a lovely time to meet up and chat, if only via screens
• 
  
• I have done a minute amount of cross stitch, along the lines of stitch around the sides of a box shape, and unpick one of the lines... I spent some time last night (probably only minutes, maybe even just seconds) having vivid dreams about my chart being wrong and the stitching being wrong. The chart is ok, but the rest of the dream came slightly true!
• 
  
• Now it is heading for tea-time so it looks as though once I have put something on a plate to eat, I have done all that I am going to do today.
• 
  

   

    

Friday 23rd June - but will they grow?

I have sown more french beans, peas, spinach and spinach beet this afternoon.

The broad beans have got some promising pods growing,, and there are a few on my one remaining pea plant, so I am hopeful for a slight harvest this year. I suspect the potatoes rotted in their pots, and will tip all the contents into the compost heap, or use it for mulch. Thank heavens for shops!

I've also done some more cross stitching after taking a break - I did try earlier in the week, but had to unpick what I'd done s soon as I finished - too many stitches crossed the wrong way round. I'm stitching on what will be my piece of cloth, as was tempted to just let it go - maybe if there had been just one stitch the wrong way round...

Air Fryer Experiments;

Christine's Oatie Biscuits - 

You know how sometimes you meet someone, and you hit it off, and you know that you could be good friends, but somehow time slips past and you don't use your time wisely, and then... you realise you've missed an opportunity and 

oh well. She died (breast cancer) several years ago, and I remember her real Goodness, her remarkable gentleness and honesty. every time I make these biscuits.       

It's a pretty basic recipe - I've photographed the page from my tatty recipe book

If you make half quantities, you can cook just four in the air fryer at 150C for 15 mins. Roll the rest of the dough (assuming half quantities) into balls and put in a lidded container in the fridge.

This way you will only eat four biscuits at a sitting, (or two each shared between us) instead of pigging the lot in one go. The next time, take out four little balls, leave them to soften for about 10 mins at room temperature before cooking them.

I'm very keen on using these reusable non-stick silicone air fryer liners;

 for all sorts of air fryer cooking - they come in different sizes.

But as you will see, the recipe predates all the air fryer excitement. 

Saturday 10th June - be careful what you wish for!

No news yesterday,  and today the political news today has been astonishing, one thing after another!

I gather Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries resigned last night, and then a couple more resignations today. Whatever one's political affiliations are, it is all a bit startling. 

(Please remember that this is not a space for political discussions!  As with Brexit, opinion is divided in my wider family and calm discussions are best achieved by acknowledging our differences and then just Not speaking about it. There is plenty of 'sturm and drang'* on twitter if you want to join in over there)

I much prefer talking about the weather... Summer has arrived with hardly any Spring, as in warm balmy days. We woke up this morning thinking we should have had all the windows and the door open, as in the hot months last year. And have we switched to the summer duvet? I can't remember. And tonight I shall look out my summer nightdresses (short sleeves).

Friends came round for a cup of tea at about half past 4. We sat in the shade of the apple tree, relishing the breeze, serenaded by an enthusiastic blackbird, eating the shortbread that she brought back as a present from a recent trip to Scotland (delicious, made by someone called Chrystal, if you see it, try some!). This time she brought a punnet of huge ripe strawberries from the local co-op. Strawberries and shortbread, what a heavenly combination.  

Now that's the kind of news I like...

*Sturm und Drang comes from German, where it literally means "storm and stress." Although it’s now a generic synonym of "turmoil," the term was originally used in English to identify a late 18th-century German literary movement whose works were filled with rousing action and high emotionalism

From the Merriman online dictionary 

Tuesday 6th June

 Two friends came round for morning coffee today.

I had a go at making biscuits in the air fryer but the first batch were less beautiful;

That's because I dropped the grey silicone air fryer basket liner. The biscuits were still soft and fell out all crumpled and folded over. Luckily there was a second batch which came out perfectly.

And even more luckily, one of the visitors brought freshly made scones clotted cream and a jar of strawberry jam!

We sat in the garden waiting for the sun to reach the patio table, listening to the birds, watching the Robin's struggles with the suet cage on the bird feeder, the blackbirds scuffling along the flower beds...

Just gently chatting about gardens and flowers and a holiday in Scotland...

An hour of pure perfection. 

Wednesday February 1st - The Finished Postcards

 

The eagle-eyed among you will notice that Ang's postcard, the top one, has 12 pictures and a stamp, and mine only has 11 and a stamp. That's because Ang did the same time as the address, on what became my postcard, and I did the stamp for her postcard as the picture for later on. (I have hidden our full names, which were the top line of the address, and the 3rd and 4th which were our towns etc, but left the blog names).

It has been such a great experience - it is crazy to think that we have never met each other, or even spoken on the phone, and yet this friendship has developed over the year into something quite special.

I was very nervous to begin with, as I knew Ang was an experienced needlework and my own sewing was rudimentary, not to say rough and ready. I needn't have worried; we have both been enjoying developing our skills and learning new techniques.

And, oh the joy of receiving parcels through the post every month and anticipation of wondering what new picture has appeared!

I can strongly recommend this time of collaboration. 

Some months after we started the Postcard Project I began a Notebook Swap with another like-minded friend, where we each write in a notebook over the course of a month, a sort of extended letter, and recipes, and drawings, and thoughts, and quotations. 

One of my contributions to a notebook 

We are ten months into the first year, and at the moment I don't know how long we will keep this up. I hope we will; again it is the delight in receiving the notebook and savouring the contents.

Meanwhile Ang and I are busy on our next sewing collaboration. Who knows, maybe we will even met up one day!

Friday 25th March - the day after the day before

 Yesterday was a series of social events;

Coffee with friends  - the Lent group I am in - sitting in the sun among the daffodils and violets under the old apple tree at the bottom of the garden which is just coming into leaf. The sun was warm, there was hardly any breeze, and it was a lovely slow morning.

We had just spent a hectic half hour arranging chairs and tables so the less mobile friend could sit in a chair with arms, with the only reliable table beside her, and trimming low branches, and clearing trip hazards along the path. Sitting and relaxing was doubly good for me!

Lunch, outside again, just soup, ryvita and some bits of salad to munch. One of the coffee morning friends stayed. We moved up to sit nearer the house as the patio was now in the sun, and just enough of a breeze had arrived to stop us from melting. We had marmite with the ryvita - that brought back memories! Back when I was at university, there was a sudden craze for marmite and cottage cheese on ryvita... note to self, add cottage cheese to the shopping list!

Then two lessons to teach - they do count as social events, as listening and conversation takes place, at quite an intense level for me, and usually for the student as well.

Do you want to hear what they are learning? In the first one we were working on 'Bransle de la Torche' composed in about 1600 by Michael Praetorius and also one of my favourite pieces, 'The Snow Melts', composed by Brian Chapple fairly recently.  (He's got a Steinway! have I given up envy for Lent?)

I think I may have mentioned the piece that the second student is learning, another of my favourites, Rumores de la Caleta by Albeniz. 

Finally, I had an evening zoom meeting - the Lent group has been meeting in the evenings on zoom until the weather has made it possible to meet outside.

The point being, that today I have been moving at half speed. I have managed to write up yesterday's lessons, and put some red lettuce seeds into pots into my new plastic greenhouse

Here's the sketch I made on Wednesday, after we had moved the dodgiest of the benches to the side of the house and put the old greenhouse on it. I wrote down the measurements because I wanted to get a new cover; the plastic mesh has perished so that it is just a criss-cross of  webbing and no little plastic squares in between. I wasn't able to buy a cover to fit this shape, so bought a new one. The old one is second hand, bought fifteen years ago by a friend's daughter! It will still give some protection to the plants inside.   

The notes on the side are from tracking the movement of the sun to see where to place things.

Noah's Ark - who knew that there were ostriches in the book of Job?

Last year, or the year before, I forget now, I was enthused by the idea of Spring Cleaning and bought an ostrich feather duster. It is very efficient at sweeping dust and swiping down the cobwebs but only if I take it out of the cupboard.

 
 

Friday 20th - Thursday 26th August - And Breathe...

I'm definitely going to have to learn Italian. We are watching all the episodes of Montalbano, and Young Montalbano, from the beginning - how have we missed these until now? We ration ourselves to one at lunchtime, and maybe another in the late afternoon or early evening if we NEEEEEED a distraction because it is too hot, or too wet, or we are just too bleah to consider any other activity.

Picture from www.sicilytourguides.net

Picture from discoveringscicily.com

We watch it for the stories, the characters, and above all, the scenery. The dialogue is all in Italian, with English subtitles, and the sound of the language, especially when Commissar Salvo Montalbano gets worked up about something is wonderful to hear.

After watching an episode I have to resist the urge to reply 'Certo' in the same tone of voice, instead of 'sure' or 'okay' or 'fine'.

This past week I have been reining myself in from giving way to full-throttled frustrazione e furia as I battled my way through labyrinthine switchboards and websites to deal with problems with the supply of an essential medication (sorted - a prescription had got 'lost' somehow, and stayed 'lost' in spite of arranging for it to be redelivered). Also a complete farce with appointments at one of the London hospitals which decided I MUST come in for routine face-2-face tests and appointments, no, I didn't need to, yes I did after all, and could I come up three days in advance for a PCR test... Oh my word. I think this is sorted, forse; one more phone call to check whether the letter cancelling a 12 o'clock appointment or the one booking me in for a 12 o'clock appointment (what happened to the 11.10 appointment then?) is the real one. And I am now the local expert on where and how and when you can get PCR test appointments locally, rather than visiting the hospital three days in advance.

Going up to London seems such a big thing - I have been quite distracted by the idea - not in the least because I had a blood test recently so check on my Covid antibodies level. Result; 'non detected'.

A friend has offered to drive us in her camper van! Providing us with somewhere to eat, a personal loo, and a rescue from travelling up by train and bus/two tubes or taxi. A friend indeed - it's at least a two-hour journey by car, with no certainty of where to park when you get there. Driving back after Lung Function tests, a Rheumatology consultation and a Cardiology consultation - all tiring in their own way - would have been really exhausting. Che grande amica!

Has this been all my life since last Friday? Well, pretty much so. I have come completely unravelled a couple of times (there was also an appointment on Friday 20th at a local hospital to investigate what, if any, portable oxygen supply I need for walking around, but more on that another time). Somehow, at each crucial moment, something has happened to stave off total collapse - a friend and colleague turning up with a pot of flowers; 

  The first blooms on a dark blue buddleia that I asked another friend to get for me 

and these utterly charming metal birds appearing on the top of the fence between us and our neighbours

The sight of any one of these, and many other things that have come my way over; a chunk of a Psalm,  verse of a hymn, and even this whacky chorus from a children's song about praying to God when things are getting heavy. 

This prayer thing. Seems to work pretty well, I've found. Even when my prayer seems to come out all 'AAAAAARRRGGGHHHH' skipping out all the Thee, Thine, Thy and Thou bits and getting straight to the point.

And Breathe.... 

Wednesday 21st April 2021 - Family, friends, and cream teas

 We did have a cream tea on Monday with the family after all. 

 I made plain scones and cheese'n'onion scones and melting moments biscuits, and daughter brought 'pink cake' and Kinder Eggs (which strictly speaking, don't feature in the usual Sunday Tea but provided plenty of amusement).

The cream? A friend who lives 'round the corner'  read my Saturday blog post and turned up on Sunday morning with two tubs of proper Cornish Clotted Cream, as sold by our wonderful local shop. Oh me oh my, I had forgotten how close to Paradise you can be when having clotted cream and jam scones and tea with family all together on a sunny day.

We finished up the second pot with more scones and jam and cream on Tuesday afternoon with the lovely friends who brought the cream on Sunday. 

To visit Paradise twice in one week is a bit special.

Tuesday afternoon's piano teaching became a bit chaotic as I discovered that my perfectly organised new timetable wasn't. Perfectly organised, that is. Thankfully everyone is very accommodating, and so with three phone calls and a couple of texts I was able to un-double-book the first lesson, and reschedule Thursdays to make everything work again. It is a bit of a win, because although we will miss 'Richard Osmans House of Games' on Thursday' - boo - we will be able to watch it on Tuesdays - hurray.

I came down to start typing up the notes that I needed to send out after yesterday's lessons, to find the cat asleep on my chair hidden under the table.

So, rather than cause any disturbance, I pulled over the 'sacrificial stool' and balanced my books and lap top at the end of the table

Of course the cat had relocated herself somewhere else. That is just how things go. 'Sacrificial Stool'? I hear you ask? It is a very cheap IKEA stool; the one item of furniture that the cats were allowed to sharpen their claws upon. It now has an extremely textured finish to the legs 

  

but still has a function as it is a good height for smaller pupils when they were having lessons here (with a cushion to hide the scratches). The crossbars meant that they had somewhere to put their feet, which helped them to sit up in a balanced posture at the piano.

Right - I'm clock-watching - eight minutes until I start teaching - time to go. 

Thursday 19th November - Don't Panic

 

It is not my birthday and I won' be 19 years old, or even six years old.

Today's word was prompted by the arrival of an email with this picture in it;

and the question 'would I like some?'

Cake????

Of course!

I've just had a slice while sorting out stuff on the internet and it has cheered me up immensely. The Very Good Friend delivered it an hour ago, and I handed over mincemeat and also advent tea lights and the remains of the mincemeat fruit cake I made yesterday. 

I think we got the better of that deal.

I didn't manage a walk today - by the time I had got up and sorted myself out there were other things to do and then it was lunch time.

I did cut out some lino print leaves, and print them on a background that I had prepared earlier;

very happy-making. I just created three leaves, and then splattered the printing all over the page.

I've also started ordering Christmas presents...... oooooooh and a new pair of shoes because my old faithfuls have stretched into boats over the years. Horrors! It appears that Hotter gave up making this style about three years ago and the only pair they have left in the recesses of the warehouse are size 7 extra wide... I was tempted, but sense prevailed and I have ordered a similar style (fingers crossed) in chocolate (it was that or black - my other shoes came in blue or red or burgundy or green or boring brown or black - sigh) and in the proper size (5E, if you really wanted to know).

Lots of deliveries to look forward to!

 

Tuesday 15th September - What's been happening?

 The answer to that question depends on context.

Leaving climate emergencies, politics, pandemics and world events out, it has been a quiet week here in suburbia.

The schools are in full cry now which means the scenes outside the sweet shop are like this;

 I mean the top right corner of the picture. He went to post a letter yesterday at about half past three and came back saying 'Never Again'; it was almost impossible to negotiate a sensibly distanced path to the post box in among the hordes of children desperate to buy ice creams on the way home. 

The main subject of today's picture is a bar of chocolate that has been calling to me from the top shelf of the baking cupboard for a couple of days now. I think it was left over from my godmother's store cupboard last December. I had some, and He's had some, and very soon it will cease to bother us. 

What else? We've had scones and tea in a friend's garden - this weather is making things so much easier and more pleasant than they might be - and another friend dropped in after church on Sunday for morning coffee and scones. There's no cake at the moment as we forgot to put eggs (and lettuce and strawberry jam, come to think of it) on the shopping order, so we will have to make do with scones and honey and salad leaves - all full of holes - why? - from the garden. Such deprivation. 

It really is hot at the moment. Like Summer. We will have to start watering the garden from this evening or there will be No salad leaves, with or without holes.

The djembe drumming group met for the first time since March. There are just 6 in the group at the moment so we can still meet, (The Rule of Six... sounds like the title of a Young Adult fantasy book) all masked up, sitting in a widely-spaced circle. It takes a lot of thinking about, to prepare the area and then mop up with disinfectant afterwards. It's thinks like remembering to put the chairs back and THEN disinfect rather than the other way round. I did my usual trick of suddenly doubting that I had locked the church before replacing the key in the key safe, in spite of Knowing that I had watched myself put the key in the lock and turn it. I remember that this was a constant problem when I worked entirely on my own in an IT department (yes, no-one else on the premises) and was so stressed out and over-tired that I would go back and check if I had really and truly locked up about three times before I got home. On this occasion I managed to force myself to accept my memory of locking up - whoo-hoo - that's progress!

Piano teaching has started up again. Four lessons yesterday (looks like Mondays are going to be a bit of a heavy day). The other days have just two or three lessons - I'm in no hurry to fill all the spaces in the timetable. 

Paintings? (Just scroll down to the end if you are bored)

Wednesday 9th - I'd been having a go at doing skies, so here's a sunset

Thursday 10th - watching the man doing the roof on the bungalow conversion opposite

Friday 11th

The new owner (also a builder) chatting to his neighbours, while the other men carry on with the roof

Sunday 13th September, copied from a photograph. 

I didn't paint on Saturday, so used those pages to try out some techniques 

Monday 14th September

Well, that's roughly what has been happening, mostly within a few hundred kilometres of when I'm standing at the moment. 

Time for a cup of tea...

    

Thursday 6th August - The week so far

The heatwave has begun today ...

Tuesday was pretty uneventful.

I've started a new painting project - foliage and flowers and stuff;

Saturday 1st August

I followed a tutorial for painting an Autumnal tree. The new paints are going to take a bit of getting used to.

Sunday 2nd August

 and the new sketchbook is also a challenge to use with water colour as the paper is thirsty so the paint dries quickly, and thin, so the pages buckle if I use lots of water.

Monday 3rd August

The paint works better if I thin it out; I have to be really quick if I want to add different colours and let them mix on the page

Tuesday 4th August

I gave the watercolours a rest and tried using aquarelle pencils

Wednesday 5th August

at the moment my drawing is getting scritchy and lifeless, and the colouring is not enjoyable

Thursday 6th August

so I thought - let's stop trying so hard, just went for the shapes with watercolour pencils (left hand picture) and then (right hand page) recklessly slapped paint on the page in the rough shape and colour, and 'tidied it up' with a pen when it was dry.

  Now, that seems like a plan!

On Wednesday I attended my first Massed Social Gathering since March. I spent days dithering - shall I go, should I not go? and planning - how shall I get there? what's the best route?

Oh good grief! I'm talking about meeting up with colleagues in the park for a 'socially distanced' coffee morning, bringing our own seating and drinks in flasks if you don't want to queue for a takeaway from the cafe.  

In the end I did go for about twenty minutes. I arrived late, so that everyone was already sitting and I could pick a 2m distanced place to be, and I didn't sit, partly to remain above everyone else's 'exhalations', partly so that I could move if anyone came too close. I do feel a bit of a wuss for being so careful, but I am so apprehensive of catching the virus and compromising the lung function that I have left.

I was glad to have met the gang, and especially say hi and bye to the one who is moving away, and touch base with the friends that I haven't seen in ages. I can't say it was a relaxing time - I was always staying aware of who was where, staying upwind of everyone, feeling as though everyone else might think I was being too over-cautious. They've been going up to London or visiting vineyards and exhibitions and eating out and generally doing whatever it is teachers do in the school holidays. 

Google memories keeps showing me photographs from our French trip last year;

Honfleur

Caudebec

Giverny

That was a wonderful week...

 

 

Wednesday 20th November 2019 - Resilience

I met some of the ladies who live at my Godmother's (rejected) nursing home when I dropped in at lunchtime.

She was sitting at a table with three ladies - let's call them Annie, Betty and Chris - not their real names, obviously. Although all three of them came to the home when they could no longer walk or look after themselves, they were cheerful, pragmatic about their situation, and took pleasure in each other's company.

I watched, listened, and learned about growing old gracefully, accepting one's limitations, making the best of things, being grateful, and finding happiness where you can.

That was a very enjoyable way to spend half hour, and brightened up a busy day.

Do you know what? I felt pretty strong all day! Now for tomorrow....

Isaiah 41:10

SUNDAY               Do not fear
MONDAY             I am with you
TUESDAY            Do not be dismayed
WEDNESDAY     I will strengthen you
THURSDAY         I will help you
FRIDAY               I will uphold you
SATURDAY         I am your God

Saturday 15th November - no title yet

I can't think of a title - sometimes doing a daily blog seems a bit of a waste of - not ink, because it is typed.

Skin cells? Rattling from my fingers onto the keys? No, that is a bit of a revolting thought. Scrap that.

How about a poem?

No.

So I went scrolling back through the photographs - these two are from Thursday 19th December 2013;

Nine years later they are still true...

This is December 2010 - we went to Copenhagen for a long weekend. I was not very well, but supermax aspro kept me upright enough to enjoy the trip. That was a tough winter all in all - there was a lot going on. As I recall Himself managed to keep going through some pretty awesome logistical nightmares, driving hither and thither while feeling less and less well, until Christmas Day, which he spent in bed.

Moving forward; this was Thursday 6th October 2011, on a visit to our Canadian friends. The 'Fall Colour' didn't really start to happen until we were on our way back to the airport, but we found one tree doing it's stuff;

That was a glorious day... I remember it... we had wonderful weather for the second part of our stay. The first few days, when their daughter was getting married, were shiver-my-timbers-cold, and then it became like midsummer. Bar-b-ques on the deck and all that. 

Ah well.

Oh, now here's a good poem. You can have one after all.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314

Wednesday 7th November - let's rethink...

I reckon a post a day is not going to happen. So I'm just going to compromise on getting 30 posts out in the month of November.

The Year of Wonder Music is yet another unknown for me; Le Nuit et L'Amour by Augusta Holmes, a French composer who studied with Franck, and seemed to have a Cleopatra-like effect on the artistic community of the time. Anyway, the wives hated her, by the sound of things, and with good reason. (Check out wikipedia)

This piece of music is of the ravishing romantic style, without the Germanic Stolidity that I associate with Richard Strauss and Wagner.

The youtube has this glorious picture with it; 'End of Winter' by Leonid Afremov. You can buy it! It is reduced to $550 or so for the next few hours.... His website https://afremov.com looks interesting. I like scrolling over the picture.

https://afremov.com/end-of-winter-day.html

So, why didn't I post last night? Well, now that I have compressed my teaching schedule into four and a half days, and most of it into Mon/Tue/Wed, posting on Wednesdays is going to be very hit-and-miss. After interacting with 35 individual pupils and a whole class of year 3 children equipped with full-size guitars (they should be using half or quarter size) I'm not in a state to read, write, talk, watch, listen or do! Which is fine, as long as I am allowed to be in that semi-catatonic state for most of the evening!

I did go out later in the evening for my regular meeting with a couple of friends for tea and cake and gentle chit chat. We sat round; I'm doing some simple Christmas sewing, and the other two are hand-making Christmas Cards, and we have a very pleasant evening together.

Any other news? No. Any adventures? No. That's how I like it.