Thursday 21st Feb - Hair-cut day

Now, I know that most people have their hair cut and styled regularly, every - 6? 8? 12? weeks?

I tend to go fairly regularly too - about once every couple of years.

The only bit about going to the hairdresser that I enjoy is the having-your-hair-washed bit. Everything else is well out of my comfort zone.



Like the lighting, which makes me look and feel old and ancient like Cruella DeVil.
Like the "small-talk" and chit-chat.
Like having to decide whether to say "just take off the split ends" (which means about 6 inches).
Like trying to decide whether this is the year to go for short hair and a fringe, and then chickening out - again.

Having my hair re-styled is usually the signal that I am about to re-invent myself... About every 7-10 years I change direction.

The "Diverted Traffic" sign always makes me wonder what the joke was.

It's about twenty years ago that I was made redundant from my part-time work in the IT industry, (where I had worked full-time for about ten years until I took maternity leave).










I took up piano lessons again, from several grades lower than where I had left off (which was post-grade 8) and slogged my way up to "getting my letters" - LTCL - which I am still amazed at. I also took a City and Guilds stage 1 and 2 in Further Education, and became a piano teacher.




It's about 10 years ago that I applied for, and got, a job as a class music teacher in a local primary school. I remember the head teacher congratulating me, and saying "we decided to go for enthusiasm over experience this time". Well, I certainly had bags of the former and none of the latter!

 It's about 5 years ago that I added Wider Opportunities class music teaching to my portfolio. I was taken on to teach keyboards to whole classes in primary schools. Since then I have also taught flute, clarinet, descant recorder, treble recorder, ukulele, samba and djembe. I've had a go at teaching the trumpet, as we had a boy who could not use his left hand in one of the clarinet classes.











Last year I bough a complete samba kit, with a view to running workshops in the holidays (events have delayed the launch of this enterprise, but the neighbours had better watch out once the weather improves!)

Oddly enough I don't teach keyboards at all at the moment, and it is probably the only instrument for which I have a formal qualification!

So, today I had a hair cut. That's an ominous sign. What am I planning to do next?

I'm really not sure. It was just a trim this time, but with layers. That's a first step towards a complete re-style, possibly a fringe, and maybe even curls. You have been warned.