Friday, October 27, 2006
Lest I forget
Rehearsal went pretty well last night - it's starting to come together, although some of the music still needs a bit of work. We were encouraged to all spend an hour looking at our parts this week. Sadly, yes, there were that many sniggers...
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Number crunching
Went to London today for a workshop/revision day for my last STEP exam which is fast approaching (and it's during show week...but that's another story). It's trust and estate accounts this time and doesn't look to be too bad - at least there aren't reams of case law and statutes to learn! We started with a jaunt through the world of double-entry accounts and the tutor (bless) gave us a helpful mnemonic to aid us in our pursuit of learning how to put entries into the cash account - DRCP which means "debit receipts, credit payments." The helpful mnemonic? Don't Rely on Contraceptive Pills. There's a lesson for everyone there!
Saw a poster for a new film whilst I was looking around aimlessly on the underground escalators and not trying to catch anyone's eye - it was described as "the best British romantic comedy about sexual politics this year." Hmmmm somewhat narrowing the field of competition???
Saw a poster for a new film whilst I was looking around aimlessly on the underground escalators and not trying to catch anyone's eye - it was described as "the best British romantic comedy about sexual politics this year." Hmmmm somewhat narrowing the field of competition???
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Blog your way into history
L sent me this link today - sounds like a good idea. An electronic time capsule. Here's a run-down of my day.
Got up at the usual time this morning - 6.30am. I have recently started working nearer to home that I have for the past 4 years, but still can't get out of the habit of getting up at half 6. Oh well, more time for television! My particular morning favourite is the children's programme The Hoobs - although I think I've seen all of them about 3 times! In case you're not familiar, they are aliens from the planet Hoob sent to earth to find out more about Peeps (us) to report back. Ivor (purple) is the neurotic leader prone to panic attacks when they don't seem to have answered the question in time for Hoob news, Groove (green) is the slightly dopey one who eats constantly and likes collecting things (like, things there are two of, or water in buckets...), Tula (pink) is the girly girl, good with the cooking and making them all costumes, and finally Romer (orange) is the travelling motorbike chick, ever so slightly butch with a friend called Dorothy (who apparently is very rude about her paintings!).
Had an unholy alliance of Bran Flakes and Crunchy Nut Clusters for breakfast and then drove the 25 miles to work. I'm a solicitor working in the private client department, and my day today was filled with a meeting about personal injury trusts and how we deal with the inheritance and capital gains tax changes wrought by this year's Finance Act and a trip out to Scole to see a lady about an Enduring Power of Attorney. Had been secretly dreading that visit but in fact it all went off okay.
After work I popped into Morrisons on the way home for some extras for dinner (cooked by my husband) and we ate that watching series 7 of The West Wing - they're just in the middle of a nuclear scare in Sacramento. Ooooooooooo. Then off to a sectional rehearsal for orchestra. I play the viola and our next concert is in just over a month's time (the week after the Gilbert & Sullivan show) - playing extracts from the Gadfly by Shostakovich, Rachmaninov piano concerto number 2 and Tchaikowsky symphony number 6. The third movement of the symphony is a bit of a nightmare, not leats because we're playing it at breakneck speed! Rehearsal also a good chance to catch up on all the lovely bowing details!
Got home around 10 and didn't want to spoil the ending of CSI : Miami which was just finishing and which I was videoing to watch later so brushed my teeth and came up to write this. Good night.
Got up at the usual time this morning - 6.30am. I have recently started working nearer to home that I have for the past 4 years, but still can't get out of the habit of getting up at half 6. Oh well, more time for television! My particular morning favourite is the children's programme The Hoobs - although I think I've seen all of them about 3 times! In case you're not familiar, they are aliens from the planet Hoob sent to earth to find out more about Peeps (us) to report back. Ivor (purple) is the neurotic leader prone to panic attacks when they don't seem to have answered the question in time for Hoob news, Groove (green) is the slightly dopey one who eats constantly and likes collecting things (like, things there are two of, or water in buckets...), Tula (pink) is the girly girl, good with the cooking and making them all costumes, and finally Romer (orange) is the travelling motorbike chick, ever so slightly butch with a friend called Dorothy (who apparently is very rude about her paintings!).
Had an unholy alliance of Bran Flakes and Crunchy Nut Clusters for breakfast and then drove the 25 miles to work. I'm a solicitor working in the private client department, and my day today was filled with a meeting about personal injury trusts and how we deal with the inheritance and capital gains tax changes wrought by this year's Finance Act and a trip out to Scole to see a lady about an Enduring Power of Attorney. Had been secretly dreading that visit but in fact it all went off okay.
After work I popped into Morrisons on the way home for some extras for dinner (cooked by my husband) and we ate that watching series 7 of The West Wing - they're just in the middle of a nuclear scare in Sacramento. Ooooooooooo. Then off to a sectional rehearsal for orchestra. I play the viola and our next concert is in just over a month's time (the week after the Gilbert & Sullivan show) - playing extracts from the Gadfly by Shostakovich, Rachmaninov piano concerto number 2 and Tchaikowsky symphony number 6. The third movement of the symphony is a bit of a nightmare, not leats because we're playing it at breakneck speed! Rehearsal also a good chance to catch up on all the lovely bowing details!
Got home around 10 and didn't want to spoil the ending of CSI : Miami which was just finishing and which I was videoing to watch later so brushed my teeth and came up to write this. Good night.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Weight of a bow
Heard at Suffolk Strings this afternoon that a recommended weight for a viola bow is between 69 and 75grams (I think!). So rushed home to check my bows - older crappy bow 59g - new lovely bow - 72g!!! Hurrah! But haven't so far found any validation for this remark on t'internet yet...just that you should use a weight that suits you. But it makes sense - a lighter bow tends to be much harder to control particularly in fast bouncy music.
On the same kind of theme it was the Planets concert last night. Brilliant music. They had a girls' choir in for Neptune - The Mystic because there's an etheral passage towards the end of the movement enhanced by a female choir singing out of sight - and sounding quite faraway and mysterious. Choir stood outside the main auditorium which was all well and good until they decided to close the door for the last few bars to make it sound even more muffled and further away. If only someone had thought to practise with the door which made the loudest most laborious clunking and banging noises as it was being closed...so much for mystery!
On the same kind of theme it was the Planets concert last night. Brilliant music. They had a girls' choir in for Neptune - The Mystic because there's an etheral passage towards the end of the movement enhanced by a female choir singing out of sight - and sounding quite faraway and mysterious. Choir stood outside the main auditorium which was all well and good until they decided to close the door for the last few bars to make it sound even more muffled and further away. If only someone had thought to practise with the door which made the loudest most laborious clunking and banging noises as it was being closed...so much for mystery!
Freaky food
While waiting in a queue of traffic on the A14 on Friday I briefly switched to SGR fm on the radio (local commercial station) to try and catch the local traffic news because R2 hadn't mentioned the A14 hold up. They had some how got onto the subject of weird food combinations - one of them liked to eat a bar of chocolate with mushrooms and a glass of milk (!). Then one of the presenters announced that the freakiest food combination she'd heard of had been chosen by her pregnant friend for lunch the day before. Cue ringing up the friend - what was the strange combo? Cheddar and raspberry jam! What's odd about that?!! I've been eating that since I was introduced to it in Methsoc at Uni (albeit usually red leicester being my hard cheese of choice). It's delicious! Not at all weird. Or strange. In any way. Perhaps?
Friday, October 13, 2006
Friday must be the day for it
Another accident on the A14 on my way into work this morning. Diverted around Thurston and in fact had the diversion not been full of other cars diverting might actually be a nice alternative for the last couple of miles. I would hate a journey to get stale! Got to work about half nine.
Same happened last week - an accident on the A14 which resulted in (apparently) the road's closure for 10 hours! Fatal accident - someone tried to drive along the A14 on the wrong carriageway... And then there was an overturned lorry on the diversion route. Another late start and not setting a good precedent for next week!
I've finally updated my reading list on the Blog, but still finding the Iliad tough going - I keep putting off trying to read it and as L finished "Faithless" the other day. I'm taking the opportunity to read that instead! Philip & Elizabeth still going well, if slowly but getting more into it now - I like the section I'm in because it's working through each family tree. Who Do You Think You are has a lot to answer for!
Same happened last week - an accident on the A14 which resulted in (apparently) the road's closure for 10 hours! Fatal accident - someone tried to drive along the A14 on the wrong carriageway... And then there was an overturned lorry on the diversion route. Another late start and not setting a good precedent for next week!
I've finally updated my reading list on the Blog, but still finding the Iliad tough going - I keep putting off trying to read it and as L finished "Faithless" the other day. I'm taking the opportunity to read that instead! Philip & Elizabeth still going well, if slowly but getting more into it now - I like the section I'm in because it's working through each family tree. Who Do You Think You are has a lot to answer for!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Day of meetings..
So my day today -
Arrive at work and do an hour's research on some trust issues
Then travel to Stradbroke (about 50 mins) to see client for a little over an hour.
Travel back to Bury and then straight into a meeting. About an hour.
Then straight into another meeting - about an hour and a half
Spent the rest of the day dealing with my emails and emergency post.
So not especially productive...but at least my 3 hour "sharing work" meeting has been cancelled for tomorrow and with no other appointments I can hopefully get stuck into some of the things that have got a bit held up. Like post.
Arrive at work and do an hour's research on some trust issues
Then travel to Stradbroke (about 50 mins) to see client for a little over an hour.
Travel back to Bury and then straight into a meeting. About an hour.
Then straight into another meeting - about an hour and a half
Spent the rest of the day dealing with my emails and emergency post.
So not especially productive...but at least my 3 hour "sharing work" meeting has been cancelled for tomorrow and with no other appointments I can hopefully get stuck into some of the things that have got a bit held up. Like post.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Are you my wife?
Heard this chap on the Chris Evans show on the way home from work tonight - sounded great!
So much to catch up on..
And I seem to be having difficulties uploading photos to my Blog - quite annoying because I wanted to share a few from Shell Island. Must speak to L about getting my blog back logged into Flickr so I can post photos direct from there.
It's been ages since I last blogged - there's so much to tell! Went to Shell Island a couple of weekends go which was truly staggeringly beautiful. We had brilliant weather for the most part and the beach was so quiet and vast. It's impressive when you arrive and they say things like - we've got 300 acres, so you can just go anywhere, as long as it's not too close to someone you don't know. Fine by me! I keep getting a bit mixed up and wanting to call it Shell weekend, but that just reminds me of church youth weekends of the same name from years ago.
Visited Harlech and Barmouth briefly and came home a bit early, but that allowed us to break the journey in Derby which meant not too tired for the rehearsal on Monday and work on Tuesday. And the best part is that I can now say I've stayed somewhere with a causeway...very evocative of certain murder mysteries!
The next week at work was okay but seemed far too long for just a 4 day week. Went to Norwich last weekend to see my sister and fiancee after visiting mum in Yarmo. They had floods again a couple of weeks ago - my sister had to leave her car at school because the water in the car park was knee deep! But all dry now, although there are still a lot of sand bags lying around in case any rain tries to sneak up on them again!
Mum's having a clear out in preparation for selling the house next year to move in with her new husband and wanted me and Becks to sort out some more stuff. Mostly old school work and university stuff, most of which was dumped and although I fully appreciate you can't hang on to things like that (because when did I last look at them? Probably about 10 years ago when they went under the bed!) it does bring back good memories and all the work that went into them. I did hang on to some of my english coursework though - I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away because I'd enjoyed it so much, oh Sylvia Plath. I think English would have been my next choice for degree if I hadn't done law.
I think as a result I'm trying to rekindle my old love for literature and I've started Homer's The Iliad. Only read a few pages so far and it's a bit hard going at the moment, but I'm hoping that once I get into the language it'll flow a bit more. I was weak last night and started the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy again...but that will have to be put aside now!!
Work's been okay this week so far - the new cupboards arrived with a fanfare of chaos and we're having a meeting about it on Friday... Ran the on-hold gauntlet at lunch today with various utility companies and banks, and was successful! Noone had to listen to me trying hurriedly to swallow a bit of sandwich because they'd answered the phone too early!
Off to Fleet this weekend for a birthday party and then back on Sunday for G&S. This now seems to be flowing much better although it would help if the lady setting some of the movement could learn the words of the song - 'you move your hand on the bit when it goes "his dumpty dum should thingummy and his" (starts humming)...' Great - and the men surpassed themselves again - supposed to be doing actions on 'foot should stamp' and 'throat should growl' but bless, they got carried away with the new learning and all manner of actions broke loose on the section before. But it will all come good and L now has a lovely sailor hat to wear. Can't wait to see it on!
It's been ages since I last blogged - there's so much to tell! Went to Shell Island a couple of weekends go which was truly staggeringly beautiful. We had brilliant weather for the most part and the beach was so quiet and vast. It's impressive when you arrive and they say things like - we've got 300 acres, so you can just go anywhere, as long as it's not too close to someone you don't know. Fine by me! I keep getting a bit mixed up and wanting to call it Shell weekend, but that just reminds me of church youth weekends of the same name from years ago.
Visited Harlech and Barmouth briefly and came home a bit early, but that allowed us to break the journey in Derby which meant not too tired for the rehearsal on Monday and work on Tuesday. And the best part is that I can now say I've stayed somewhere with a causeway...very evocative of certain murder mysteries!
The next week at work was okay but seemed far too long for just a 4 day week. Went to Norwich last weekend to see my sister and fiancee after visiting mum in Yarmo. They had floods again a couple of weeks ago - my sister had to leave her car at school because the water in the car park was knee deep! But all dry now, although there are still a lot of sand bags lying around in case any rain tries to sneak up on them again!
Mum's having a clear out in preparation for selling the house next year to move in with her new husband and wanted me and Becks to sort out some more stuff. Mostly old school work and university stuff, most of which was dumped and although I fully appreciate you can't hang on to things like that (because when did I last look at them? Probably about 10 years ago when they went under the bed!) it does bring back good memories and all the work that went into them. I did hang on to some of my english coursework though - I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away because I'd enjoyed it so much, oh Sylvia Plath. I think English would have been my next choice for degree if I hadn't done law.
I think as a result I'm trying to rekindle my old love for literature and I've started Homer's The Iliad. Only read a few pages so far and it's a bit hard going at the moment, but I'm hoping that once I get into the language it'll flow a bit more. I was weak last night and started the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy again...but that will have to be put aside now!!
Work's been okay this week so far - the new cupboards arrived with a fanfare of chaos and we're having a meeting about it on Friday... Ran the on-hold gauntlet at lunch today with various utility companies and banks, and was successful! Noone had to listen to me trying hurriedly to swallow a bit of sandwich because they'd answered the phone too early!
Off to Fleet this weekend for a birthday party and then back on Sunday for G&S. This now seems to be flowing much better although it would help if the lady setting some of the movement could learn the words of the song - 'you move your hand on the bit when it goes "his dumpty dum should thingummy and his" (starts humming)...' Great - and the men surpassed themselves again - supposed to be doing actions on 'foot should stamp' and 'throat should growl' but bless, they got carried away with the new learning and all manner of actions broke loose on the section before. But it will all come good and L now has a lovely sailor hat to wear. Can't wait to see it on!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Blogs of note
Having a look at this section on the Blogger dashboard and came across this site - made me smile.
A Chorus Line
Rehearsal for the shows went well last night. Still concentrating on Pinafore at the momentbut we basically managed to set nearly all the chorus numbers in Act II. Actually, what seems to happen is that we come on at staggered intervals during "Carefully on tiptoe creeping" (sadly the men's entrance seems less creeping and more mincing...) and then stay on for the rest of that Act - brilliant! I was amazed how much we managed to get through given the disaster that was last week. And Mavis even managed to re-set parts of the Act I finale (much less standing around now - everyone's involved) - not quite finished that yet but hopefully will next week when we start Trial as well - hurrah!
Monday, September 18, 2006
Tired
Feeling really tired today - I guess that saturday night's bed at 1am, up at 6.45am to drive back to Ipswich (although L did the driving thank goodness) didn't really help! And when I'm tired I get fed up with making an effort - re the diet. sat at work today and just thought "oh f**k it, I'm having a Kit Kat."
But I didn't so hopefully there will be nice choccy biccies at the rehearsal tonight - and hopefully a bit more to do. We rehearsed the Act I finale of Pinafore last week - all very well, but the main point of interest about half way through is a block of chorus interweaving with each other to bring Josephine and Ralph to the front. Could be impressive if anyone actually understood what was happening and as there are more men than women, there are a few of us women (me included) who have been sidelined while this takes place. we've started making up our own dances and are considering bringing in some magazines to fill the time... Hopefully a bit of Trial tonight - we have to find our own costumes for that and I found a great mini skirt at the weekend - okay the diet will be worthwhile if I can wear that and not make the rest of the chorus feel physically ill!!
But I didn't so hopefully there will be nice choccy biccies at the rehearsal tonight - and hopefully a bit more to do. We rehearsed the Act I finale of Pinafore last week - all very well, but the main point of interest about half way through is a block of chorus interweaving with each other to bring Josephine and Ralph to the front. Could be impressive if anyone actually understood what was happening and as there are more men than women, there are a few of us women (me included) who have been sidelined while this takes place. we've started making up our own dances and are considering bringing in some magazines to fill the time... Hopefully a bit of Trial tonight - we have to find our own costumes for that and I found a great mini skirt at the weekend - okay the diet will be worthwhile if I can wear that and not make the rest of the chorus feel physically ill!!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Sunday again
and it's been a week since I last blogged properly. where has the time gone? Been pretty busy actually - we've been on a new diet (which seems to be going okay - best part being that I can eat as much fruit as I like!!) and our new secretary has started at work. She seems to be getting on okay and best of all is coming back next week - brilliant! We haven't managed to scare her off yet!
Also had a worship cttee meeting, spent all of Wednesday evening finishing off the bathroom (which now looks great), had first orchestra rehearsal of the term (the Tchaikovsky is really hard!) and then went to nottingham for a Chinese. which was great but tiring and then harvest festival and Suffolk Strings today. Phew - now off to watch Spooks. We've only actually watched series 1-3 but I've caught up on all th goss from series 4 from Wikipedia...and I know who dies!
Also had a worship cttee meeting, spent all of Wednesday evening finishing off the bathroom (which now looks great), had first orchestra rehearsal of the term (the Tchaikovsky is really hard!) and then went to nottingham for a Chinese. which was great but tiring and then harvest festival and Suffolk Strings today. Phew - now off to watch Spooks. We've only actually watched series 1-3 but I've caught up on all th goss from series 4 from Wikipedia...and I know who dies!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Stradivarius
Travelling between offices today I caught a bit of the Jeremy Vine show and the topic was the problems musicians are now having flying with their instruments because of the new security regulations. As an intro, they played a clip of a musician/comedian called Mitch Benn singing a song about their woes - very funny! I have been trying to find it through the Mitch Benn website and the BBC website but had no luck. I tried putting "mitch benn song about musical instruments on planes" into Google and the first in the list was a link to another blog with the clip! Hurrah.
I've decided
As I'm going to be away for both rehearsals, I'm going to enjoy the Planets from the safety of the audience.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Home Again
What a terrific week in the lakes we've just had! Weather was a bit haphazard the first few days but all the afternoons were gorgeous and Thursday and Friday were lovely all day. You can read more about our explouts here, but suffice to say we were both desperately in need of getting away from the house and work things and it was a truly relaxing weekend - physically tired but mentally refreshed!
So now it's back to reality - I have a meeting on Tuesday evening I'd forgotten about (! thought it was later in the month...) so have been hurriedly sending out agendas and minutes by email (thank goodness for email!), and then of course it's back to work tomorrow. I was feeling quite anxious about it - I always do after a holiday - but especially this time as I know I left things behind which I probably should have dealt with, butlack of space and a secretary is starting to take its toll (ooo, listen to me!). I've even been having dreams about it! But I went to church this morning (Racial Justice Sunday in the Methodist calendar) to find some calm and there was a short reading which mentioned being anxious. And I thought about how I really don't have much to be anxious about - I'm not persecuted for my faith, I don't suffer prejudice because of my race or colour, my country is not in the middle of a civil war or suffering from a corrupt government, I have a home, enough food and drink, a loving husband and wonderful family (and I could go on). So I'm going to get it all in perspective and just take tomorrow as it comes.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Bathroom Ahoy!
After what has seemed like an interminable time, the bathroom renovations have finally been started today! (we've had the bathroom cleared for over a week now though as bathroom man said he was coming last Tuesday) Good job I washed my hair and shaved my legs today - means I don't have to worry about it tomorrow and then we're off the Lake District for a week so I can use the facilities there. Lucky old L has showers at work he can use - tomorrow my choice appears to be standing on a muddy floor in the bathroom trying to have a strip wash (not an elegant experience at the best of times) or "managing" without a shower tomorrow at work. Hmmmm not sure I can manage without some kind of washing and not sure my clients would want me to either! (not that I'm that dirty...honest)
also had a books down rehearsal tonight which was...interesting. I'm not sure any of the chorus felt particularly ready for that little treat - usually it feels like we've sung everything to death by this time so everything's really familiar. We're doing 2 shows this year though so I don't know whether that's got anything to do with it - some bits we really only have done once together. But still it didn't go too badly - I've got to find my own costume for Trial though. L suggested hotpants, fishnet tights and a low-cut frilly blouse (yes, you can guess the theme) - hmmm, apart from the ample thighage which will be on display (and may not be appreciated by those of a delicate disposition), not sure whether that's a genuine suggestion or something else....
also had a books down rehearsal tonight which was...interesting. I'm not sure any of the chorus felt particularly ready for that little treat - usually it feels like we've sung everything to death by this time so everything's really familiar. We're doing 2 shows this year though so I don't know whether that's got anything to do with it - some bits we really only have done once together. But still it didn't go too badly - I've got to find my own costume for Trial though. L suggested hotpants, fishnet tights and a low-cut frilly blouse (yes, you can guess the theme) - hmmm, apart from the ample thighage which will be on display (and may not be appreciated by those of a delicate disposition), not sure whether that's a genuine suggestion or something else....
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Bookends
Have finally updated my reading list here after a it of a Eurostar marathon at the weekend. Finished the Big Over Easy and then strolled through the Murderous Marriage (an Agatha Raisin mystery) and Giotto's Hand ( by Iain Pears - completely different in style to the only other one I've read of his - The Instance of the Fingerpost). I've now started Until I Find You by John Irving - it's about a man who is the product of a union between a tattoo artist and an organist. The tattooist apparently does a very special Rose of Jericho which is apparently a rose with a secret... So...thinking I was being clever I tried to look for a picture of one on the internet - didn't really get anywhere, only found a website which had a review of the book and proclaimed that most of the people reaching their site managed it because they were looking up Rose of Jericho on Google! I'm so unoriginal.
Got started on John Irving while I was at uni - was going through an Alan Davies phase (at the height of Jonathan Creek) and there was some book thing on BBC where various stars said what their favourite books were - his was (apparently) "A Prayer for Owen Meaney" by John Irving which I promptly then went out and read! But it was good and I've really enjoyed others of Irving's as well. Yet to read The World According to Garp however and that appears to be one of his major works - whoooops! It's in my pile!
Got started on John Irving while I was at uni - was going through an Alan Davies phase (at the height of Jonathan Creek) and there was some book thing on BBC where various stars said what their favourite books were - his was (apparently) "A Prayer for Owen Meaney" by John Irving which I promptly then went out and read! But it was good and I've really enjoyed others of Irving's as well. Yet to read The World According to Garp however and that appears to be one of his major works - whoooops! It's in my pile!
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