Concerts

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Since I belong in three choirs currently, I end up singing in concerts quite a lot. I often feel a little ambivalent about this, as I love singing but I don't necessarily enjoy performing and become nervous. But there is nothing like a really good concert where you feel everyone has performed well and you have an appreciative audience. I'm singing in a choir concert tonight and hope that it will go very well.

Busy Week

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This week has been busy for me with music lessons, choral rehearsals and other appointments. Although I enjoy all of these things I find that I have less energy and motivation to do any creative writing which is a little frustrating as I know that there are ideas that I have which I could put down on paper (or computer) and don't. Am hoping that I will adjust to the busy-ness and be able to take it more in my stride as time passes.

Flaming June

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Well it did for the first week down here in Cornwall. Now it is glooming rather than flaming with heavy clouds and fairly frequent showers. Good thing I didn't move down here for the weather!

History

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One of my favourite subjects at school was History. I found it really interesting what concerns people in the past had, what motivated them. Later I went on to study English Social History which was even more fascinating as that was about the lives of everyday people not rulers or governments. When you consider how quickly technology has changed in even the last 20 or so years and how that has affected the lives of so many of us you can begin to get the feeling of what it was like in the Industrial Revolution when so many people moved from the country to the towns to find work and often lived in appalling conditions. We are moving now from an industrial to a technological revolution and people's lives have been greatly affected by the change. Who is to say where it will end? There are times when I have considerable sympathy for the everyday people of the early nineteenth century whenI think about the future ahead of us now with all the changes which are occurring politically, economically and enviromentally.

Strawberries

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I love strawberries and always have. One of my fondest memories was coming back from boarding school in July and helping my father pick bowls of home grown strawberries for the family to eat. It was essentially organic growing although nobody needed to call it that then. They were the best strawberries that I've ever tasted - full of flavour. We also used to get wild strawberries growing in the hedgebanks at about the same time. Although much smaller than the cultivated variety, they have their own slightly tart, fresh taste. With Devonshire cream the strawberries were unbelievably delicious.

Maturation

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Maturation means many things to different people. To me it means growing up emotionally, not being the little kid who throws a tantrum (metaphorically speaking) when things go wrong, which they inevitably do sooner or later - after all that's just how life is sometimes. It also means learning to cope with life in a more adult fashion which is no easy feat when you consider some of the childish and greedy behaviours of a large section of our society. What I find particularly liberating is not needing inessential items. When I was much younger, it was important for me to go shopping for clothes, to have this whole image thing. Now, except for dying my hair, I care very little for what I wear providing it's comfortable and reasonably colourful. I don't need to follow fashion any more. And what a relief that is. Being able to show that I'm comfortable in the way I dress without having to worry about what fashion gurus would think. Even if I had as much money as I could ever dream, I don't think I would worry about fashion again. I really don't see the point and don't feel the need to show off to others how much I can afford to spend. Perhaps that's maturation too.

Coffee

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I love coffee. I sometimes think that it's the only thing that keeps me going. After I get up in the morning, the first thing I do is go to get a cup of coffee to help me to organise my thoughts. I have given it up for a while but thenI have totally missed the buzz that I get so have always returned to some kind of coffee consumption. Not long ago I read that drinking coffee helped to prevent the onset of Alzheimers Disease which is encouraging. Not that I need any excuse to drink coffee at all.