Current Work

Along with all the usual details of garden maintenance I am currently engaged on a (for me) rather large job.   We are still mostly at the clearing stage but I have now started to put in some of the garden features. It is always a good feeling when things start to go in, rather than come out.

Today I will just present you with some of the before photos - unfortunately I was so keen to start clearing that I had already done quite a lot before taking these. I'll have some afters soon

Wow I did it

I have just paid my income tax, while this can never be described as fun, it is a relief to have done it.   Now I can get on with earning enough money to pay the next installment.

Audiences

It's not always easy to deal with audiences, one of the things I find most daunting when conducting a concert is the requirement to compere as well.   I am quite happy to compere, it is just that with the musical performance to worry about as well, I always fear that one or the other will suffer.   However the more I do the better I get, but I won't follow the example below

Click to enlarge

A night out on the town

It's Saturday night and we had a little celebration, it is coming up to a big birthday for my wife so we had to celebrate, during the summer we saw the Spaghetti Western Orchestra play a prom on TV. We enjoyed it so much that we decided there and then to make sure we saw them live next time they were in London. Well they are in London at the moment, they are at the QEH (Queen Elizabeth Hall) until Wednesday, we went to their performance tonight.

Perhaps I should explain that they are not a conventional orchestra, indeed five guys play everything making a much bigger sound than I for one would have thought possible. This is something that comes across so much better live than on a recording or on TV. I know that as a musician I may be biased but it is true, live is best, for sound, communication with the performers, for atmosphere, and for enjoyment.

Without a doubt this has got to be one of the best shows I have ever seen, and the only time that I have spent an entire concert with a smile on my face. By the very nature of the band the repertoire is a little limited but the standard of musicianship and the visual impact of the performance and the production was excellent. While maintaining their high level of musicianship they also managed to extract music from coat hangers, cereal, an apple and sundry oddities (Jaws harp duet!, ukulele, mandolin, bassoon, harmonica and plenty of others). My recommendation is to see them as soon as you get a chance, even if you are not a fan of Morricone you will still find plenty to enjoy, they even had my 14 year old daughter singing along to the Good the Bad and the Ugly! I don't think I can beat the description "Genius and Insane in equal measures"

Anyway take a look at their website http://www.spaghettiwesternorchestra.com/ check out the clips and make an appointment to see them live. I don't think that there are many bands that can entertain my wife, my daughter and me at the same time.

They are nice guys as well, they signed a CD for my wife, with a little note for her birthday - I hope I managed to score a few brownie points tonight!

Weird

I spent a (very) little time in our garden today, amongst the dead leaves I haven't cleared up, all the weeds and shaggy grass we do have some flowers.   In fact we have quite a few flowers out, at the moment Winter Jasmin, Cyclamen, Primulas - not too weird eh? we also have daffodils and roses.

I know this has been a weird year as far as weather goes, we have had a daffodil out on new year before, but I think this is the first time I have seen a pink rose flowering through winter Jasmin.

I start back at work tomorrow, nothing scheduled but plenty to get on with, then there is a shed to mend and on Friday I start what will be the biggest job I will have undertaken since starting the business.   Starting off I have a fair bit of clearing to do, then we will be putting in a large deck and finishing off with a paved area.   I will be doing this job more or less in reverse ideally I would start with the paving then the deck, but the layout of the garden dictates the order.   This is a big job and I will be putting a lot of work into it, and maybe a few posts as well.

On a personal level my wife had to be rushed into A & E and will have to g into hospital for an urgent opp within the next 10 days.   At any moment she could get the call to go, she will then have to stay in Hospital for at least a week, and will then have to be off work for a further three weeks or so.   All in all it looks like we're in for a busy start to the year.