This has been a very heavy week - work wise. A job that I had hoped to complete in two days, but had allowed for two and half, ended up taking about four days in all to complete. Last night I completed the job and am generally pretty pleased with the result. On of the draw backs of self employment is that you can't just clock of at 5:00 and come back in the morning, no the job must be finished.

The majority of my paid work is gardening, usually maintenance, looking after the plants, weeding cutting grass etc. but I also do a little landscaping, the job I have been engaged on is re-laying a patio. When I lifted the stones on Monday I found a strange mixture of materials underneath, including poured concrete in lumps. This meant all sorts of problems and a lot more work than expected, then the Builders Merchant delivery of materials was about six hours late. The job has been a pain in bottom, but the customers are a really nice couple and the completed job, although not perfect, is a major improvement on what was there before.

Not a great shot but this shows the finished paving with a nice french gully running round between the house and the paving.

On a different note I am looking forward to conducting Croydon Brass on Saturday, this will only be my second outing with them as M.D. so it is all still very exciting.

Last Night

Well another couple of frustrating days at work, problems, problems, which means more hours and less reward, but sometimes that is the joy of self employment. Thank God for music! last night we had a small but perfectly formed rehearsal of Croydon Brass Band, running through some small band pieces working on ensemble and listening, it actually ended up being quite fun!

After rehearsal up to the excellent Grape & Grain to listen to some jazz from the Big Beer Band before home to bed.

I have just had a little play with blogger and my profile, interestingly there are 12,900,000 bloggers who list one of their interests as "Gardening", 184 who list "Tuba" and 1 - me - who lists Singer Cars so here's a photo of my old (as in former) car Jade, a 1966 series IV Singer Vogue Estate

Battersea - again

Well - I think I got away with it - I am not a euphonium player. However I think there was only one piece where the bull failed me and I just had to go silent, by the time I had worked out what the notes were it was too late to try to play them. I am used to leger lines above the staff, but not that many above!

More disappointment in that we weren't in the bandstand, but on the plus side there was a bar, and a lot of money was raised for Kidney Research UK.

I now start looking forward to the next performance, which is stick waving with Croydon Brass next Saturday. The band has not taken on many summer jobs this year so each one is a big event for me. Final rehearsal is tomorrow evening when I need to finalise a programme, so off now to look through the scores and make some decisions.

If you have been - thank you for reading, and please leave feedback

Battersea

Yesterday was a day of simple old fashioned hard slog. Adopting the Biblical principle of six day you shall labour and on the seventh rest, I often work Saturday mornings. Yesterday I proved Murphy's law and every thing that could go wrong did go wrong, I ended up working from about 10:30 in the morning through to 7:30 at night.

The worst thing is that none of it was fun, cutting grass cleaning paving and then cutting down some conifers, it just all took longer than expected, and I had trouble getting a new, and much needed, chain for my chain saw. Today I shall order a couple of spares of e-bay.

Managed to watch Doctor Who and collapse.

This afternoon I will be playing with All Saints Concert Band at Battersea Park, I am quite looking forward to this since in all my years playing I have never done a bandstand concert in Battersea Park. This park was a major park of the Festival of Britain, and still has some of the show gardens, the lake with wild fowl, a Pagoda and other features put in for the Festival, the picture is of the "Old English Garden" very formal, but also very peacefull in the middle of town.

Not looking forward quite so much to playing since I am covering Euphonium, although one of my favorite instruments I am not a Euphonium player, it is just a bit too small for me, but we shall see how I, and the rest of the band get on.

Last Nights Concert

It was nice to go to a concert where I wasn't playing or conducting. The performers were very good and very entertaining, this is not the type of concert I would have gone to if my daughter had not been singing so I was very pleased, and pleasantly surprised to enjoy the evening so much.
A high note (sorry) came from a mens barber shop choir the "Kentones" if you see them on a bill, well worth a listen! They just finished 14th at the National Festival so that's pretty good by anyone's standards.
On another plus I hope my wife will be home tonight after a week caring for her parents!

Not A Lot

Well not such a great re-start to my promised blogging, but then like in most lives not much is happening in mine, at least not on a day to basis.

As a parent I am now beginning to realise just what my parents went through have a tuba playing son. My daughter sings and plays guitar, so it's lifts to and from school on guitar lesson day, lifts to and from singing teacher, lifts to and from concerts. Don't get me wrong there is nothing like the feeling I get when I hear her playing or singing, and from my own experience of how much my own life has been enriched by performing music I know just how important these early stages are.

Tonight my daughter sings in a concert at a well known local venue, I am really looking forward to hear it. Only trouble is it is more and more unusual for me to get to a concert that one of us isn't performing in.

Keep following I shall try to get better, thank you for reading

The Wanderer returns

Well it has been a long time since I last posted, and so much has happened. Mrs.T hasn't been out much, but that is more down to competition from younger tubas, and a change in my musical activities.

It seems that I will not be playing much in a Brass Band now, not because I have rejected Brass Bands, no more because I have just been appointed (temporary) Musical Director of Croydon Brass Band, more to the point I agreed to do the job until they could find a real conductor!.

I have already waved the stick for one performance and after the nerves subsided really enjoyed the experience, just hope I can do the band justice and help them build up to their former glories.

I promise I will post more so keep checking