La-la-la, La-la-la, La-choak-cough-gargle-la!

I just did one of those things I've been saying I'd do for...well, ever! I just joined a choir!! The University of Plymouth Choral Society to be exact.

Wohooo...ooooh...oh shit. I haven't sung regularly for seven years, I haven't sight-read for a lot longer than that and I've never sung in a community choir before. What have I let myself in for?

It was one of those things that I had to not think about to do. I've had 'join a choir' on my To Do list for years now, but whenever I've looked into it, the location was too far away, or the people were too uppity, or the cost was too prohibitive, or you had to audition (horror of horrors!), or it clashed with something else I was doing.

Well, this one is 6 minutes walk from my place, is only 35 quid, the people are really friendly, it's open to everyone and what else am I doing with my time at the moment???

So I said to myself, said I: Just Do It. So I did. And shat myself for the entire 6 minute walk to the ex-church they rehearse in. And shat myself again when I got handed wads of paper a centimeter thick full of black dots that are supposedly called notes. And then shat myself again when I looked at the title of the first wad of paper...

THE, and I do mean the capitals, THE Messiah!!!!

Crap...

Cool...

Shit...

Wow...

Holy ... yeah, well you get the idea.

It's a damn good thing that my mother has played Master Handle's Masterpiece to us every Christmas that I can remember - the music is part of my soul I swear - as sight reading something that complex would have been a nightmare otherwise. And I did ok I think - I was very rusty, and not at all sure I was in key and on note (I couldn't hear myself!), and I had a bit of trouble with a twisted tongue at several points. But it went OK. And Boy was it FUN!

And then there was a second piece. This was a tad more tricky. You see, it was Magnificat, by Tommasso Albioni. In Latin if you please. ... Oi Vay. I got lost there I can tell you. I couldn't read both the notes and the words at the same time so ended up humming 'cause there was no way I could pronounce the words let alone sing them. Something to learn!

Yipee, yay, wee-he-he!!

SO GLAD. So cool. So, are you going to come to see me at the concert? 12th of Dec I think. So shit me twelve ways from Sunday, I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this!

Brown Day.

Down day today. Don't know why but every human interaction is taking a lot more effort than usual and every time I stop being "On Show" - ie, polite and friendly for an appearance of normality when talking to someone - I slump into a brown study.

Sometimes I feel a bit like an alien in hiding. Like the Slitheen - wearing a human body suite (without the farting of course!). The point is, my insides do not match my outsides at all right now. Maybe I'm a part-time alien? Once every couple of weeks my psyche gets subsumed by another sentience and it watches my life through my eyes. A very sad sentience.

However, the beauty of experience and the wonder of perspective gives me to know that I shall be free of my visitor very soon, and all will be well again. Wonderful thing is knowledge - you can learn from your own history. If you're bright enough that is.

I'm also taking steps to hopefully reduce the frequency of my visitors, visits. I've found a choir to join and also a meditation centre to go to - both within easy distance from my house. More about those anon. And admittedly, the visitations are 100 times better (more infrequent) than five years ago when the monster had a strangle hold on my mind and was choking the life out of me. Millions of thanks go to Jo, Sally, Andrew and Stacy for helping me out of that quagmire. Whether they knew it or not, together we fought the monster until he was forced into full retreat.

But until then, please stare into space with me and wish me luck escaping my monster. Actually, rather than a Slitheen, I think it's more of an octopus, perched on my head, tentacles holding on tight, emitting a cloud of ink, blinding me to reality. That works for the strangulation part too.

So, wish me luck escaping my octopus. Right now, he's being bloody persistent and clinging on against all attempts of removal. Gah.

English lil ole ladi scrum!

Decided to go up to Exeter today. There was a craft expo on, and you all know I can't go past a good craft show! Am now exhausted and, surprisingly, not a pauper. It wasn't a quilting show so much as a paper-craft and knitting show, so I didn't spend a whole lot... only a few irresistible fabric pieces and a pack of needles... honest! Oh, but I did buy a craft lamp that is supposed to help with the SAD's. That is an actual worthwhile investment that I don't feel guilty about... well, maybe a little! :)

Navy Days

On the 5th of September I went to Navy Days day at the Plymouth Navel Base. It was all rather interesting actually. There were 14 vessels on display, including 2 subs which I didn't go to see, and lots of people, lots of walking and lots of fun.

It was one of the few times I've actually wished I had kids, as any child had a kind of 'access all areas' pass. They were allowed to climb all over the vehicles and pretend to shoot the guns and ask all sorts of silly questions and get smiled at - and any adult with them got the same treatment. I wasn't brave enough to be silly in front of all these men in Uniform so was envious of the parents who could be. The navy boys were incredibly patient with the questions too and very interactive with anyone who asked. It was really impressive how helpful they all were actually. I guess it was a kind of holiday for them.

I'm not a mechanical person, but the ships were very interesting. It was quite amazing the difference between the biggest and smallest of them. The smaller ones were virtual obstacle courses and quite fun to try to navigate. In the larger ships you felt remarkably like you were inside an office building that just happened to be able to move.

The active displays were very cool too! Flyby's of course, and some helicopters doing some quite hair-raising passes, but the best was a mock capture of a pirate ship (a tug!) complete with a jolly roger flying on the mast. The navy boys 'captured' the vessel by zooming round it in fast little boats (exchanging audible gun fire!) and then dropping a team onto it by helicopter. Very impressive.

People watching was just as interesting. I watched two very different girls on different vessels doing exactly the same thing; trying their damndest to attach two commando boys to their purse strings. Very amusing!

So yes, an excellent day. Of course I did chose the one day of the two that it rained, but you can't let a little weather stop you! GTHBA.

Bristol Encounter

The weekend of the 18th of September saw me on a trip up to Bristol to catch up with the marvelous Marty, joining us from Oz for a blitz, and the generous Jason. Jason has a good friend there, the charming Charlie, who he has told me, on more than one occasion, I would like immensely. As usual, he was right! In fact the splendid fellow has already introduced me to new things, heading my war cry of 'Experiences, Not Acquisitions!' Charlie and her lovely housemate Clare made us feel very much at home on their hill, and even Clare's cat, Molly, joined me on my bed of an evening.

On arrival, we was introduced to a most excellent pub called The Cornubia, brewer of many fine beers, and then meandered into town for a very interesting meal at Zulu (a South African restaurant). I had Blesbok, of which animal I had never previously heard! Then we headed back to the Cornubia and the night got rather beer-tinged!

On the Saturday, after a rather luxurious lie-in and wonderful breakfast cooked by the excellent Charlie, we hoofed it up to Clifton to visit the White Lion bar for a tea on the terrace and a look at the famous suspension bridge. We then decided not to go to Camera Obscura, which was further up the hill, in favour of seeing the SS Great Britain, which was closed by the time we got there. Ah well, lots of chat and sights seen and fresh air had so all good!

I actually managed to come home almost rested from this trip, and as always it was lovely to catch up with the boys - who I miss dearly - and to make new friends. A GTHBA weekend methinks!

Tori Amos and Hairspray... huh?

I went up to London on the weekend of the 11-13 of September to see two very different shows: Tori Amos in concert and Hairspray at the Shaftsbury theatre.

Firstly, Tori Amos is an artist I have long enjoyed - ever since Helen introduced me to her when we were about 18 I think! She is entirely mad though - her lyrics will show you that if her pronunciation of same does not. She has been touted as the inspiration for Neil Gaiman's Delirium, and I can well believe it.

I went with Jason, who, upon my demand for 'Steak!' took me to a lovely adult pub in the wilds of London called the Andover Arms, a cracking good place with a lovely atmosphere and very helpful staff (I will admit to at first miss-reading the name and thinking 'why on earth would anyone call a pub the handover?!?' but decided not to mention this to J who already has an evil sense of humour regarding my use of the English language!). After steak was had (I always get a rush of energy from red meat, sorely needed after the three and a half hour train ride from Plymouth!), Jason expounded his theory on pub goodness, which goes somewhere along the lines of "The excellence of a public house is inversely related to it's distance from the nearest source of mass transportation; the further away it is from said hub, the better it will be." which I think is very true.

Anyway, Tori was to be found at the Apollo Stadium. She played a good mix of her old and new pieces. I didn't recognise a couple of tunes, but the rest were well known and I enjoyed the way she re-interpreted her own songs. The concert started a little slow, but after a solo stint (including Mr. Zebra!) the energy picked up and by the end, the stage had a swarm of fans squished between the stage and first row of seats trying to get close to her. 'Precious Things' and 'Little Amsterdam' were highlights for me as well as the staple 'Cornflake Girl' which she absolutely rocked. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Hairspray on the other hand was a completely different kettle of fish if I can mix my metaphors. Hillary and I went for a girls night out, and excluding the overwhelming heat of the theatre and the phenomenal line for the ladies, it was a really enjoyable night.

In fact, I haven't laughed so much in a musical since I saw 'The Producers' - I was crying from laughter at one point! The parents of the protagonist, Tracy, sing a love duet called 'Timeless to Me'. Tracy's mother, Edna, is played by a man, so the set-up is already ripe for many sniggers. However the father on our night was played by the understudy, Nigel Planer being absent for whatever reason, and this guy either flubbed a line, or exaggerated a gesture, and caused the both of them to spend most of the number trying not to laugh, and for some reason there is absolutely nothing funnier than an actor in a funny situation snorting to suppress laughter. I had stitches!

The storyline to the show is slightly different to the movie version too, all to the good in my opinion. Two new musical numbers made the show fresh for me, and the energy of the dancers was incredible - I was tired just watching them! I won't tell you the story here - you'll just have to find out for yourselves!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable, if very exhausting, weekend away.

Happy Birthday Kiddo!

Was my inestimable youngest brother's birthday on this date. Sing his praises everyone!

I hope you had a lovely day brother dearest. I'm sorry for the (very) short phone conversation - but I have very little dough right now and was at work. I'll make it up to you soon I promise! Get a landline!!!

Love you!

Life in Digs...

For the first time in my living-arrangements-career, I am in what could possibly be classified as digs. I have lived with family, I have lived with friends and I have lived alone. I have lived in houses, town-houses, appartments and flats, in barracks and hotels and I have lived in backpackers, but never in quite this situation.

I am now living in an old, very large house, which used to be a B&B of some description. I guess you would call it a boarding house, if this were the 1950s, only in this day and age we have to cater for ourselves. I have a room to myself with a lock on my room's door, but am sharing the facilities with possibly 10 to 14 other people. Yes, that many.

Now, that's actually not as bad as it sounds. There are eight official 'Rooms' in this place, but two (those which I believe have couples living in them) are en-suite, so I actually only share two bathrooms with as few as five, but possibly 10 other people, if each room actually has a couple living-in which I don't believe. I don't know how many are really here, but there is only one bed in each room so maximum of 14 others. I've met five of the housemates in passing, but I've caught glimpses of another two and then a few are supposed to be on holiday, and I've heard but not seen another couple...

Anyway, I don't think you can call it a share-house, as we don't have to ever talk to each other. There are no shared bills and each room has their own allocated cupboards in the kitchen and have to supply their own dishes and plates and saucepans and washing-up liquid and laundry powder. You even have to take your own toilet paper to the loo each time you go as that's not shared either. We all pay the landlord for all bills and he has a cleaner who looks after the common areas and that's that.

I guess this'd be like living in one of the huge share houses in London, where everyone is crammed in and living on top of each other. Only, we're not. Crammed I mean. My current bedroom is definitely the biggest room I've ever slept in. But then I always thought of those share-house arrangements as being a lot more communal.

So is this a classifiable living arrangement? Is this a boarding-house-without-board or digs or a classification of share house I've never heard of before?

I suppose others will tell me it's not so unusual so maybe won't find it strange. But this living-alone-with-other-people-who-you-never-see thing is rather weird to me. Detached but a part. Apart but together. Isolated in a crowd. Alone but not.

So and so. Strange to me.