It’s our Boywonder’s 19th birthday. He’s all grown up and helping get the Chardy harvest in somewhere near Melbourne. He’s all settled in now, working hard for up to 12 hours a day in the blazing sun and enjoying this opportunity but I miss him a lot.

We were FaceTiming him last night and it occurred to me that we looked just like Rajesh’s parents in Big Bang Theory. So I took this picture. He’s over 10,000 miles away and we can talk to him just like that. Technology is so brilliant.

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 I went for the first time to a concert of the Bromley Musicmakers this afternoon. I’ve just joined with a view to being one of the performers when I feel comfortable. It’s to give me practice singing solo in front of an unsuspecting audience on whom I can try out my Diploma pieces. It’s frightening as it’s a bit of a step up from the solo singing group I’ve been attending sporadically in the last year but it’s good for me so I’m going to have to push myself to do it.

The Musicmakers is going to be a great way of hearing music that I’ve never come across before. Today’s programme included pieces from Scriabin and Chaminade as well as the more usual Vaughan Williams and Bach. For me, the highlights were the Shostakovich duets, played by a father and daughter violin combo with piano accompaniment; a young Japanese pianist playing Liszt’s Liebestraum and something from Ravel and the final two movements of a Brahms violin sonata, played by two music students.

It was a little unfortunate that the poor pianist was extremely nervous and had some mental blocks, forcing her to restart several times. According to MsDD, who plays a Brahms Clarinet Sonata, his piano accompaniments are fiendish. He wrote them to show off his own virtuosity and, I guess, to make sure that no-one else got a look in on a lucrative accompaniment business. Anyway, when she played, the pianist was fabulous, but she could not conceal her tears at the end and had to sit at the back being reassured by the violinist, who made a great fist of her bit, in trying circumstances.

I’m looking forward to these monthly concerts. We are so lucky with the level of musicianship in our local area.

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And finally, a #subblogging postscript:

This blog is my space for trying to express how I feel. Yesterday I was talking in general terms about how I felt about the whole unfollowing/blocking thing. I have, however, despite the “butthurt,” (whatever that might mean) not forgotten it’s the Internet, and open. Which is why I refrained from naming you on here and I didn’t go into details about why I quietly unfollowed you.

Showing uncharacteristic interest in me and this blog, however, you exploded the story and thereby named yourself. Having already called me an “entitled old bat,” (which is rich as you are older than me,) you encouraged some of your followers to call me further names including “bastard,” and “tosser.” So that was nice. You then continued in the same tiresome, infantile, passive aggressive, attention-seeking, self-centred mode that made me unfollow you.

I’m wondering why losing me as a follower is so important to you. We obviously have little in common. Unfollowing is not a crime. Why make such a fuss? You’ve got plenty of people hanging on your every word. If I’m so objectionable, why does it matter so much to you that I no longer follow you? If you’d have done it to me, it would have been a relief.

Have you ever wondered why so many of your erstwhile friends end up blocking you? I suppose they’re all terrible human beings too. Given how you’ve behaved, I should have blocked you in the first place without giving you the benefit of the doubt. Now I have and I’m glad. And that is my final word on this subject.

 

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