My dear friends,

I hope you’re all well. Thank you so much to everyone who replied to my last missive. You’re all terribly forgiving about me sending you Round Robins rather than individual emails. Or I suppose those of you who don’t like them didn’t want to reply to them. Who knows? Anyway, if these are annoying you can always delete them from your inbox without opening them and if you really can’t bear them do get in touch and I’ll delete you from the mailing list without even a gnash of my teeth. Not one that you’ll be able to hear, anyway.

I was glad to hear your news, everyone who replied, even though some of it isn’t all that happy. I want you to know that I’m thinking of you all. It certainly isn’t out of sight out of mind. In the past I’ve been absolutely awful at keeping in touch with people, partly due to my reluctance to pick up the phone when I might be interrupting someone’s day, and I’m determined not to let that happen again. Besides which, we won’t be here forever and I fully intend to resume my old life at home one day. We’re already starting to mull over our next move but only in a small and sketchy way. It does, of course, depend on where John’s next job will be.

I hadn’t intended to make this a monthly sit up letter, more as the fancy takes me, but the fancy has taken me now so why not? You’ll see clickable links to blog posts on here. Clicking them will take you to my blog for updates and photos and all sorts of whimsy. I know that some of you already follow it but some others might think they’re intruding. (Forgive me, this is my mindset) If you’re like me, please don’t be shy. Sometimes the blog post will be on the Upclose section of the blog, which is intended for people who know me and not really for a wider audience. There’s an explanation on the page. This is password-protected but the password is Open Sesame and if you’re receiving this then know that you’re one of the few. It’s really easy to click a link and to put in your password and I’ll have no idea who reads or who doesn’t  – even if there were a way of checking I wouldn’t check – so don’t feel that you’re intruding in any way. I’ll probably put this letter up on there as well in due course. The blog has a few bits and pieces which might catch your eye and lots of photos of different parts of Hong Kong and, in due course, other bits of Asia.

We are well and have now settled in reasonably well to the Home of the Resting Bitch Face. After an anxious and unsettling few months at the beginning of his time here, John now seems to be a lot more relaxed and starting to enjoy the challenge of work which is by all accounts frantic in pace. It’s not such an early start for him now as it was in London, and his commute on the Discovery Bay ferry, while not much quicker than it was, is far more pleasant.

A couple of times a week he has to take video calls between New York and Paris and the pesky time difference can mean a late finish but he’s learning not to do too many of those each week.

We have invested in a new Clavinova to replace the old one that had given us good service for 28 years. Apart from lacking a sticky B flat, this new model has all the bells and whistles and I can see it being a lot of fun. As well as being sampled from two concert grands, it can provide a backing orchestra for a soloist and learning scores for beginners. Apparently. I mean, I’m still trying to figure out the manual. It’s a digital toy rather than a proper piano, of course, but we already have one of those at home, maintained to perfection by Alexandra  so what’s the point of buying another? I’m particularly pleased because it’s encouraged me to play again for the first time in decades. You’ll know that giving up the piano at 16 is one of my bitterest regrets and I’m determined to heal that while I have the time. The other day I played the Moonlight Sonata for the first time since I was about 15, and I was thrilled. There must be a bit of muscle memory involved, I suppose. I’m a bit rubbish at the moment but I’m hoping to be able to play recognisable pieces before too long. 

Some of you will know that I’ve been on a New Me diet and fitness regime since January. It’s certainly paid off and I’m pretty proud of my progress considering that this time last year I was so anaemic that I could barely walk a few hundred metres without having to pause for breath. Now I can run for an hour without too much difficulty. Yes, me! I look around the gym now and realise that I’m one of the fittest people there, which I would never have thought remotely possible. It’s probably not a very high bar, mind. Unbelievable isn’t it, but there you go! I set out to lose between 10kg-15kg in weight in the time I was here. I achieved 10kg without too much difficulty, but Easter and one too many Chinese meals, which aren’t really conducive to weight loss, have got in the way of me reaching my stretch target. I’ve promised to upgrade my Applewatch when I do so it’s really frustrating getting within 500g only to find that the weight piles back on again. Again, I wrote about it here. 

It was with delight and some relief that we celebrated Oscar’s 11th birthday last week. He wasn’t expected to last long enough to come here – Flatcoats aren’t great at longevity -and I was only too aware of the stress we must have put him through with the comings and goings in the last year, not to mention the flight out here but, considering that we didn’t think he’d see his 5th birthday after he was so ill, he’s done really well. I wrote about this on my blog here The new feeding regime seems to be going well: Oscar is now enthusiastic about his meals and full of his old energy. His coat is soft and shiny, his eyes are bright and he’s put on a bit of weight. I’m very relieved as he was painfully thin. Raffles is also enjoying the new food but unfortunately he’s gained a tenth of his body weight. This is a pity because it undermines the validity of my blog post, the premise of which was that I’d lost a Raffles of weight, but now he’s gained a kg that means that I have an extra kg to lose, as does he.

Choir is starting to be a bit more enjoyable. We are very focused on the St Mark Passion now and are working really hard on the intricacies of expression and performance of the piece. It’s never going to match the emotional rollercoaster that is the St Matthew Passion, to my mind, but it’s hefty nonetheless. I’ve decided to switch from Spotify to Apple Music because you can link that to the Yamaha Chord Tracker through the new piano, and I’m trying to duplicate my Spotify playlists. I was downloading the songs I’ve sung for exams and Benslow singing courses and I found a surprising longing to sing solo again. I never really took to standing up to sing alone in front of an audience, worrier that I am, and it was a means to an end of breaking down my shyness and fear of rejection in singing exams, but I found I really miss it now so perhaps I’ll try and plan to come to one of Sarah’s courses next year. Sadly I haven’t found a singing teacher here yet, and I can’t imagine anyone being as good a fit for me as Sarah but I’ll try to persevere with that.

I’m tagging along on one of John’s trips to Seoul next week. Really looking forward to it. I know so little about Korean culture but I understand that it’s a very different experience from here. All I know is that Korean culture values cleanliness, respect and good manners so I think I’m going to like it there. I know, I know. We shouldn’t be flying. It’s terrible for the environment. Watching the Extinction Rebellion protests from afar, I have severe pangs of guilt about this but now we’re here, we might as well make the most of this opportunity to see different parts of Asia and I think new cultural experiences with very different people are always valuable in being able to put people’s objectives and perceptions of each other into context, don’t you? Besides which, if I never flew, I’d never be able to see my friends or children again. 

Some of you might already know that I’ll be coming back to Beckers for the last half of May to do some probate-related things; to pick up Eliza from Edinburgh; to have a look at the most recent renovations on our house; to see James for the first time in almost 7 months and to sing the Beethoven’s 9th with my lovely BYMT Adult choir, whom I dearly miss, on 18th May. Thank you so much to Bill for using your influence on Simon to send me such a lovely email welcoming me to sing the 9 with you. I’m trying to learn the thing but it’s very fast in parts, isn’t it, as well as being quite high. When I looked on the BYMT website there was no rehearsal schedule and I expect there will be a few practices with the orchestra in the final week so if one of you wouldn’t mind chucking me over a photo or scan of it when you have it (preferably in the next week) I’d be most grateful.

I hope to see at least a few of you in the two weeks I’m back at home but it’s going to be quite hectic so i probably won’t manage to see everyone. I am planning to come back towards the end of August, however, so maybe we’ll be able to catch up then.

Anyway, that’s enough from me now. Off to try and wrangle the distribution list for this.

Much love to you all

Gita

X