Tempus Fugit (or something)

Today is my 84th birthday.

I can't believe  it - until I look in a mirror.

Putting my birthday cards up on the shelves of a bookcase I was struck once again by their dimimishing numbers.

As more and more friends family and contemporaries fall off the twig I find myself looking nervously over my shoulder.

Many of we survivors say the same thing as we move closer together to  fill the gaps on the twig.

There are many good things about ageing in this day and age, unlike 100 years or so ago.  We have bus passes, free TV licences (at present), and are given priority when using emergency call-out services, but, the price is high.

Failing health is for many/most of us a major factor in our daily lives but for some of us, myuself included this is not the worst problem.

Maybe I am generalising but I have heard quite a few of my friends say that loss of confidence in dealing with everyday issues is becoming a barrier to living life as  it should be possible to  live it.

This morning my birthday gift from my household demons was to  be greeted with a flood in the garage.  It took a second or two to realise that my freezer had thawed and was continuing  to do so.

Spotting that the light on the plug was not on and that there was none on the freezer either I knew It was time for urgent action.

One of my neighbours was at home so I begged some time from him to clarify the problem.  He checked the plug and wall socket and told me the freezer was basically 'dead'. 

Removing around 100 pounds worth of food and putting it into black  sacks I realised that I do not really need a freezer at all.

I keep buying things and filling it up but seldom use anything from it and can, with care,  manage perfectly well without it.

Now the problem is going to  be disposing of the freezer. 

Oh the joys of being an ancient crone unable to drive and with limited muscle power.

Happy Birthday Ray.!.

Ash Wednesday

We (yes the choir of St Mary the Virgin) sang this beautiful anthem at this evening's Ashing Service.

Though I say it as shouldn't, we  did a pretty creditable job and the accolades are rolling in.

It is rare that we manage to do justice to a really difficult work, bujt this time we did.

I can go to bed happy for a change.

The version with this post is a good one but I think ours was almost as good.

A wonderful beginning to Lent.  Deo Gracias!

A Little Night Music

This clip from Utube of Beati Quorum Via by Stamford is how our anthem last Sunday should have sounded.

Needless to say, it did not.

Well (perhaps too well) rehearsed, it went smoothly at the Friday evening choir practise, but less so on the early Sunday morning run-through.  Possibly due to the numbers being halved.

This is a common and very irritating phenomena in our choir at St Mary's.

We get a splendid turnout and the balance of sound is pretty well perfect in rehearsal, then, on the day at least a half dozen or so fail to show.

With something as ambitious as this lovely piece every voice is essential to  the finished performance.

Getting everyone to accept this, is nearly impossible.

Those of us who are truly dedicated to the choir find it very frustrating but are quite powerless to change this attitude of the less dedicated.

From my own point of view a committment to the choir means attending every rehearsal and every service unless illness strikes.

The reason for this latest diatribe is that I went to bed with the music running round my brain on a loop, was just dropping off to sleep when a blood-curdling scream outside shattered the peace of the close.

After the 2nd and third shrieks it was obvious that the foxes were out on the railway embankment giving a recital.

Once all hope of sleep had vanished I thought I'd take my bad temper out in a blog post.

Well I have to vent my spleen somehow.

Oh and please do listen to this recording if you have time.  It really is rather lovely.

Insomniac's Corner

Yet another gritty-eyed night, bored, sleepless, too hot (radiators blazing). rain slashing at windows.

February!

British Gas maintenance annual checkup today appears to have made no difference whatever to the list of problems I presented the engineer.

Pipes banging radiators too hot to touch despite thermostat being set at 15 degrees.

Water in taps boiling despite switch turned off.

I give up.

As it is Winter and was very cold last week I suppose I should be glad to be warm, but there's warm and there's bloomin' 'ot!

A day spent doing nothing much but hang about waiting for the engineer is not a good way to use up energy and I find myself full of the stuff just when i  need it least.

Tomorrow at St. M's I will be pale-faced and baggy-eyed as a result. 

Why is it that when you are hoping to climb into smooth sheets and sink into blissful oblivion the said sheets appear to have been covered in grit and pillows filled with lumps of clay?

Apart from the intermittant rain the only sound from outside is the occasional doleful wail from a cat complaining about being shut out.

Have just walked up and down the stairs 3 times just to see if my feet still work, unlike my brain they do.

Think I'll read,  Night!  No, Morning!

Experiment

Last week I had a phone call on my landline.  It was an automated call and the voice was American and female.

It told me that as from 2nd February my internet was  being cut off.

The call then cut off.

I did what I usually do about such calls and completely ignored it.

A couple of days ago a message was flashed up on my lap-top screen telling me my Google Account was to be closed down. this also disappeared before completion.

Last night I was told (lap-top again) that as from tomorrow (now today) my Google account would no longer be valid.  No more information was offered.

This time I switched off the computer unplugging it completely and went to bed.

Today having switched everything back on the only thing which appears to have happened is that my gmail account is not operating.  (It is, however, working on my Ipad).

If this blog is published I will assume the whole thing is yet another mindless prank.

If anyone knows more about this please enlighten me.

Satirical Post

Today is the great decider day (yet another), when we will hear which, if any of the options before the PM will be accepted.

The noble (sometimes) institution known as the House of Commons will pour forth another deluge of wise words meant to clarify the horrible mess known as Brexit.

Said institution henceforth referred to as "The Gas Works", will yet again try to bamboozle the bewildered voting populace with their own versions (and there are many), of our current situation and offer their own solutions .

Meanwhile the Prime Minister is trying still in the face of almost total opposition to batter her way through the fog and get her motion accepted.

Like most of the country I am sick to death of the subject and am rapidly losing my grip on what the original aims of Brexit were.

How we must appear to the bemused gaze of the other EU members i can only  shudder to imagine, and while it is good to be able to provide some light entertainment for their amusement the joke must be wearing thin.

No deal looks increasingly likely, and where that will leave us is up that famous creek without a paddle.

Occasional rumbles from elder statesmen have produced nothing of value and we seem to be further back than we were after the stay/leave vote.

By the way, I voted to remain.

Time for Change

A new year is traditionally the chance to make a clean sweep of all the things you don't like about your life, change for the better what you can, and find ways of dealing with those you cannot change.

Such a lofty and noble plan, so what is stopping us?

Sometimes outside forces, sometimes our tendency to cling to old habits or as in my case, simple inertia.

It has been linked by some people to depression, and there is some truth in that, but also the basic nature of the individual plays a big part in just how much energy we are prepared to spend on trying to rethink our way of life.

Laziness has always been a big part of my nature, and at one time was merely mental inertia but these days includes a disinclination to make myself do anything I don't really want to do.

This I justify by saying "I am too old" or "I am not as fit as I was", when in truth what I should say is "I can't be bothered, it would take too much effort".

Spending as I do, all of the Christmas and New Year break on my own gives me much more time than usual to dream up reasons for not doing things, while the usually bad weather (though not this year) is the perfect excuse for not moving a muscle except when absolutely necessary.

I make a big list of all the jobs which I should do in this long break from routine and start by crossing off each one as I complete it, feeling smug and self-satisfied with each tick.

Then instead of lurking in the shadows, in comes inertia sidling round the door, whispering "Leave that one till tomorrow", or "Wait a day or two to do that you may feel more energetic".

Inevitably when I return to my routine Monmday morning in St Mary's (7th Jan this year) I will get caught up in the usual energy draining activities and think, "You idiot why didn't you do so and so while you had that long break, now you'll have to find time to fit it in in a busy week".

Somehow however, it does get done during the 'normal' week and takes very little effort while affording huge satisfaction that it is at last done.

When the rain in mid January is lashing down and the garden is fast becoming a lake, I think "Just look at all that old bird-seed you meant to sweep up while it was dry, now it is turning to porridge".

So this year I am going to lock the door on prevarication and "Gird up my Lions" and jujst get on with it.  Or at least that is my intention.

A very happy healthy New year to all.  Keep moving.