Well I've been absent without leave for a while.
Haven't done much boating since before Brazil, but have discovered a new love.
Tina is always there when I need her and falls readily into my willing hands, for a quick squeeze.
One day I woke up and thought to myself, wow I'm nearly fifty.
What do I do, get a sports car, buy a Harley ?? - nah..
I thought its time to set myself a new challenge - something to stir the brain cells.
For some unknown reason and I mean, unknown - its a bit like somebody else put the idea in my head, because it crept up on me from nowhere, I decided I was going to play the concertina.
You didn't think Tina was another woman now, did you ???
I have never played one, nor do I know anybody who's got one.
Anyway, long story short as one of my friends is fond of saying, I bought myself a cheap Anglo Concertina and taught myself.
Its taken me a couple of months and I need to read the dots (sheet music) because my memory is incapable of storing the myriad of tunes that I play, but I can play it.
I spent much of our hotter summer days, swinging in my hammock in the saloon on Willawaw, with every window and hatch open, playing sea shanties.
We are not inconsiderate people and we took the boat along the canal to isolated towpath locations, so the only people I tormented was the occasional walker or cyclist.
I have discovered several things as part of this little musical journey.
1. I can still read music from when I was 12
2. Its incredibly relaxing and de-stressing to just play whatever tune comes into your head
3. I have discovered a whole new raft of friends in the music world
I've always thought of people that like folk music as bearded with tank tops (and thats only the women)..
However, I heard a group playing the "Leaving of Liverpool" at Crick this year.
This obviously triggered something off in me, which has culminated in this..
Anyway, no longer content to just play to the towpath, I set off in search of bigger audiences and wow - what a brain blower that turned out to be !!!!
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What a lovely thing to do. So impressed. I would love to be there, cheering you on when next you play to an audience. J x
ReplyDeleteOkay,now it's time for the real challenge - get an English! And follow that with a set of hummelchen bagpipes. My next -door moorers are still regarding me with suspicion!
ReplyDeleteDo you play the English ??
ReplyDeleteI'm too busy being seduced by Victorian anglo's at the moment..I bought a cheap "Tina" to see if I liked it and am now looking at something a bit better..