We've been in our new house for about a month now. And in all that time, I've been unable to compose anything or play the piano at all because during the move all the screws and the lovely solid Stanley screwdriver that came with the piano went missing, so we've been unable to assemble the stand, leaving the keyboard a mere limbless torso sitting on the floor in our bedroom. We hunted and hunted through everything - once, twice, three times - with no luck at all, and in the end, last week I half-resigned myself to needing to order in a new set of screws. So I called Sound Control and spoke to their Roland expert and he gave me the phone number of Spare Parts at Roland. But I wanted to have one more hunt...

So tonight, I walked into the spare room, which has been used as a dumping ground for all the post-move detritus, as well as housing a lot of storage in which various chaotic accumulations of stuff have been put away, and proclaimed in a loud, clear, ringing tone: "I have the number for Roland Spares. If you don't show yourself tonight, I will ring them in the morning and replace you!" I figured it was a bit warm to start pulling things out so went to open the window. To get at the window easily, I needed to move the huge pile of pillows (about 6 pillows!) which the owners had left behind on the main bed when they moved out, plus a spare doona and some other manchestery items. I pushed open the window and as I did so, noticed that a MiniDisc had fallen down beside the cupboard beside the window. I bent down to fetch it, peering as I did into the long thin box that I'd been through twice already... and guess what was poking out at me - yes indeed, a small plastic bag containing a screwdriver and a bunch of piano screws! So you see, threatening inanimate objects really can get you what you want sometimes!

# posted by minim @ 10:33 PM 0 Comments

One year today! As of this morning, I have been living in England for a whole year - and boy oh boy, what a year it's been!

I've travelled - been to Germany, Belgium (twice), France, Austria, Singapore and Australia, Brighton, Lewes, Bristol, Chester, Oxford, Crew (never again!), Birmingham, Bexhill-on-Sea, the Isle of Wight, and of course Swindon. I don't think I've ever done so much travelling - and certainly not in a single year.

I've made new friends, both in RL and online, and have met up with two of my invisible friends in person

I have lived in three different parts of London, been to the opera four times, the ballet twice, and an assortment of concerts too.

I've missed my parents, but also learned to be more independent. I've started my first self-help book (aargh!) which has been fairly revelatory - something that was most unexpected.

I've written two pieces and received a collaboration request. I've bought a keyboard and a stereo and restarted developing a CD collection - discovered some standard repertoire pieces which has been marvellous - and a DVD collection.

For the first time, I have a really nice set of kitchen knives and have mastered the art of muffin-making (well, with one recipe anyway!). I have baked Le Cookies, madeira cake, cinnamon crumble cake and said muffins, as well as countless old favourites, and have made my own lemonade.

I have discovered that it is possible for me to actually enjoy summer (not so much today though - it was supposed to go to 38 degrees or more!) and that I quite like sunshine and that it is possible to have too much winter. I have experienced my first snowfall and my first proper spring and the artistic revelation which went with that - suddenly absolute reams of poetry, music and painting opened up with new meaning for me.

I have become more adventurous and open to new things - I'm more willing to have a go which has most notably been seen in the fact that I agreed to go on a Segway tour - and saw it through, in spite of falling off twice. Even the world's most evil American president only fell off it once!

I've fallen in love with two new cities - Brussels and Vienna

I've read some great books, the two most recent being Isabel Allende's Zorro and Danny Wallace's Yes man. The latter of these has made me realise how often I turn down invitations, so on Friday I'm going to a karaoke pub with a friend who I've not been particularly helpful to of late

I have scored some awesome bargains in the sales. I have become a Gramophone subscriber and a member of the Tate galleries.

What I haven't done is to spend more time on the travelling - a week in a place rather than a weekend. I haven't overcome my composition block, although I'm working on that. I haven't attempted as many new main course recipes as I've wanted, although I have found two - pork stroganoff with braised rice and lemon-butter fish, both thanks to Gary Rhodes' Keeping it simple - which have made their way into the repertoire. I haven't managed to meet up with Spiralz yet and I haven't been a terribly sociable person all round

I have become a better *ahem* housewife in a small way - I clean up after myself more and keep things generally tidier - which some would say wouldn't be hard.

I'd like to go to more concerts in the next year, to make myself be more motivated both to plan ahead and do more spontaneous stuff. I've been meaning to sign myself up for a course of some sort for the past few months too - I've looked at drawing classes, photography classes, sewing classes and piano classes, but haven't committed to any of them - I think it's time to do that now. The new term should be starting soon, no doubt in September along with the new school year, so it's a good time to choose one and just try it out. I will start looking this week.

So many, many things, just waiting for me to do! Guess I'd better go and start some of them - finding the screws to put the piano together would be a start...

# posted by minim @ 8:51 PM 0 Comments