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And the number of motorcyclists in the house is....? Do you have 2 each, one to wear and one in the wash?

Homemade balti, homemade naans followed by homemade reduced sugar increased nuts spices and oats apple crumble. And a visit to a branch of the John Lewis establishment, which always makes me happy.

Our JL has been made enormous and I can't find anything any more. And if I do find out where it is it's now a three mile walk!

You should see what's going up in central Brum at the moment. Sign went up last week:

Gill the Piano wrote:And the number of motorcyclists in the house is....? Do you have 2 each, one to wear and one in the wash?

The four of us all ride bikes.

dave brum wrote:You should see what's going up in central Brum at the moment. Sign went up last week:

John-Lewis-Sign.jpg

Is it in Broad Street Dave?

No, it is above New Street Station in what used to be called The Pallasades but from next September be rebranded as Grand Central Birmingham. Here are some relevant links:

www.newstreetnewstart.co.uk

www.grandcentralbirmingham.com

http://www.johnlewis.com/our-shops/birmingham

With a box full of records, and a bag full of post, it's Radio Soapbox and.... Bit of Cheerful Charlie Chester at the shop today.

What, you were playing CC???

Gill the Piano wrote:What, you were playing CC???

We had his old theme music on, Music To Watch Girls By. That was the time on a Sunday afternoon that the old illuminated radiogram was switched back to medium wave for the Top 20 show with Tom Browne. I always used to think CC had a really warm, sincere voice with a hint of cheekiness, my grandmother told me he was considered quite 'near the mark' in his day with 'Stand Easy'.

He was also a songwriter, 'The Old Bazaar in Cairo' was his handiwork, though Clinton Ford sang it.

I only heard The OlD Bazaar In Cairo when it was on I'm Sorry I'll read That Again. And I think they may have made their own words up.

'We'd like to have continued, but the censor cut it THERE......'

Great stuff. Do you realise that is the only song I can think of (clean) that contains the word 'fanny'!

A telephone conversation in Welsh. Opportunities to speak it with other human beings are very rare, I think the last time I spoke it was in July, before that last autumn.

Who were you speaking to? Was it like riding a bike? (No, I don't mean falling off and hurting yourself...) Now do you believe you could teach Welsh conversation?

Was the people whom I used to lodge with in Gwynedd back in 1994 or thereabouts. Not sure I could teach conversation. Like the piano, I'd have to have regular practice before I could provide an honest answer....

Lots today. Having a grand tour of all the nice suburbs of Brum, seeing a Deutsche Grammophon album of jolly Strauss waltzes and polkas at a charity shop in Harborne for a quid, and a Bing Crosby Christmas album that I picked up in Leeds last month for 20p on sale for much more, seeing the Area Manager in the Harborne bookshop (who came into our shop last Friday) and seeing my friend Sultan Khan, who told my wife to 'look after him' (he never told me to look after her!!!)

Sultan knows who's in charge... I envy you your day rummaging - nothing like going to a different shop to see what's new/old!

Nothing like a damn good farage around, especially in charity shops as you see quirky and different gift ideas you just don't see in the likes of John Lewis. It's Moseley craft market on Saturday and we're going up there for some ideas - and every Christmas in both Centenary and Chamberlain Squares in B-Town there are craft stalls from local artists that compliment the busier (and rather similar each year) annual German market.

I went into B-Town on the bus this morning to pick up Mabel's Christmas present, and no it wasn't any of these tacky music gifts that you see in music stores up and down England.

It's only 7.25 and this website has made me Pharrell Williams happy. And late:

http://shitlondon.co.uk/

What an excellent site...I might get the books for my friend who is stuck in america to make her laugh.

Unlike a growing group of humans I am in no way a slave to my cellphone with camera attachment but sometimes I see signs and bits of graffiti I wish I could just record for posterity before they get taken down. When I was a kid I saw something on a bench in the market on Windmill Lane, Smethwick, it was a small plaque that said This seat is reserved exclusively for bums. I could not believe it!

A good piano lesson with Mabel - and being told my confidence is slowly improving (though it will not happen overnight). Next one on 2nd December.

So glad you're getting more confidence. And I love the plaque in Smethwick... Some kids locally have adapted an old NHS vehicle as their gadabout. And in the aperture over the windscreen it says 'AMBIENCE'.

I think I push myself too far. Mabs doesn't do that. Also my nature leads me to invent problems that don't exist. Mabs is not stupid - and seeing she's back on her feet having been on a zimmerframe since July has also made me happy.

I always feel quite forlorn when I come out of Mabs' house.

You should feel encouraged and be itching to go home to practise!

Gill the Piano wrote:You should feel encouraged and be itching to go home to practise!

I do that anyway - usually the kettle goes on and I read notes over a nice cup of rosie. It's just Mabs is so encouraging and generally lovely. My homework piece is ten bars in as she's explained it all to me, though I'm guessing I'll get a stonker over Christmas.

Reconciling my differences with someone whom my wife and I fell out with earlier this year - so lovely to be friends with her once again. Because life really is too short for silliness and animosity.

Lovely. Me; turning up at a church to tune to find that a) the piano was in a good mood and b) the heating was on!

Wish I was a piano tuner....I did Keep Fit today and didn't feel jaded at all, which is very very unusual. They got fifteen carols as well!

Fifteen? From memory? Blimey, you're good.

Gill the Piano wrote:Fifteen? From memory? Blimey, you're good.

Oh nonononononononono. Sight read. That's even better!!

Going to Wolverhampton. Finding the best Waitrose I've ever been in there. Tootling around the city centre, there are loads of empty shops as the news has often articulated but the news hasn't articulated the number of crafty arty shops with quite affordable things in. Going in this shop: http://www.nathanrosemusic.com/ chatting to and playing for Nathan himself, he's a lovely bloke and also an LCM examiner. He told me he always bends over backwards to make his candidates feel relaxed so they are less likely to suffer with nervousness and panic. Black Country common sense!! Letting him know not all music teachers are like him and Mabel (ff) Then finding two more shops that sell sheet music. On the whole, quite a happy day.

New day, new thing to make me happy. Putting the finishing touches to my first go at being a music producer, a 'mix' of Christmas songs you just do not hear on the radio, in the malls, and generally bandied about at this time of year. Starting with three different takes on a medieval English carol in Latin, and ending with some Run DMC. You just do not hear Dora Bryan's Christmas single, you certainly do not hear Paul Robeson or Gil Scott-Heron....and as for Thomas Sterndale Bennett.....come to Oxfam Books and Music Moseley tomorrow for its world premiere!

Wish I could, but I'm winding up pianos...it's gone berserk. They haven't had the piano tuned for seven yeas but it's VITAL that it's done before Christmas...

Well, the happy peeples of bee thirteen seemed to like this one, which is on my CD:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU4dLGwfsqY

A young Welsh girl new in Brum came into the shop today enquiring about volunteering. She is from a Welsh speaking area of the South West but does not speak it. Hope she does Fridays, I can teach her some Cymraeg but I'll have to refrain from using northernisms...allwedd rather than agoriad etc.

TOLD you you'd make a Welsh teacher. Now's your chance to practise.

Gill the Piano wrote:TOLD you you'd make a Welsh teacher. Now's your chance to practise.

Steady on!! She's not even had her references checked yet!!!

Pfffft. Details...

Not seen them meself yet, I don't even know her name. It's down to Shazia to check them out when she's back next Tuesday, she was off with something her kids picked up at nursery.

Hopeitsafridayhopeitsafridayhopeitsafridayhopeitsafridayhopeitsafriday.........

Getting together all the stuff I need to make some musical Christmas decorations, some crotchets, quavers and crotchet rests made from unsaleable sheet music glued onto cardboard, cut out, embellished and threaded through with some cotton to hang on the tree. I think Mabel might like some done too!

They go for a few quid each usually - you could sell them in the shop. Pics please...

Of course, I'll post some pics but here's a thought, I could do some clefs too!

Clefs and notes would be better than rests - yer average punter might not know what a rest is.

I had to walk down to Sainsburys and I was feeling extremely jaded and negative, but hearing the second greatest Rastaman that ever lived (the first was of course Marcus Garvey) blaring out of a couple of workmen's radio singing this song filled me with positive energy and even had me singing along. Jah Ras Tafari....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFGgbT_VasI

Ain't half got big woodworm where he is...

A successful morning shopping What idiot decided to give birth on 23rd December? Not only do I have to deal with Christmas but a birthday as well. This year, it is her 21st!

Gift purchased = happy parents.

If you'd hung on another couple of days you'd only need to get one present!

Seeing a genuine Klezmer band in town yesterday. I have loved Klezmer for years.

Don't know what it is; I'll have to goggle it!