pturner131

Things are moving! I have to say I was dreading it: I bought the Tune A Day tutor book for the cello, and it put me right off: far too much black ink and strange pictures. I had visions of the first lesson being really basic and not being able to get a note from my cello, but I even surprised myself! Within half an hour I had played 4 or 5 (basic) tunes and my first duet! Lots of practise now: next lesson in two weeks!

We went for a long weekend to Manhattan, and found ourselves in the theatre district: wandered in off the street to see if there were any spare tickets for that evening. We saw Beauty and the Beast, and thoroughly enjoyed the show (though why the American audience talked through the overture is beyond me: all part of the cultural experience though!) but I still hanker after the second choice, an Off-Broadway play starring Judd Hirsch (I think? – formerly Taxi and Independence Day): well worth doing. They even gave away free plastic red roses, as I recall….

It is a hackneyed dream, I know, but take a rambling old farmhouse in the heart of the French countryside, where we have friends, and very few English speakers at all, build a home and GO NATIVE!

I can see it in my head now (though it probably won’t turn out like that exactly) and hope my wife trusts my instinct and does not interfere too much, but one day I shall gather the money and go huntin’...