Catching up with news. Or rambling on a bit. Whatevs.

Hah, well, that single portion of curry turned out to be enough for three. The remains of the curry and rice are now in the freezer. I’ll make an extra vegetable dish, add a naan bread and it’ll easily feed us yet again. Even the pie and vegetables defeated us – some of the pastry and veg went to the chickens this morning and I’ll fry the rest of the potatoes to go with our halibut tonight. Buying from a working farm means that you get farmer’s portions!

Blue Witch suggested that learning to draw from a book isn’t the best way of going about it and I do agree with her. Although it was the only way I’d have tried – even if actual classes were happening now, I’d have been too timid to sign up. It’s not impossible that I’ll give it a go in the future, though not terribly likely. Capacity to improve and wish to improve are both uncertain at present. However, I’m regrouping a bit and will think things through, skim through the rest of the book to see if there’s anything I might enjoy more (furniture and corners of passageways are just dreary) and otherwise I’ll do what I really want, which is probably flowers and animals.

In regard to the guitar, what I need is to find my way around the instrument. Tim plays by ear and can’t read music, but he knows the entire fretboard and he recognises intervals between notes, which is something you don’t need to do if you do read music and have a piano to look at. Not that I need to look at it when I’m playing, my hands automatically follow what my eyes see on the page, both on clarinet and piano. And in church, if I’m playing a hymn, I play the melody with my right hand and if I can’t always manage the right notes with my left, the chords will be in the right key and I’ll get away with it. I’m afraid that 30 years of unenthusiastic hymn playing has wrecked me as a pianist.

It’s Wink’s birthday this week and I’ve bought part of her present locally and part from Amazon. Sorry. But anyway, while I was ordering it, I decided to replace the sticky tape dispenser that has a bit broken off, so tearing the tape off is a two-handed thing. I ordered a heavy one and it was delivered, with the other items, today. But the box was oddly light – and, in fact, empty. The dispenser had broken through the tape, ironically enough, and fallen out, probably into the van. I had to go on the helpline to explain. I’m not sure if I’ve ever needed to contact the help desk before, but Chanelle was certainly helpful. My word was taken as fact and the money was refunded, and I’ve even been given a £5 gift voucher, which was completely unnecessary. So I’ve reordered and will be able to use it to wrap Wink’s presents. The locally bought part was plants for her garden. So I may not actually wrap them.

The Amazon assistant’s name reminded me of a piece I read in the paper at the weekend, about people who’d visited Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace to leave flowers or messages. One family came from Basingstoke. I do hope they don’t mind me mentioning the little girls’ wonderful names. Caprice and Hosanna. Isn’t that marvellous?

4 comments on “Catching up with news. Or rambling on a bit. Whatevs.

  1. Blue Witch

    If Amazon moved their customer service to the UK it would be almost the perfect company. I dread having to contact them about a problem as I can’t cope with their scripted dialogue and fake apologies.

    It’s a shame that adult ed in most areas has been decimated by continual government cuts to FE educational funding. Art classes were a staple of such offerings and would have been exactly what you needed: fun exercises and similar-minded people, all equally scared of failing, and great tutors who knew how to inspire and encourage everyone, irrespective of level and ability.

    You could always call what you do ‘abstract’, or if you feel it’s totally hopeless, ‘outsider art’ – that’s what most talentless artists do!!!

    Reply
  2. Z Post author

    Haha, of course I didn’t take it amiss! Actually, I’d love to have the ability to paint abstract art, but it’s quite unforgiving. If it’s not good, it’s really bad.

    Reply

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