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It is the day after the Bank Holiday weekend and it is  the quietest day for ages. There is no pattering rain, almost no  holiday D.I Y-ing, banging, drilling across the back garden fences. My email has not pinged for over an hour. The builders in the neighbourhood must be taking a longer weekend. At the weekend, anyone who, firelighters  and sausages at the ready  was poised, appear to have gone back to work. It feels like I have the neighbourhood to myself- apart from my neighbour upstairs who is always there, and the  buddhist chanter next door who is not chanting …… yet. I was meant to be going to the post office, but I am glued to the silence. It is hypnotic, especially in the urban landscape that I call  home.

I can still  hear the  occasional siren wafting over the breeze from the Holloway Road about half a mile away, and I can still feel the rumble of the buses passing my house, as they do, every 10 minutes ( ha ha ha -well that is what it says on the timetable). But….

the birds are not singing and there are no swifts screaming in the sky. I never noticed when they left. I never do until it is too late. They do it every year. Just disappear back to where ever they came  from 3 months earlier. The sound is gone and the marker is left. YOUR SUMMER IS OVER SUCKERS!  I had a  poignant day yesterday. The wind changed and somewhere I felt that ‘back to school’ feeling in the air. A little panic came over me, a need for my mum, a freshly laundered hanky, a motherly hug and clean satchel. I cried over something very insignificant in a lost type of way and panicked about the passing of time.

SO I HAD BETTER CARRY ON SINGING.

SONG OF THE DAY – Walking on Sunshine ( Floating on Cloud 9)


I spent all day singing this song which has taken me months to arrange and re-arrange and I think I have finally cracked it! I sung it all  parts in one tempo and then realised it was too slow – so had the luxury of singing them all again as there were no appointments out there. This is  a demo for  my choirs, so will sound much lovelier once there is a whole group of singers singing it not just me. Make some sound ! Sing Along! We have not got for ever. x x

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Yup, it is grey and wet and miserable yet again. The sun seems to have packed its bags and headed off to Scotland? All of last week was grey and here it is, another wet and soggy Monday. Mr P could not go to work today as it was so nasty out there. Diggin’ in the wet is only fun for so long. It has been a great excuse for me to put my head down and do lots of work, but there is only so much work a girl can do before exploding into song! But hey there are many reasons to be cheerful.

Don’t you just love the flags on Oxford Street? I am becoming quite enamoured with the Union Jack. I may get ‘the t-shirt’…..

SONG OF THE DAY -D’Eon Family perform “if I  knew you were coming I’d have baked a cake” –Sweet…best videos seem to happen in folk’s kitchens.

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One of the nicest things about the singing days I am invited to lead is most organise ‘lunch to share’. Now how does this work you may ask? Very well, as is happens. I always have this slight trepidation that every one will bring humous, and I have to say, I have been to workshops in the dim and distant past where yes, there has been a plethora of plastic pots of humous and mountains of french sticks on the long table clothed  trestle table. I think seasoned workshop attendees have,  over the years  realised this just won’t cut the mustard and  many people are much more adventurous with their contributions to the  lunch table. This weekend the spread at the vegetarian school ( yes there is such a thing) included home made  risottos, samosa, falafals, a multitude of colourful salads and fruit dishes,  breads and crackers of all persuasions, home made cakes of all shapes and sizes, and even a bit of humous to boot! Last weekend  in a non vegetarian village hall the lunch to share was as varied and delicious. Often people are really good about putting little labels with their dishes so people know exactly what they are letting themselves in for….fantastic!

One last story of the vegetarian school, the venue for the singing workshop got moved at the last minute, so there was a  lady  attending the workshop who was a bit miffed as she had bought all the ingredients for a mighty fine fish salad only to be told that we had moved to a vegetarian school! Ah well, her family will be well fed.

SONG OF THE DAY – JOsie ( live) -Steely Dan

I am still totally a DAN fan ….I must go and see the Nearly Dans…a tribute band. The bass man in this  live version is so on it and the backing vocals are mighty fine, they  fade out on the intro of Deacon Blues…mmmmmm

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So today, with the help of Mr P and niece, I wrote and recorded a song about rockets in space, put up a backdrop in the flat, covered it all in stars, dressed up Mr P. and
niece in appropriate alien costumes, videoed dance routines, made a roast chicken dinner, tidied up the ‘film studio’ debris from the homemade backdrop ( from the pound shop), fed a neighbour who has broke hip in the ice and back from hospital, transcribed a piece of music to teach this weekend and pretended to watch a Harry  Potter movie with niece. Sent flowers to friends. Good day. Watch out, the new video will be out soon….

SONG OF THE DAY -Nina Simone -Here Comes the Sun

Where there is a will there is a way!