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gothams3rdrobinI have had quite a day. Some good, some bad.
Packed Rowan off to my parents last night, as I had to be down at the Millennium Centre by ten to eight this morning; we were doing a performance for the Arts And Business Cymru conference. Took my laptop to bed stupid-early, to make sure I went to sleep at a somewhat reasonable hour, and set the alarm on my phone to 5 o'clock so I would have enough time to get sorted in the morning.
First thing I am aware of this morning is the opening bars of the 'Thursday Cheesy Song', which opens up the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show on Radio One.
At six thirty.
I leapt out of the bed, cursing like a sailor, as I was supposed to be heading for the bus stop by then!! Had the fastest shower possible, as there was no way I could have gone without one this morning, and was dressed and out of the house by ten to seven. Those who know me will appreciate what an achievement that was! Got on the next bus that came - which was late - and had a text conversation with my friend Suzi, who lives further up the bus route from me and we'd planned to meet up. Turns out she was running late herself and was on the bus behind me the whole way down.
I was panicking about getting down the Bay on time, and we were supposed to be meeting our friend Jo at Queen St train station to catch the train down the Bay rather than hope for the best with the buses. Thankfully, the routes are pretty clear that early in the morning, so I got to town in plenty of time to meet Jo of her train from the Valleys, and Suzi caught up with us about ten minutes later. There was one more train down the Bay that would get us there on time, so we jumped on that and successfully arrived at the Millennium Centre.
There was a good turn out of choir members this morning, thank goodness. Things have been a bit ropey attendance-wise, despite our gig at the Royal Albert Hall being just nine days away... The directors have been a bit worried at rehearsals, particularly with the boys. As it was, only about six guys turned up. Then there was panic because it turned out we were scheduled to perform at ten to nine, when we'd all gotten the impression we were singing at eight o'clock - which, admittedly, is very early, but who knows what goes on in the mind of conference organisers? So a lot of people had to ring work and warn them that they'd be late in. Thankfully, the head of Personnel and one of the top executives were both in attendance, so that legitimised everyone's absence.
The gig itself didn't go smoothly - mostly 'cause we couldn't hear the music, again. The songs were ones we knew pretty well, but were worried about as we'd only had the chance to have one refresher the day before, what with all the focus on the Albert Hall gig. However, the first thing Andrea said to us when we met up again at noon for a rehearsal was how very proud she was of us; yes, we messed up in places, but apparently only four of the conference attendees had the musical knowledge to realise that, and each and every one followed up the observation with "But then they pulled it right back again." Which showed Andrea that we've reached a level now where we know instantly if we've screwed up, and can get ourselves back on track quickly. The first person who came up to praise her on our efforts was apparently the head honcho of the Welsh College of Music and Drama - I actually overheard him say "They were fantastic!" as we were leaving. So, all in all, we're quite happy with how it went down.
We worked really hard on the last part of the Born Free medley for the Albert Hall this afternoon, with the composer Dave in attendance to help us polish it up. They were really happy with the work we put in, so that was cool.
By this time, of course, I'd been in my new shoes for about five hours and my feet were starting to protest. It was a good idea to break them in today, ready for the Albert Hall, as I now know that I can wear them for a couple of hours without any problems. Even managed to run in them a couple of times. I was in agony by the time I picked Rowan up from school at three thirty, though.
That contributed to something that really, really spoiled my day; I'd picked up some new cookery books in the bargain bookstore in town, and also a copy of the new Cardiff edition of Monopoly. The bus coming home from Albany Rd was packed, so I put the bag in the luggage rack out of the way - and then was so focused on squeezing myself off the still-packed bus and getting my sore feet home that I left the damn bag on the bus! We waited on the bus stop for the bus to come back around again - thankfully I live not too far from the end of the route, so there wasn't too long of a wait - but, as I suspected would happen, the little shits who were last off the bus grabbed the bag. *sigh* That damn game was expensive too, but I've only myself to blame.
*sigh*
Oh, and my alarm? Turns out I set it for five in the evening! *headsdesk* That's why it didn't wake me up this morning...
Also discovered that the Bonfire Night display this year was last Saturday. On Halloween. WTF Cardiff??? If you couldn't hold it tonight, why couldn't you do it this Saturday? Thankfully Rowan's not too upset, but jesus....
In good news, it was Rowan's Class Assembly today - about Bonfire Night, predictably. He was playing Guy Fawkes, and delivered his line beautifully. I got a video of it on my camera, hopefully it came out ok.
Packed Rowan off to my parents last night, as I had to be down at the Millennium Centre by ten to eight this morning; we were doing a performance for the Arts And Business Cymru conference. Took my laptop to bed stupid-early, to make sure I went to sleep at a somewhat reasonable hour, and set the alarm on my phone to 5 o'clock so I would have enough time to get sorted in the morning.
First thing I am aware of this morning is the opening bars of the 'Thursday Cheesy Song', which opens up the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show on Radio One.
At six thirty.
I leapt out of the bed, cursing like a sailor, as I was supposed to be heading for the bus stop by then!! Had the fastest shower possible, as there was no way I could have gone without one this morning, and was dressed and out of the house by ten to seven. Those who know me will appreciate what an achievement that was! Got on the next bus that came - which was late - and had a text conversation with my friend Suzi, who lives further up the bus route from me and we'd planned to meet up. Turns out she was running late herself and was on the bus behind me the whole way down.
I was panicking about getting down the Bay on time, and we were supposed to be meeting our friend Jo at Queen St train station to catch the train down the Bay rather than hope for the best with the buses. Thankfully, the routes are pretty clear that early in the morning, so I got to town in plenty of time to meet Jo of her train from the Valleys, and Suzi caught up with us about ten minutes later. There was one more train down the Bay that would get us there on time, so we jumped on that and successfully arrived at the Millennium Centre.
There was a good turn out of choir members this morning, thank goodness. Things have been a bit ropey attendance-wise, despite our gig at the Royal Albert Hall being just nine days away... The directors have been a bit worried at rehearsals, particularly with the boys. As it was, only about six guys turned up. Then there was panic because it turned out we were scheduled to perform at ten to nine, when we'd all gotten the impression we were singing at eight o'clock - which, admittedly, is very early, but who knows what goes on in the mind of conference organisers? So a lot of people had to ring work and warn them that they'd be late in. Thankfully, the head of Personnel and one of the top executives were both in attendance, so that legitimised everyone's absence.
The gig itself didn't go smoothly - mostly 'cause we couldn't hear the music, again. The songs were ones we knew pretty well, but were worried about as we'd only had the chance to have one refresher the day before, what with all the focus on the Albert Hall gig. However, the first thing Andrea said to us when we met up again at noon for a rehearsal was how very proud she was of us; yes, we messed up in places, but apparently only four of the conference attendees had the musical knowledge to realise that, and each and every one followed up the observation with "But then they pulled it right back again." Which showed Andrea that we've reached a level now where we know instantly if we've screwed up, and can get ourselves back on track quickly. The first person who came up to praise her on our efforts was apparently the head honcho of the Welsh College of Music and Drama - I actually overheard him say "They were fantastic!" as we were leaving. So, all in all, we're quite happy with how it went down.
We worked really hard on the last part of the Born Free medley for the Albert Hall this afternoon, with the composer Dave in attendance to help us polish it up. They were really happy with the work we put in, so that was cool.
By this time, of course, I'd been in my new shoes for about five hours and my feet were starting to protest. It was a good idea to break them in today, ready for the Albert Hall, as I now know that I can wear them for a couple of hours without any problems. Even managed to run in them a couple of times. I was in agony by the time I picked Rowan up from school at three thirty, though.
That contributed to something that really, really spoiled my day; I'd picked up some new cookery books in the bargain bookstore in town, and also a copy of the new Cardiff edition of Monopoly. The bus coming home from Albany Rd was packed, so I put the bag in the luggage rack out of the way - and then was so focused on squeezing myself off the still-packed bus and getting my sore feet home that I left the damn bag on the bus! We waited on the bus stop for the bus to come back around again - thankfully I live not too far from the end of the route, so there wasn't too long of a wait - but, as I suspected would happen, the little shits who were last off the bus grabbed the bag. *sigh* That damn game was expensive too, but I've only myself to blame.
*sigh*
Oh, and my alarm? Turns out I set it for five in the evening! *headsdesk* That's why it didn't wake me up this morning...
Also discovered that the Bonfire Night display this year was last Saturday. On Halloween. WTF Cardiff??? If you couldn't hold it tonight, why couldn't you do it this Saturday? Thankfully Rowan's not too upset, but jesus....
In good news, it was Rowan's Class Assembly today - about Bonfire Night, predictably. He was playing Guy Fawkes, and delivered his line beautifully. I got a video of it on my camera, hopefully it came out ok.
