So I definitely haven't written for a long time... whoops!
Actually I have been very very busy, all of which I will discuss herein. I haven't even tried to write, so unlike 6 months ago my entry list isn't littered with half-hearted aborted attempts. I have simply been too busy! There are three main articles of business, of interest, of discussion that I will illuminate in the next several hundred words, and they are thus: my new job, my place at the stall, and my wonderful girl. There's more along the way too...
Basically, I have a full time job now. I say basically, because I'm technically an hour and a quarter short of FT, but there we go. As you will see, it doesn't make that much difference in fact, as I'm still killing myself at the end of the day in time for choir. I am now, and have been since the 5th of January, employed by Truro School, a large private school, as the Administrator of the Music Department. What this basically means is that I deal with all the queries, all the parents ringing up, all the kids with their questions, sorting out letters, co-ordinating choir and orchestra registers... You guys know the score. I'm the person who helps make things happen behind the scenes. The local stable of peripatetic teachers who work with us are a good bunch, most of whom seem to like me a lot (which is always a help!), and if anything the biggest problem I have is the School database, which handles like a sick cow at the best of times. Trying to mailmerge a set of letters has sent me greyer than... well, greyer than three years in Norwich that's for sure!
It's a good job though, and importantly I am actually enjoying it really through all the griping and early starts and an almost crippling walk up a massive hill to work and back down every day...it's good. Importantly, the pay is very nice as well, which, with my remuneration from the Cathedral amounts to getting on for nine hundred pounds a month. My current contract finishes on the 30th of March, and the head of department has asked me to seriously consider whether I want to stay on next term. The money is very good, and will get me out of that pesky overdraft sooner rather than later...but the issue I have is that of timing. I get up at 7, or a little later, and usually check in at my office desk after half eight and stay in school til four in the afternoon, at which point I have to charge down to the Cathedral for the rehearsal for evensong.
Now the whole reason I'm down here in the far-off south west is my Scholarship, the business of singing the services, and basically being a worthwhile part of Truro Cathedral Choir. At the end of the day, I;m absolutely wiped. What do I get to do? Go to rehearsal. I'm basically pulling in a 50 hour week, all told, with very little time off inbetween things, which having gone from last term doing hardly anything has proven tricky, if problematic. I'm getting used to it, which is fine now, but obviously really knocked me over when I first started, and things still aren't perfect, which to be perfectly honest I feel ashamed about! There's a point in the service, usually at the end of the Nunc Gloria and the start of the responses that I dip, and basically that's not good enough!
OH WELL PEB GET USED TO IT AND KEEP YER CHIN UP EH BOY
As far as the stall is concerned, short of unforseen disaster, I'm staying for a second year! At the Master's invitation! How thrilling, and if anything else, sheer confirmation that I'm doing the right things in the right place at the right time. No more Mancroft-style depression and disheartening. Countertenoring may still not be the most fashionable thing to do in the world, but I might as well play to my strengths as far as singing's concerned. While I do still every now anad again miss my treble days, at no point do I ever wish that I was anything else. I usually describe myself as "the loud one on the end" whenever anyone asks me about my part to play. I do enjoy flying off the handle every now and again as the situation calls for it (midnight mass descants, for example), but only as and when and Chris knows whats going on. The next big item on the plate is Sunday morning's anthem, some modern horror. Did I say that? Yes, I did. I hate it for the one reason that it's almost as if I'm blind. I have no fixed idea of the tonality or form, and it drives me mental. Having to pull augmented fouths out of the bag is simply monstrous, I don't like it. Rant over really, as it'll happen, and I'll be spending all my free time tomorrow learning it...and then battle can commence on Sunday morning. Keep your fingers crossed for me, eh?
And what about this girl then? She's just everything. I know I know, you all probably think I'm just some hopeless romantic...which is absolutely true. There are times when I stop myself to make sure I am certain about what I say, and I can honestly say there's no one I've felt so sure about. There's nobody I've ever felt so comfortable with. Of course it's early days and all, but it certainly feels...natural and relaxed and all sorts of good things! This past weekend we went for a little break, just the two of us to a hotel on the coast which was absolutely splendid in every way possible, I absolutely treated her (being the weekend inbetween her birthday and valentines), and in fact on Valentines day itself, I trained up to pick her up from University, and generally treat her lots again! I know this all looks a bit one sided, but it is me writing, and the way she treats me is absolutley brilliant, make no mistake. I am planning the next holiday, a little further afield of course, and also trips upcountry to Norwich and Derby.
I suppose one price that I have paid for all this success is the ultimate price of having moved away, and I am basically the worst person at keeping in touch once I've moved out. I'm sure my friends from Norwich must feel left behind, basically, as I haven't written in an age, and certainly haven't made the trip up there. It was always my intention to go up in the February half term, which has now been and gone. Obviously my get-out clause is that I promised to be back this year...not this term. I'm still coming back, I will keep my promise. Actually, it now gives me a little in the way of wiggle room as far as saving is concerned; I have a lot of plans outside a return tour to N-Town, I want to be able to afford and manage to do them all. Some things I need, and some things I want...and some things I think I need but only want! Such is the material urge. I'm still on Skype, and Lord knows enough people stalk my Twitter feed these days. I can be found quite easily these days, which is possibly the biggest change from my youth, once prefering to remain quite hidden when I was younger.
Hiatus
So I never quite finished this on Saturday night after all. Welcome to Sunday night paragraphing and posting, but don't worry; the most I've done is tighten up a few corners and add some more. As ever, I have two feet, and their location is perfectly described by the title of this post. Some things will always be the same though. Always.
