Starry Night.

It was a clear, cold starry night last night. I so enjoy being tucked up in a warm bed and able to see the stars. It had got cold earlier in the evening and as we left for choir at 7pm the windscreen was already covered with a layer of ice that Peter had to scrape off. There was a frost first thing in the morning but then a weather system rolled in bringing cloud and some rain. It still felt very cold. 

It was great to be back at choir, catching up with friends, welcoming new people and learning new songs. We'd been sent the words to  Dulaman which being in Irish Gaelic looked challenging. Fortunately a phonetic version was included. We worked on the choruses at a much slower speed than on the clip. For the first chorus us altos has to sing the whole thing on one note. Hurray we said before we discovered how difficult that was with the others singing melodies on either side of us. You end up singing like robots so as not to be led astray. Then for the second chorus we had a bit more tune but got totally lost when we had to go from the first straight into the second chorus. I'm sure it will all make sense eventually. The verses (sung by the soloist) will be sung by small groups of singers. Being  a natural voice choir anyone is welcome to take those parts. It mainly tends to be those who have been in the choir for a number of years and are very confidant. Most of us are perfectly happy to sing with the crowd. Incidentally this isn't us but the we (and our choir master who is very facially expressive) are much more like the dancing lady than the singers on either side.

I got very excited when a letter arrived asking me to phone about my ENT appointment. I should have remembered the process. You ring through to a call centre who then say they will forward your details to the relevant department and you should hear from them in 12-14 weeks. What really threw me was that although our hospital is less than a mile away I was asked if I wanted to be referred to Exeter - 45 miles, Plymouth -61 miles or Torbay -74 miles. The person I spoke to thought there might? be an ENT clinic at the local hospital but wasn't sure so I said Exeter. Not her fault but really they ought to have details of clinics being held at the local hospitals. I made sure to fill in the on-line survey saying that a dedicated call centre should have this information. I also suggested that they acknowledge by email that you are in the system. Otherwise as happened to me you wait the 14 weeks and maybe a few more before making enquiries and finding out that somehow you are not even in the system and have to start at the beginning again. 

I haven't done much else today. I gave the bathroom an extra clean including washing out the bath, which we never use but still gets surprisingly dusty. I got so bored that by the early afternoon I began my evening exercises which still don't include any core work. That has made a difference so the diagnosis of a muscle strain was correct.

The blackbird was happy with the seeds I put out yesterday. Speedy was also very happy this evening when I took his bucket off though if he licks his foot it'll go back on.