Unfinished Symphony

On Tuesday we headed to the Old Fruitmarket for our third concert of the festival – this time the Unthanks, supported by Scottish singing trio the Bevvy Sisters. We’d seen the Bevvy Sisters last year as they supported Eliza Carthy, I enjoyed their set and can think of a couple of people who might like to discover their music, so I might try and find some CDs to give as presents.

I thought the Unthanks were brilliant. I saw them at Greenbelt last year, and although I really liked them I didn’t get as into them as I thought I would (I think I was in a bit of a funny mood by then). I do though remember thinking to myself that I’d love to see them in an indoor venue with fewer distractions. This concert wasn’t (as I was expecting) of their trad stuff but the first part was covers of Antony Hegarty songs (the singer from Antony and the Johnsons) and the second part was covers of songs by Robert Wyatt. Their sound worked so well with both and I absolutely loved it. Brilliant musicians, beautiful voices – it was really magical.

It’s that time of year again – mid-January through to the beginning of February Glasgow hosts the fantastic Celtic Connections music festival, with amazing musicians from Scotland and way way beyond. We are due to go to 7 concerts, 2 of them we have seen already. First up on Friday night was Cuairt nan Eilann (Gaelic for ‘a tour round the islands’), featuring 3 Gaelic singers plus a couple of fiddles, flute/whistle and guitar. The musicians were all fantastic and Gaelic is such a beautiful language, it was a brilliant night. I think I preferred the more lively stuff, but it was all wonderful.

Then last night we were at the Concert Hall for the 10th anniversary party/concert for Quebecois band Le Vent du Nord. We’d seen them twice before at the festival and so knew we were in for a great night, and they didn’t disappoint. They were on stage throughout, and had 3 other groups in various combinations join them for particular songs. Two of them we’d also seen before (Breabach from Scotland and Vasen from Sweden – or at least we’d seen the nykkelharpa guy from Vasen there before), the other band was Dervish from Ireland. It was all just fantastic, what an excellent night.

Celtic Connections isn’t great for the bank balance, but is so worth the money. It’s one of the highlights of the year – we’ve been to loads of CC gigs over the past few years, and not been to a single dud yet.

Today I heard that the OU module I was interviewed for at the end of last year, and for which I was deemed ‘appointable’, doesn’t have enough students for me to be formally appointed. Which is disappointing, but not an enormous surprise – I think the current financial situation means that many people who were considering doing some study, and employers who previously might have sponsored employees to do so, are thinking again. The ‘appointable’ thing lasts a year apparently, so this time next year if they have an influx of students there is the possibility of work then. Ah well – a year is a long time, and lots can happen.

I have now got myself signed up to the nurse bank here, which means that when my manager returns from leave next week I am going to hand in my notice. This is the worst-kept secret ever in my workplace, as I have been trying to leave almost since I started, so it’s kind of ironic that I have worked out this is the longest I have ever stayed in one nursing job ever! In many ways it is a big big gamble – I have my current OU tutoring which will tide me over financially for a few months, plus any bank shifts I can get, but the OU modules only run till June and don’t start again till October, which will leave me with 3 months with no guaranteed income unless I can get bank shifts (not guaranteed). And if student numbers continue to fall I may not have all the OU work I currently have come next October. But. I have known for some time that I want to do research work, and in order to get into that field I need to be published (which, apart from one book chapter, I’m not at the moment). Before Christmas I had an interview where I came close, but the feedback I got was that one of the main reasons I wasn’t offered the job was because I didn’t have enough experience and publications. So I have decided to take this gamble. Without the regular health visiting, I will be able to do my OU work, do the odd bank shift, and have time left over to write and try and get myself published and ‘out there’. I am so lucky that I have the OU work and the nursing qualification which means that I am somewhat cushioned against the risk. But it is a risk nevertheless.

I was thinking about my early 20s (twenty years ago, eek), when I first graduated and didn’t know what I wanted to do. I ended up temping for a year or so, not knowing from week to week or month to month where the next money was coming from. But I managed, and survived, and managed to save some money even, and I remember that time as really ‘alive’. It did me the world of good, taught me to manage and fend for myself, and live without relying on a regular income. Later on I took similar(ish) risks, giving up good jobs first to do nurse training, and later to do the PhD, and both are things that I am so glad I took the risks for. Of course I am in a different position now, HD has a regular good income, so it’s probably not as brave as any of my previous gambles. But it’s still a bit scary. And I am sure that once again it will do me the world of good, in ways I am yet to discover.

I took a walk in King’s Park today (not really new, it was originally hunting grounds for the Scottish kings before and into the 17th century, but it’s new to me) and got some great views over to Stirling Castle. King’s Park isn’t quite as close to home as Queen’s Park was to the Stately Pile, but isn’t too far (a mile or so) so is quite doable. I didn’t explore very much as it was a bit muddy for my chosen footwear, but I’ll have to go back and explore some more sometime.

I don’t know where we will move to next, but on this showing I shall expect it to be down the road from an Emperor’s Park.

Yesterday on my way back from teaching in Glasgow I popped into a garden centre I’d spotted near home. I am really happy to have found it, hopefully I won’t go too mad with flashing the cash but I was excited to be able to buy some plants to fill the pots which I’d had to empty of their weeds when we left Glasgow. I’m hoping that the new garden will become a riot of colour; however I also have to be sensible – the front garden gets battered with wind, and the back court is quite dark and mossy, so much as I wanted to I didn’t buy a magnolia as it wouldn’t last 5 minutes.

What I did buy though, along with some gloves and a broom to try and sweep up the worst of the moss, was a selection of things to start off with. Two skimmias (one male, one female, so the female will hopefully get berries in the autumn as well as them both having spring flowers), a hebe, a lavender, and a special offer on some bulbs which meant that I now have crocuses and snowdrops in one pot and some narcissi in another. The other thing I did was retrieve some plants which seem to be thriving in the (uncovered) compost bin, I think they might be forget-me-nots which I love, but am not 100% sure. So I potted them up, and if it turns out I don’t like them I can always return them to the compost.

My next plan is to buy a compost bin with a lid, or have a go at making something (if I can find the blog post I once found which explained how to do it) so that I can compost food waste. I’m happy to just throw it onto the bin I have, but I guess the neighbours might not be so keen as it is open to the elements, plus with a lid it can hopefully heat up and rot down a bit quicker. I’m very excited about the compost side of things, it always gave me a buzz in London too

I have started a flickr set of my garden photos, so I can track the progress over the year/years. I’ll add to it as and when I do stuff – the photos (including a few from 365 last year) are here.

I took the plunge and have started a blipfoto daily(ish) photo blog. Sadly Nelly as a name was already taken, so I added the O (the ‘O’ is of no significance – much like the blog then!). I am not going to beat myself up if I don’t take a photo every day, but I enjoy the snapping so will see how it goes.

Chas I haven’t quite figured out how to subscribe to other blipfoto blogs yet (will play around with it in a bit). I am going to link this one to facebook though so hopefully they will appear there without me having to do anything.

I am finding, 4 days into the new year, that I am missing Project365. Although I must say that having snapped pretty much every inanimate object in our house I am not missing getting to the end of the day and racking my brains trying to think of *something* original! I am enjoying seeing other people’s 365s (quite a few friends, including of course Auntie Doris, are doing it this year).

I have decided I am going to get a Blipfoto blog and although I won’t do a strict 365 I will put photos up there as close to daily as I manage. However, what is putting me off starting is that I can’t for the life of me think what to call it! So I invite any suggestions in the comments, hopefully you will make me laugh even if you don’t come up with the actual title.

The only name I can think of is “Nelly”, which is a silly name for a blog. When we were at my parents’ last week, the conversation came round to pet names, and my mum asked if we had pet names for each other (we don’t particularly, other than HD here). HD did though suggest calling me Nelly (because I trump trump trump. I blame the brussels). Anyway now I can’t get the name out of my head. Save me from myself, help me come up with something more suitable!

I’ll have to try and think of interesting things to write now I’m not doing the daily photo thing

We saw our niece being baptised today, that was a lovely start to the year.

And now I can feel my first zit of the year coming, that’s not so lovely. I’m far too old for that sort of thing.

I have some resolutions – professional ones (get a research job, get published etc) and of course the usuals, which basically boil down to eat less and exercise more. I’d like to explore a bit more and have some adventures. And we could do with finding a church to settle in.

I’m thinking about doing a short photography course too (an Open Uni one, as I get my fees waived).

I think that will do. Let adventures commence

I can’t believe I’ve managed it (well, with 2 or 3 days I forgot but made up). This is it for now

31st December:

Here we are, with less than an hour to go! Happy new year!

(as an aside, I have no idea what is happening with my hairline, I’m sure I didn’t have that much forehead!).

30th December:

This is the Christmas tree we have inherited from my mum and dad. They bought it for their first Christmas as a married couple, in 1966, so this is my childhood tree, I’m so excited!

29th December:

We spent our anniversary driving down south to see family. We stopped at the Llama Karma Kafe on the way for lunch, and found Santa running away from a hungry llama.

Today it is 4 years to the day that HD and I got married. He still makes me go all goofy.

This is one of my favourite pictures from the day, taken by a friend:

This is the song we danced to at our wedding (all nearly 7 minutes of it!!!). The lyrics are here. It’s an amazing song which stops me in my tracks every time. I have also found rereading the lyrics quite comforting – after both starting and ending the year with a shocking bereavement on Ship of Fools. Miserere, yes.