where did the time go?

Goodness me, where did the first half of March go?

I confess I’ve been rather preoccupied and neglecting a lot of things lately. You know, housework, washing, poor little blog, returning phone calls and emails, cooking – those types of things. Why? Because at the grand old age of 32 I decided it would be a good idea to put myself through a grade 8 flute exam.

But more about that later. I did manage to squeeze in a couple of cheerful trips, and I wanted to show you pictures before they get lost in the mists of time.

First of all I went on a trip to London, with some lovely friends – Fay, Lula, Gill and Robyn, who has written all about it here. You can get more of an idea of the day from Robyn’s pictures – most of my pictures seem to be of, er, food.

Oh, and a boat, which we weren’t on.

Last weekend me and Peter took ourselves out to Buxton for the day. I had a slight feeling of trepidation as we drove over there – good job we weren’t going for the scenery…

Still, the park looked nicely mysterious in the mist, and it was pretty cosy inside the pavillion.

Obviously there was cake, and I can tell you it’s a good job I don’t live round the corner from that bakery, because their salted-caramel-and-peanut-giant-slab-of-a-cake was utterly divine.

The rest of the last few weeks has been taken up with flute-related panic. By Wednesday morning I was regretting the whole enterprise. I mean, I generally avoid activities that terrify me. What was I thinking? Listen to this ridiculous piece I played, and make sure you get to the end – it gets more and more absurd as it goes on.

Really – is the piano even playing the same tune? (Yes, yes, I know, I don’t understand modern music, blah blah). (And yes, I did write the names of some of the notes onto the music. I’m not a genius).

I can’t remember the last time I felt so nervous! I was quite proud that I managed to only apologise to the examiner once during the exam (after the singing bit – I’m still blushing at the thought of it). And despite completely making up some of the answers, I don’t think I did too badly, although I have to wait a couple of weeks to find out.

Still, it’s all over now, and as a reward (for me, not the neighbours) I bought myself a new toy.

What fun!

(And no, there will not be a grade 8 saxophone exam. Ever. Absolutely not).

What have you been up to lately? Anything exciting? I’m off work for 10 days now so more adventures coming up!