BE PREPARED

Well it's turning out to be a great week for self-awareness. I've learned something else:

Choir is much more enjoyable when I'm well prepared for it.

Yes folks it's true - you can't underestimate the value of good preparation. This week I was ready - I'd memorised all the parts and I was pretty confident I'd got the entry points correct. Conducting is all about building confidence in the musicians around you, and that's hard to do when you don't have a lot of confidence in yourself. In other words, I'm simply not good enough to do it on the fly, and a lack of confidence exposes that weakness, whereas good preparation plugs the gap long beforehand.

There are some things, however, that nothing can prepare you for.

"Thanks Matt, lovely evening," said Betty, perching on her zimmer frame.

"Oh that's alright. This is the thing I do that's most fun. Anyway, how are you?"

"Oh I'm alright you know, plodding along. Got to keep my curtains closed this week..."

"Really?" I said, intrigued, "Why's that?"

"Oh, I'm a naturist and I don't want the builders to see me in the nod," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

I'm not entirely sure she was joking.