Jumping around and singing on the phone

A while ago I posted about the incompetence of my local council-run gym when they failed twice to give me an induction session despite me having booked it both times. The jury was out as to whether they were going to get a third go at it, but I'm afraid the much-cheapness of their deal has won against local privately-run gyms, and I've now booked, for the third time, an induction session for tomorrow evening. I've even paid in advance for it this time, so it'd bloody better take place!

On a related topic, I had a blood pressure check this morning at my GP, and I'm glad to report that it's now down to a much less deadly level! A few months ago it was something like 140/115 and it's now about 105/81. Put in an over simplified way, it's the bottom reading, the diastolic one, which is important because that's the pressure when the heart's at rest, rather than the higher, or systolic, figure, which relates to the heart pumping the blood.

The weekend just past was a busy one musically for Glasgow Chamber Choir, as we had concerts in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. They both went well, on the whole, although there was one bowel-loosening moment in the Edinburgh concert on Sunday when I came in on a completely exposed (i.e. the only part singing) top G tenor entry without the company normally offered by my two fellow first tenors! It all happened in a flash, as I sang the German word "Ein" very briefly, then stopped dead and my neighbour then sang the same word and note in the next beat after which the other first tenor and I joined in and we carried on as if nothing had happened. Except I was thinking something like "bollocks bollocks bollocks bollocks bollocks" for the next few minutes. How could I have ruined the piece, I was thinking. Oh well, that's life.

Only, in the pub afterwards, our music director told me that the other two first tenors clearly owed me a pint as I had been right and they were wrong, although in my own mind I now think I should have had the courage of my convictions to keep going instead of stopping, but it all happened so quickly that my subconscious took over and I didn't have time to rationalise what was happening, and that can't be helped. The knowledge that my original entry was correct helps my conscience though!

After the Glasgow concert we had some wine and nibbles in the church hall, which was OK as far as it went, but as a party venue it rather lacked atmosphere. Not helped of course by my one glass of wine, since I had decided to drive there.

After the Edinburgh one though, we adjourned to the pub next door. I can't remember the name off hand, although I should try as it's another one to add to the my pubs page of my Website, which is an ongoing effort to list every pub in which I've ever had a drink. It's a long page! After two or three pints of Deuchars IPA, a very fine pint and well worth trying if you get the chance, and an exceptionally ordinary cheese and onion toastie, the world seemed at peace. The train journey back the 50 miles to Glasgow, then the bus journey home, didn't seem so bad either. It was a good crowd of friends, so that helps.

I forgot to mention my new boys' toy. After a year and a bit of using a Palm Treo mobile smartphone, it was time to speak to Vodafone about an upgrade again, so after taking advice in the shop, and having a look around and a read at some specifications, I chose a Nokia E66, and at the same time upgraded my monthly tariff from £25 a month including 125 free call minutes, to £35 a month including 500 free minutes, 100 free SMS messages, and unlimited mobile Internet access.

My average monthly bill recently has been £38, so in fact I'm paying roughly the same as I have been, but with more free minutes, and Internet access thrown in. And in fact, having been given a couple of months of free insurance for my Palm Treo last July, I found out at the weekend that it seems like I forgot to cancel it after the free period was over, so I've been paying just under £7 extra every month over and above my tariff, making an average spend of about £45 per month recently! So that's cancelled now!

I'm still playing with it, sorry, finding my way round the functionality of it, but I'm very impressed so far. I like the solid feel of the slider, it's the first slide phone I've had, and the functions are good. Like GPS navigation, which I can use at no extra cost since I have Internet access, and the FM radio, which I haven't had on a phone for a few years now.