Track your booze

I'm grateful to Barry Coidan for directing me to the NHS online alcohol tracker widget which I've now downloaded to my desktop and will use when I start drinking again after Easter, and of course before then for the odd occasions during Lent when I fall off the wagon!

Incidentally, go and read Barry's Blog, it's very good.

The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

It's Queen and the Muppets, what's not to like!



Thanks to Andy for bringing this to my attention a while back.

On a slightly related topic, I'm off to see the musical We Will Rock You in the Edinburgh Playhouse tomorrow.  I've never been to any musical before, unless you count Riverdance in the same theatre several years ago, but I love Queen and I'm going with good friends so I'm really looking forward to it.  Doubtless a report on the experience will follow!  Oh, and it's the final day of the tour at the Playhouse before they go to Dublin, so hopefully it'll be a party atmosphere.  Or alternatively the cast won't give a shit and it'll be crap!

Review of 2009

Well the choir of King's College, Cambridge are on the radio performing Nine Lessons and Carols right now as I sit here starting to type this, so it must be time for my third annual review.  How was Lay Clerk's 2009?

A bit mixed, to be honest, but then again such is life.  Much of what occupied my mind throughout the whole year concerns another person and according to the unwritten rules of Blogging which are solely in my head, I choose to keep that topic to myself.

Another unwritten rule is that I won't Blog about work, so apart from saying that I'm still enjoying it and we continue to be as busy as ever, I'll leave it there.

On the subject of work, a close friend was unfortunately made redundant at the start of the year, a victim of the worldwide economic situation, and for a few months went through a difficult time during which I hope I was there to offer what little support or help I could, and thankfully a new, better job was secured after a while.  Onwards and upwards.

I still sing with Glasgow Chamber Choir, mostly enjoying it but sometimes having to fight against my inner dislike of certain types of choral music.  On the whole it continues to be good fun, good musically, and a good bunch of people.

In 2009 my presence in the choirstalls at the Cathedral occurred more frequently and more regularly, and more or less every week I sing Choral Evensong on the Sunday, which I am thoroughly enjoying.

In about May the administrator of RSCM Scottish Voices, which was started the previous summer, resigned, and I was subsequently asked to take over that role.  It's been an interesting 6 months, most but not quite all of it interesting in a nice way.  I've registered a Domain name for the choir, but haven't yet got round to uploading the website which is sitting on my laptop.  In truth, this is mostly because I've forgotten how to go about having multiple websites hosted together but kept separate, since it's been such a long time since I did anything with any of my sites.  At some point I'll get the finger out and do it.  And if anyone familiar with creating and uploading websites to 1&1 using Microsoft Frontpage is reading this and wants to remind me how easy it is, I'd be obliged!  In the meantime I've also started a Blog for the choir, which is linked from the sidebar on the left.  If any RSCM Scottish Voices members are reading this for some reason, and they fancy having a go at sometimes adding choir-related content to our Blog, email me.

In May I sang with The Biggar Singers in an enjoyable performance of Morten Lauridsen's piece, Lux Aeterna, which involved about a hundred mile round trip every week to rehearse.  The choir's conducted and accompanied respectively by two members of Glasgow Chamber Choir who live down that way, and my few weeks of excessive travel pale into insignificance when set against them doing it every week coming to Glasgow.  And indeed two other GCC members travel from Dumfriesshire every week to rehearse!

A personal high point of the year was when I was asked to sing the tenor solo in a performance of Stainer's Crucifixion on Good Friday in Paisley.  My initial reaction upon being asked was "no thanks, I'm a chorister, not a soloist" but when I thought about it, knowing that I can actually sing the notes if not necessarily perform them as a "proper" soloist would, I thought why the hell not.  And so I did.  And it went well.  First time I've ever had my name on a poster! I have no ambitions to be a soloist, and while I'd possibly say yes if asked again, equally I am not at all bothered.

I paid another visit to Paisley later in April, but this time to the Paisley Beer Festival, which was most enjoyable and having been there two years ago is likely to become an annual pilgrimage, albeit I missed last year as I was in Calfornia.  I only went on one evening, but a fellow Cathedral chorister, Neil, took holiday from work and went every day.  Now that's dedication!

In July four of us from Glasgow Chamber Choir, having coincidentally and enjoyably sung solo parts together during a recent concert, decided to get together and sing together some more.  We've met twice so far, it's as much a social event as a musical one, and despite some (hopefully tongue in cheek) remarks from another couple of friends about "the elite group" it's just a bunch of friends singing, drinking and eating together.  We've performed together under the name The New Quartet in public once, a few days ago in a branch of a bank for charity, but who knows whether we'll do it again or whether it'll stay purely as a social event. 

After a break of 29 years, I met up with former schoolfriends at a wee reunion in Motherwell in April.  It was as though we'd only had a break of 6 months and we all got on great again.  An unexpectedly tremendous evening.  Another one, on a bigger scale, is planned for next year when it'll be 30 years since we left school.  And I foolishly offered to co-ordinate it.  It shouldn't involve much more than a few emails though, so should be OK.

On the subject of school, there is a sobering time in one's life when one's schoolfriends start dying.  In August Kenny Stewart was the first of us to go. Admittedly the lovely, intelligent, caring person Catherine Fellowes died in a tragic diving accident soon after we left school, leaving her massive potential unfulfilled, but Kenny is the first to die without having an accident.  He was one of my closest friends at school, and despite us having some differences in later years, you can't take away the fact that we grew up together.


In July RE and I made a weekend trip to the north east of Scotland to see friends, Stephanie and Martin, and to have a wee tour about.  It's an area of the country I happen to really like, and it was good not only to show RE round it, but to catch up with old friends at their barbecue. I've known Stephanie since the mid 1980's when she was a student at Glasgow University and joined the Cathedral Choir, so she's probably one of my oldest friends and although we don't see each other terribly often, it's good to catch up when we can.


In August my brother, his wife and daughter moved back to Scotland. They've been living abroad for about a dozen years, first in Dubai and then in San Diego, California.  For some reason they decided to come back to the Scottish climate, and it's great to have them here.  My niece, Jess, has joined the Cathedral Choir trebles, and seems to enjoy it I'm glad to say.  I was immensely proud to be asked to present her with her surplice at Evensong when she passed from being a probationer to being a chorister.  They hosted a Halloween party in October (on the 30th, funnily enough!) and the fact that they live in a castle (yes, really) made it all the more spooky!  Great fun.

August also saw a return visit to the World Pipe Band Championship at Glasgow Green, with RE, her cousin and his German girlfriend who were visiting Scotland.  It rained.  But it was a very enjoyable day despite the weather.

In September RE hosted one of her sisters, visiting from New Zealand, and I joined them for a trip to Linlithgow, their ancestral town.  It was the first time I've been there, and I can now recommend the Four Mary's pub in the main street.

In a much previous life I was a roadie and mixed the sound for a local band.  All very enjoyable, but in an amateur way.  A friend, Ian, does it for a living though, well, the sound engineer bit anyway, and ages ago I mentioned to him that if he was ever needing some semi-skilled labour (i.e. really unskilled!) then I'd happily come and lift and carry stuff around for him.  In September he called my bluff, and I found myself for two days being a roadie working on the sound crew at the Merchant City Festival in Glasgow.  With three outdoor stages and an indoor venue to be covered, it was hard work, a bit physical sometimes, and a lot to take in, but it was great.  I even ended up twiddling the knobs for one act, while Ian was called away to deal with a change of venue for another group.  All very basic stuff of course, but I'm glad to say Ian trusted me enough to leave me on my own, and I'm even gladder to say I managed to avoid fucking it up!  I'm looking forward to the next time, although I don't expect a change of career is due anytime soon!

The Institute of Advanced Motorists has taken more of a back seat this year, pardon the pun, although I did complete the necessary number of observed runs to continue as a Qualified Motorcycle Observer.  It remains to be seen however whether I'll continue next year.

I've started to get the flat a bit more sorted.  With the benefit of hindsight I realise that when I moved in I wasn't really in the right emotional frame of mind to do the decorating necessary, and as time went on I stopped seeing the faults.  I have now got as far as getting a quote from a decorator, and getting the hallway replastered.  Soon after Christmas I'll contact the decorator again and get him to come and do the business in the living room and hallway.


My general level of fitness continues to improve as I take advantage of the gym a few hundred yards from my house.  I even made it onto a running track with RE a couple of times, but that was very hard going at that time!  In the past few weeks I've slipped a bit, but my main New Year's resolution is to redouble my efforts.  And I WILL do it.

On a fitness topic, in 2009 I did something I never thought I'd do. I climbed a hill.  Not only a hill, but it was in fact a Munro. I've never ever ever been interested in hillwalking, and have been vocal about that opinion all through my life.  But RE persuaded me to try it.  Well I say persuaded me, but not proactively.  I just mean that her influence, unbeknownst to her, made me want to do it.  So she kindly agreed to "babysit me" up a hill.  I'd be lying if I said there weren't bits I didn't enjoy.  I slipped and fell up to my knees in a very cold stream; I slithered and slid my way down what was allegedly a "path"; I fell and staved my finger, but I bloody enjoyed it!  And I know that thousands of people do it every weekend and think nothing of it.  But this was me doing it.  Me who about a year ago looked as though he was about to expire after a very short climb up a set of steps to a scenic viewpoint in the Scottish Borders.  Me who a year ago hadn't taken any form of exercise for God knows how long, apart from when I tried badminton and spectacularly ruptured my achilles tendon.  Me who is a city boy who has always said he didn't mind walking as long as it was on a pavement.  This was me who walked up that Munro.  And it is still me who is immensely proud of having done it, and proud of his friend RE for having the patience, skill and perseverance to help me all the way.  Others may do it more often and with less effort, but we all have different abilities and different goals, and this particular achievement ranks highly for me.

So that's a potted history of Lay Clerk's 2009.  A mixed year, but generally a good one and ending better than it started.  Much of the above was Blogged about in depth at the time so if you've read this post in isolation it must seem pretty sparse of detail, and of course I've missed things out.  Not just deliberately missed things to protect other people's privacy, but simply because things will have slipped my mind.  Something which will hopefully never slip my mind though is to mention the love, friendship, and support of my closest friends, some of whom have been such for the thick end of 25 years, some for only a couple of years, but I value them all and thank them for their continuing friendship and support.  I won't name them, but you know who you are.  Thank you one and all.

Happy Christmas folks!

Lord Blockflöte returns

A warm welcome back to the Blogosphere to Lord Blockflöte, who in a previous Blogging incarnation impressed me much with his erudition, wit, musical knowledge, and not least his patience and forebearance when confronted by small minded people in his home town the other side of the pond from here.  The persecution he suffered caused him not only to close down one Blog and start another under a different name, but to give up Blogging altogether. And that's not to mention the rather more important detail that he had to change jobs too.  In the real world!  Caused by tossers!

So anyway m'Lord, welcome back.  I look forward to reacquainting myself with your work.

Oh, and perhaps he might choose to edit his comment on my previous post when he signs off with his real forename?  Just for anonymity of course, but it's his choice if he doesn't change it.

Corroboration

Well, what did I tell you.  Pop over to Kelvin's Blog and read about how he cried at Elizabeth Poston's Jesus Christ the Apple Tree during Choral Evensong yesterday.  Just like I said in my previous post, a fantastic piece and obviously beautifully performed on the night.

And I note with interest and some pleasure that he has praise for Choral Evensong in the Cathedral.  I couldn't agree more.  It's the best of services and has been sung relatively unchanged since the 17th century.

Oh, and the carol service with Glasgow Chamber Choir at Hyndland Parish Church went well, and all beautifully directed by our stand-in conductor Noel, a choir member and all round fantastic musician.  We are lucky to have his skills on tap, both vocally and while waving his arms on occasions.

Another year gone

Goodness gracious, is it really three whole years today since I started this Blog?

Yes, it is actually.

And the sentiment I expressed in my third post, on my first day of posting, still holds true.

Follow the link to look at it if you like, but the whole sentiment is contained in the image on the right.

Updated Blogroll

I've added a few more Blogs to my Blogroll on the left.

Have a look at them, there are some good ones!

No longer ranting

A good friend pointed out to me last night that I haven't posted since 21st January, which is a week ago, and my last post was a rant.

Well, OK, I take your point, thank you, so to change the tone somewhat, here's a picture of a cat from the site I can has cheezburger which is the "lolcats" one featured in my links to the left.

If you don't like cats you're unlikely to find it funny, and in fact if you don't like cats what are you doing here, be off with you!

Anyway, I've been on a training course in Edinburgh this week, and it finishes tomorrow with an all-day exercise, so that should be interesting! During the course of the course, so to speak, I had a conversation about blogging and during it I pretty much reminded myself why I started this Blog and why I continue to write it.

It started because I was going through a bad time in my marriage, which came to an amicable end fairly soon afterwards. The marriage that is, not the bad time.

I found the experience of putting my thoughts, and sometimes my random stream of consciousness, down on virtual paper to be a useful and enjoyable thing to do.

So I continue to write this primarily for myself, and if no one reads it then that doesn't matter, although I'd be lying if I claimed not to get some pleasure out of knowing it's read and sometimes even enjoyed by other people. It's nice (usually) to get comments on posts as this is a good way to find out what people think about what I write, and it's also good to hear, as I sometimes do, that people read it regularly. But at the end of the day, it's still written mostly for me.

Psalm 151

Psalm 151, as swiped from Sir Monocle, who in turn got it from Scelata, who got it from The Intrepid Soprano, who credits Sinden.org with it.

What goes around comes around!

I have to confess I think the pointing isn't very good and I'd definitely have done it differently, but the words are interesting!

I look forward to it being included in a forthcoming Evensong at the cathedral!

I should have said, click on the image to see a readable sized version. But you knew that already, you smarty-pants, didn't you!

I'm a performer!

Thank you to Kelvin for pointing me from his Blog in the direction of Typealyzer, which, when you enter the URL of a Blog analyses the writing style of the author and slots it into the Myers-Briggs typology.

So, apparently in my Blog writing style I am type ESFP, a performer! Specifically:

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

Hmmm, not sure about the soft fabrics and sweet smells bit, but the rest is scarily recognisable. To me anyway, perhaps those who know me in real life may disagreee of course!

According to Wikipedia:

ESFPs live in the moment, experiencing life to the fullest. They enjoy people, as well as material comforts. Rarely allowing conventions to interfere with their lives, they find creative ways to meet human needs. ESFPs are excellent team players, focused on completing the task at hand with maximum fun and minimum discord. Active types, they find pleasure in new experiences.

ESFPs take a hands-on approach in most things. Because they learn more by doing than by studying or reading, they tend to rush into things, learning by interacting with their environment. They usually dislike theory and written explanations. Traditional schools can be difficult for ESFPs, although they tend to do well when the subject of study interests them, or when they see the relevance of a subject and are allowed to interact with people.

Observant, practical, realistic, and specific, ESFPs make decisions according to their own personal standards. They use their Feeling judgment internally to identify and empathize with others. Naturally attentive to the world around them, ESFPs are keen observers of human behavior. They quickly sense what is happening with other people and immediately respond to their individual needs. They are especially good at mobilizing people to deal with crises. Generous, optimistic, and persuasive, they are good at interpersonal interactions. They often play the role of peacemaker due to their warm, sympathetic, and tactful nature.

ESFPs love being around people and having new experiences. Living in the here-and-now, they often do not think about long term effects or the consequences of their actions. While very practical, they generally despise routines, instead desiring to 'go with the flow.' They are, in fact, very play minded. Because ESFPs learn better through hands-on experience, classroom learning may be troublesome for many of them, especially those with a very underdeveloped intuitive side.

How Others May Perceive ESFPs

Others usually see ESFPs as resourceful and supportive, as well as gregarious, playful, and spontaneous. ESFPs get a lot of satisfaction out of life and are fun to be around. Their exuberance and enthusiasm draw others to them. They are flexible, adaptable, congenial, and easygoing. They seldom plan ahead, trusting their ability to respond in the moment and deal effectively with whatever presents itself. They dislike structure and routine and will generally find ways to bend the rules.


That said, I did one of these online tests a while ago, on another Website, and according to that I was an ESTJ, and according to Wikipedia:

ESTJs are practical, realistic, and matter-of-fact, with a natural head for business or mechanics. Though they are not interested in subjects they see no use for, they can apply themselves when necessary. They like to organize and run activities. ESTJs make good administrators, especially if they remember to consider others' feelings and points of view, which they often miss.

According to Keirsey, ESTJs are civic-minded individuals who dedicate themselves to maintaining the institutions behind a smooth-running society. They are defenders of the status quo and strong believers in rules and procedures. ESTJs are outgoing and do not hesitate to communicate their opinions and expectations to others.

To be honest I can see perhaps more of myself in the ESTJ one, although there are bits from both that I'd consider relevant. Just goes to show that nothing's ever clear cut!

Blogroll update

There are quite a number of Blogs I read sometimes, a fair number I read regularly, some I read very regularly, and two or three I read every day. Up until now my Blogroll in the sidebar on the left has contained links only to the very regular and daily ones, and I've used it as a convenient way to keep track of updates (the newest posts are listed first) and looked at each Blog only when there's something new there.

This morning though I've updated it (there are some Blogs I have started reading more often since I last updated the Blogroll) and expanded it to include more Blogs, on a slightly wider range of subjects. I've also added a few that I only just discovered this morning, but my initial feeling was that they look like ones I'll be following so I've included them. They might not make it permanently though!

Kind words from a Mad Priest

I'm indebted to MadPriest who has said some kind (I think) words about my Blog over at his place.

You can follow his Blog updates in the list on the left hand side of this page (it's the "Of course I could be wrong" one) but you'll have to be sharp because he posts very regularly, and very wittily and insightfully. And not only that, he's in one of my favourite cities, Newcastle upon Tyne, where I used to work and live and sing (but not in his church, in another one) for a few years a while ago. Lovely city.

Anyway, I urge you to read his Blog, particularly the bits about Saint Laika.

How did YOU get here?

One of the spinoffs from having the Feedjit Widget in the sidebar showing where visitors to this Blog are from, is that it shows how they actually got here. You can tell whether they landed directly (suggesting they've got it bookmarked or they have manually typed in the known URL), followed a link from an email (could have been from my signature on the bottom of my emails), or much more interestingly if they have arrived via a search engine what search terms they used.

Some of the things people have searched for, and ended up on this Blog (and where they were from) are:

• The Straw Locomotive (Macau, Ilhas)
• Catriona Hetherington (Melbourne, Victoria and Brooklyn, New York)
• Buckfast.ch (Neftenbach, Zurich)
• Condescending phrases (Molalla, Oregon)
  
• Louise Jolly (Columbus, Ohio)
• Advanced (United States)
• Jonathan Cohen +Piano (Andover, Hampshire)
• Telemann Ensemble Glasgow (Glasgow)
• Choir Greenock (Faroe Islands)
• Famous buildings of Millport (United Kingdom)
• The Cathedral end Blog (Adelaide, South Australia)

The mind boggles at some of these. Why might someone in the Faroe Islands be interested in Greenock choirs? How many famous buildings are in Millport? Is Buckfast as big a seller in Zurich as it is in Lanarkshire?

As an aside it's amazing how many people search the terms condescending phrases or useful condescending phrases, and strangely they mostly seem to be from the USA!

I think I may make this a recurring theme, if there are interesting ones.

Happy birthday to Layclerk

Today it has been two whole years since I started Blogging! Count them. Two.

I started Blogging because what was happening in my life at that time was preventing me from regularly updating my Website and I felt I needed some outlet for (alleged) creativity. I've enjoyed Blogging, but I wish I could get back into doing it every day or every other day. Life gets in the way sometimes though although I suppose that's good because you need to do things and have experiences before you can Blog about them!

Life is good just now, and I am a happy bunny.

Feedjit

Since adding the Feedjit widgit on the left showing where visitors are from, and how they got to the site and left again, I keep returning to look at my own Blog to see who's there! How strange.

I've also noticed a few people finding the Blog through a link posted on www.smartdriving.co.uk which is a site aimed at driving instructors. I registered with them (free trial) to see in what context my Blog was linked, and it seems it's actually linked to the new motorcycle test post, which makes sense I suppose. So I tried emailing their webmaster to thank him for linking to this Blog and out of interest to find out how he came across it in the first place, but the email bounced back as undeliverable, despite it being sent via a link on his site. Oh well. So John, if you happen to read this, then thanks for the link, and I hope you enjoy reading other stuff here too.

An important part of the email that didn't get through said:

Thanks for linking from your Website to my Blog at www.thecathedralchoir.blogspot.com and specifically to the posting on the new motorcycle test. I should stress that I don’t claim authorship of that piece, which was passed to me by a work colleague via email, and I don’t know who actually wrote it, as I think I mentioned in a reply to a comment on the post.

The great whore of the east

I've had a very enjoyable weekend across the other side of the country in (mostly sunny) Edinburgh with a friend. Went to a concert of, amongst other things, Vivaldi's Gloria, visited two new pubs which have yet to be added to my Website, had too much beer, attended a Presbyterian (Church of Scotland) church service, visited two, yes two, art galleries, and met some very nice people. All in all a good trip.

One of the nice people I met, Mike, has recommended a couple of books related to a topic close to my heart, motorcycling. They are Way to Go: Two of the world's best motorcycling journeys, and The Road to Gobbler's Knob: From Chile to Alaska on a motorbike, both by a friend of his, Geoff Hill. I've located them on Amazon, and I'll order them in due course, but suffice to say they seem to be similar to the higher profile Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman Long Way Down and Long Way Round trips, only this guy apparently did it all first and without the backup and infrastructure surrounding McGregor and Boorman. And I'm not having a go at them for that, what they did was still pretty impressive.

Mike has also written a book, The Blue Cabin: Living by the Tides on Islandmore, and I'm going to order it as well, not just because I've met him, but because the Amazon reviews rate it highly, and I've also had a personal recommendation from a friend who has read it.

Life is good at the moment and I am generally very happy, and getting happier.

Oh, and the title for this post relates to the city of Edinburgh, not a person!

Labels

Minor change, but I've re-ordered the labels in the sidebar on the left so topics close to my heart can be seen at a glance. Leaving aside images, because I only include that if there's any image on a post, you can see that alcohol, choirs and motorcycles take up the top spots. No surprise there, really!

The breakdown as it stands today, the start of 2008, is:

• images (67)
• alcohol (45)
• choir (42)
• motorcycles (40)
• houses (33)
• technology (28)
• health (26)
• philosophy (23)
• educational (19)
• food (19)
• music (19)
• cathedral (18)
• cats (17)
• IAM (16)
• religion (15)
• travel (15)
• blogs (14)
• tv (14)
• glasgow (13)
• holidays (13)
• crime (12)
• website (12)
• cars (11)
• movies (9)
• sport (8)
• history (7)
• video (6)
• weather (6)
• clydebank (5)
• politics (5)
• black dog (4)
• family tree (4)
• pirates (3)
• grammar (2)
• rant (2)
• books (1)
• diy (1)
• honours (1)

A Blog worth looking at

Get your self over for a look at the Blog of Advanced Motorcycle Training. He's the chap who has uploaded some excellent videos to YouTube.

He posted some comments here relating to my posting of his videos, and now he's offered to send me a DVD Ride to Survive 2007. What a nice man.

Sir Monocle

Get your arse over to have a look at Sir Monocle's Blog, which is described as the views of an organist and gentleman, so presumably there must be two people writing it, as those terms are usually mutually exclusive!

Anyone who counts Brandy Drinking and Church Music amongst his interests can't be all bad, and when was the last time you saw a list of someone's taste in music which includes Sir David Willcocks, Francois Couperin, Paul Weller, Charlie Mingus and Stan Getz?

I like this man!

Mad Priest

Why haven't I discovered the Blog of Mad Priest before now?

Don't let the fact it's written by a priest put you off, it's very funny.