Coming in to land.
They are beginning to knock down the deserted house next to the vegetable garden. An end to peace as I dig the beds before winter sets in, and to the view of the deserted garden attached to it and the wild life it contained. The windows of the house are being knocked out by workmen masked against the clouds of plaster that rise as they attack old walls with picks and sledge hammers. A JCB waves its trunk in the air. One of the workmen asks me who lived in the house. And I tell him about Roy Douglas, aged 103 (or is it 104), who now lives with carers. The house used to belong to him and he must have lived there for nearly 100 years. He was a musician and a friend of Vaughan Williams. In the old days he used to come across to talk to me when I was working.
For the last few months my music problems have been solved. No more dependence on CDs or tapes. It is all digital, drawn from iTunes, and amplified by a Bose Bluetooth speaker. Not for the hi fi enthusiast perhaps but surprisingly good, accessible and good enough for me. And music is back in my life.
1 comment:
Try creeping up on Janacek, casually, without malice aforethought. Esp. the two string quartets. Modern but without testing you to destruction. Ignore tha jaggedness of his surname; tell yourself it's probably Smith or Jones in Czecho-land.
Oh, and the Sinfonietta as well (playing initially in the background or while you double-dig). Take a look at his portrait; he's a perky sort of guy; looks as thought he might well sell you a new theory of electricity.
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