New Year, New Hope?

Well I suspect that pretty much everything that needs to be said about 2020 has already been said, much of it by much more eloquent people than me. I know that any aspirations, ambitions and resolutions we entered the year with went out the door about three months in for most of us. Personally I was looking forward to honing my skills as a conductor, looking forward to more performances on the podium than any previous year. I was looking forward to a greater variety in my work, perhaps less gardening, certainly less fencing and some more music ~ well I think we all know how all of that turned out!

Socially distanced rehearsal

I don't want to dwell on all the downsides of the year, there have been some good, some really good things as well! I managed to conduct a couple of performances with my lovely Allegra Concert Band, I managed a few arrangements for both Concert and Brass bands ~ rediscovered some of the joy in simply making music with friends. I was part of a few streamed performances and even some compiled socially distanced video recordings. We have to find new ways of playing, we have had six piece rehearsals in gardens, outdoor band rehearsals in a park, we have tried zoom and just about anything we could think of some more successfully than others. One of the memories I will try to hold on to is rehearsing in Nonsuch Park and getting a round of applause from the dog walkers and joggers. I think this shows what an apatite there is for live music, not just from those of us who play it but also the public ~ I'm looking forward to some proper park concerts next year, although I would like to play one at Nonsuch Park, just to say thank you to the community there for letting us play.

Throughout the year I have constantly reminded myself that I am one of the lucky ones this year. Although a lot of my music activities were curtailed I was able to continue with my gardening business. Certainly not at the same level as before the pandemic but I was able to carry on ~ I could continue to earn money, I could go outside in the fresh air, do something I love doing and get some physical activity at the same time. Unlike so many small and micro businesses with one thing and another I am certainly no worse off than I would have been otherwise. Once again I am one of the lucky ones, so many friends have struggled financially as well as everything else this year.

One thing this year has presented is plenty of opportunities for introspection. Towards the end of the year I realised that not only was I drinking too much I was also too fat, this isn't just about vanity, I just felt a bit too porky ~ I decided on a two pronged attack, I cut down on my drinking, rather than limit myself to so much each day, knowing my lack of self control I opted instead to have 3 or 4 booze free days each week. I also joined a gym! Now that's a first for me, I have never before belonged to a gym and I hadn't even been in one for over thirty years. My idea was to do a session in the gym each day (other than Sundays) when I wasn't working. I actually found myself quite enjoying it, and certainly feeling better for the exercise.  Now we are in tier four (pretty much full lock down) and have had the "Festive Season" both have gone out the window. I now have to make another concerted effort at self control!