Advent Calendar XX

 

Tomorrow I fly off to warmer climes for a few days, I don't know why but when ever I go away it seems to come as a surprise to me and I'm never prepared. This time I have actually thought about what I will want to wear while I'm away, and I've tried to make sure that it is all clean! That for me is a major achievement! On the other hand I find that I still have a well stocked fridge and just generally too much food. I hate waste, but at the same time there is no way I can eat all of what I have before leaving at silly O'clock tomorrow morning. I know I can put the bread in the freezer, the milk will have to go but the cheese should be OK until I get home. My next job is to try to find out if I can freeze eggs (not mine! unfertilised hens eggs), I've already frozen some home made soup and some sausages and had an interesting breakfast of mixed fried mushrooms, spring onions and bacon with toast.

After that the next challenge will be trying to get everything in my case, I know I will still forget something but I do want to take what I have remembered I want. As this holiday is a little different to others we have taken in Malta (we are staying in an hotel rather than self catering) I suspect I will want more outfits per day and definitely a couple more presentable outfits. I usually only take one nice dress as we will go out for a nice dinner at our favourite restaurant at least once - but this time I anticipate a few more "posh nosh" meals. I also suspect this may hit the old credit card a little harder. Then I will water my plants! Last time I went away I forgot and spent too much of my time away worrying about my plants, especially the asparagus fern, of course they were all OK, but I don't want to put myself through that again.

Then, and only then will I allow myself to start thinking about tonight's concert. It is a bit of a strange one in so many ways, we (Croydon Brass) are only one of a few "Community Groups" performing', we start the second half, and provide the main musical backbone of the communal finale. That musical finale is Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas" I have had to create an arrangement of this just for tonight, my starting point was a very poorly arranged Brass Quintet that would actually be impossible to play. I have spent so much time on this that I now plan to expand it into a full band arrangement, hopefully ready for next Christmas!