A very Betty Christmas

Betty was not as omnipresent in the year's Advent Calendar as in some previous years, partly because I was a little worried about repeating myself too much, but also because most of my Betty pictures are stored on my laptop, and it ended up that a lot, I mean A LOT, of my posts ended up being created on my phone or my table (I know, first world problems!).

I definitely have a bit of "a thing" for Betty Boop, I suspect it is that in my view she is a bit like cream cake (for those of us of a certain age in the UK) in as much as she a she is  "Naughty but nice". for all the "Do boop a do" there is something about her that retains a level of innocence amongst the sexiness. 

There is certainly an idea that she never goes too far, sure there are the short skirts and all that, but there is an obvious limit; and limits are important, I remember back in my cross dressing day talking to my then teenage daughter about just how high a hem line was acceptable, and I came up with the fingertip length limit. i.e. if the hemline was higher than her fingertips holding her arms straight down then it was too short, I think we all agreed that this was reasonable, then my wife looked at me and asked if I would stick to the same limit ~ I rather had to agree, and have stuck to that ever since. I suspect that Betty sometimes might be just above that.

Let's be honest this post isn't really about anything I have to say, the words are not important it is just an opportunity for some gratuitous pictures of Betty!

So if you felt short changed before I hope I have now made up for it!

Advent Calendar XXIV

 

It's Christmas eve, in many places I know this is in many ways the bigger day than Christmas day itself. The Germanic ideal of Christmas says that there should be snow, a log fire, a tree and lots of warming treats. Here in Malta we have none of those, as Pooh might have said here it is a blustery day!

It has been far too windy to follow our original plan and visit the old capital of Mdina, it is built on the highest point of the Island, and I fear we might have been blown away.

Being Christmas Eve we wanted to do more than sit in the hotel lobby playing Uno, so we braved the elements and had an excursion into Valletta. A visit to St. John's co-cathedral never disappoints and it was wonderful to be able to introduce somebody who'd never been here before to this baroque masterpiece. As you walk in through the rather austere entrance the sheer shock and awe of the interior hits you. 

I know of nowhere else that treads the boundary between magnificence and gaudy quite so delicately. I don't think there is a single surface that is not decorated, gold leaf is everywhere, polished marble abounds, paintings and sculptures are everywhere. Of course the major art work that brings people is the Caravaggio "Beheading of St. John the Baptist" but there is so much more that is magnificent, I often feel that the "Baptism of Christ" by Melchiorre Cafa is under rated, and maybe if it were anywhere else might get more attention. The only thing missing is stained glass. The only windows are small and set high, a reminder that this was also built as a defensive position.

As Christmas eve draws towards it's close it means tomorrow is Christmas, it also means that my Advent calendar only has one more post to go, it has been fun writing every day, it has of course also been a challenge, but I hope it has been worth it.

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!

Advent Calendar IXX

 

It's all getting pretty close now! Only six sleeps left till Christmas, one more performance, one more flight!

This evening was my penultimate performance with Croydon Brass, we were booked for an hour to play carols and Christmas tunes for a Pub in the posh rural part of the Borough. To be honest I really didn't know what to expect of the evening, but it far exceeded any of my expectations, the band played well, very together and a nicely balanced sound. There was very a good audience who joined in with enthusiasm, and I was able to strike up a rapport with them quite easily; what more could I have asked for!

I like to consider myself something of a connoisseur of a good pub, and our Host had a lot to offer, a really nice location, cosy atmosphere, an excellent menu and a choice of live beers. I was driving and had my dinner prepared for when I got home, so I couldn't indulge myself too much. Maybe another day?

The friends I'm going on holiday with both appear to be much more prepared than I am, indeed I think they have both already packed, while some of the clothes I am planning on taking are still drying! At least I have the relevant Christmas present bought and wrapped ~ I delivered the others today ~ I hope my choices are approved of, I'm certainly not going to buy anything else now. We fly out on Saturday morning, while I still have my final gig tomorrow evening, and still have to pack, find my passport etc.

I may not be very well prepared for my holiday yet, but I am as prepared as possible for tomorrow evenings performance, but am I prepared for Christmas yet? Yes I've got the presents ready, and my little "travel decorations" but am I ready for the arrival of Christ? are any of us ever ready? maybe we just have to accept him when he choices to come.

Advent Calendar IIXX

 

I'm still working from my tablet as my WiFi is still out of commission. Last night I was watching TV, and it suddenly hit me that my TV runs through my internet! If I have a connection to the TV by lan cable then it must be the router, I tried turning it off and then on again, I tried using the reset button, still nothing, no land line, and no WiFi (and I don't have another cable to hand! I think it's time I contacted Vodafone!

Well despite my usual hate for on line "chat" text systems I have just spent about 45 minutes with Vodafone trying to sort out my problem, and after having my router reconfigured and pressing more buttons that I hadn't even found before I now have Wifi and am back on my laptop! The land line isn't working but since it's only one of my brothers and scammers who ever use it I'm not overly bothered just now. I love technology when it works, but these days I find I am often simply left behind. Not having worked for anyone else for the last twenty years I have not had the advantage of an IT department, and for the last ten years or so I have lived on my own as well, so the wisdom of my wife and daughter have also been missing. I suspect that in many ways I am very out of date, but to be honest I am increasing less and less concerned about that.

Today I have been feeling much better, my neck is nowhere near as stiff, and I am a bit more mobile. My rib still hurts, especially if I do something unwise, but as long as I take some pain killers I seem to be functioning much more. I have a quiz night to attend, so I think I'd better have a shower and get dressed ~ which is more than I managed yesterday!

Advent Calendar XVI

 

Yesterday was the third Sunday of Advent, I had original planed to play Bass Trombone in my "home" band, but with this broken rib and stiff neck I decided I couldn't even hold a trombone never mind play it! Instead I stayed at home and did very little; and even the every little I could do was pretty exhausting.

Today I am a little better, so am feeling a bit more hopeful about being able to get away at the end of the week, In the mean time I still have plenty to get on with, but am beginning to feel a little more frustrated about the things I can't get on with.

Knowing I was not going to feel great today I ordered a groceries delivery for today, I've now heard that they are out of stock of the painkillers I ordered, and aren't providing a substitution, so now I have to go out (destroying the whole point of getting a delivery) and wait in for the delivery as well!

Advent Calendar X

 

As I so nearly observed yesterday "Three down Five to go!" ~ as a reference to my Christmas performances this year, I still have two with Croydon Brass, one with Croydon Symphonic Band and two with the Phoenix Concert Band. Friday night's concert with Phoenix will be very special for me, it will be only the second time this band has played a proper Christmas Concert, and proper "sit down" evening concerts are still a rarity in our annual programme. Last year we were rather feeling our way, this year we are a lot more confident and have a wonderful, varied programme, including three ~ count them! THREE WORLD PREMIERS!! one of them specially arranged for us, the other two will be on general publication after we have played them on Friday.

I think this will be the biggest band we will have put out as over the course of the last year we have acquired several new members, the band is very much about enjoying ourselves, and sharing the joy we have in communal music making with others. We are very much a community band with players of all ages and all abilities. As a proper community band we welcome all comers and seek to both reflect and serve the community as well as be drawn from it.

One of the things about being a community band is that we can always find space for someone, at the moment we would certainly welcome another couple of clarinets, a trombone, a bassoon, and another oboe. 

I always say that it isn't Christmas until I've played Leroy Anderson's A Christmas Festival, well, I played it last Saturday and between the three bands will be playing at least three more times! Each time it will be at a slightly different speed ~ and I'm conducting two of them!

Advent Calendar IX

 

After last night's concert I was musing about the passage of time, and how it only feels like a few weeks ago that it was 2023 and now we are almost at the end of 2024, some sympathetic souls pointed out that I have had a busy and eventful year so it should be no surprise that time has passed quickly, other less sympathetic but more realist pointed out that it is a factor of age! We all experience aging differently, many of my contemporaries have varying health problems, many are grand parents, some are embracing retirement while others again are resisting any pressure to retire. Some will have a comfortable old age as their accumulated wealth (for many based on the outrageous increases in property value) while others will struggle to keep the wolf from the door. I'm not sure that I fall into any of these categories but I do know that I plan to grow old disgracefully! 

Punishing the tyres at the Lotus test track
in August this year 

A couple of years ago I bought myself a new tuba, my rational was that I have probably got up to another twenty playing years left, I wanted a decent instrument to spend that on, not an old one that I had to work around ~ and I had lusted after this particular instrument since it was first introduced. There comes an element of "If not Now, the When?". I am finally solvent and am in a position to buy myself these sorts of thing every now and then, what else am I going to use the money for? I have to accept that there are activities that I can do now that I won't be able to for much longer. This is very much the same rational that got me started in motor sport. Next Month after only my second season of sprint racing I will be collecting my second first in class trophy! This isn't as impressive as it sounds as there are only three of us in the class, and the chap who actually won the class, came third overall in the championship and is only allowed one trophy! 

I am looking forward to another season next year, we still have to decide if we will carry on with the same car in the same class, or buy a new (bigger engined, more powerful, faster) car and step up to a more populous class. We don't need to decide for a while yet. However I am thinking of replacing my current road car, I have an inoffensive SUV, it does everything I need a car to do, it is comfortable, has acceptable performance, and an enormous boot (trunk for my transatlantic readers), yet it has failed to endear itself to me, and it drinks petrol at an alarming rate, often slipping down to around 20 mpg. Now I no longer need something like this for work I think it is time for a change, yet I am struggling to make a decision ~ I have always wanted a sports car and have never had one, maybe this is another case of "If not Now, then When"

What I do know is that I still have plenty to look forward to, regardless of age we all have plenty to look forward to, and for me that is a large part of Advent as we look forward to Christmas, whether you are just looking forward to some time off, seeing family, sharing gifts and celebratory meals, or whether you are also looking forward to celebrating the birth of Christ and the message of hope that goes with it whatever our age we all have something to look forward to.

Advent Calendar VI

 

Last night I was stunned by the new Tuba Concerto "Dreaming Awake" by Lauri Porra, a fabulous piece played excellently by Lewis Chinn, this was the UK premier of a piece so new that I can't find any recordings of it to share or point you in the direction of. For now I'll just say that I think this will be a major addition to the repertoire for tuba, even if at the moment it is technically a bit beyond me. I never really completed my studies on tuba and to tackle a solo piece like this I would have to do a lot of practise. 

The Trombone will be featuring
this weekend

Indeed I have to do a fair bit of practise just to maintain the standard that I am playing at and with three performances on three different instruments this weekend I am having to do a fair bit of preparation. My musical weapon of choice is my Besson 984 EEb Tuba, but in the lead up to this Christmas I am playing my B&S CC tuba, my Yamaha Bass Trombone and my Besson New Standard Euphonium. It is nice to get out the less used instruments, but of course that does mean I need to make sure they work, oil the valves and grease the slides, and of course do some practise to make sure I can do the job!

This week has been pretty much all about preparation, getting ready for the weekend, preparing myself and my instruments, preparing food so that I can still eat properly amongst the rush, preparing the bands during rehearsals, and preparing myself physically as I continue my visits to gym. It will be nice tomorrow to actually start the performances.

And, that's what Advent is really, a time of preparation, in times gone by that might have been preparation through fasting, physical as well as spiritual preparation for Christmas. For those of us who are Christians this is the point of Advent. Today's reading (in the Anglican Lectionary) is from Luke 13;22-30 which is also all about being prepared.

Advent Calendar V

 

Like most Brass players this is a very busy time of years for me, I am already wondering how I used to have time to go to work, even though as a gardener December is not the busiest month. This week I have already had three rehearsals and I still have one more rehearsal and three performances to go, but tonight I am taking time out from playing and will be attending a concert I am not playing in!

Sometimes I find it easy to get so tied up in the hectic run of playing that I forget why I am doing this, I can forget that what is driving me is my love of music, well, tonight I hope to be reminded of that! A few years ago I arrived at a TransPALS meeting a bit late following a performance, the (adult) daughter of one of my friends was there and we started chatting, she asked me what type of music I liked? I started to explain about Russian Romantic and modern music, the emotion, the grandeur, and the energy, but she looked at me quizzically and said "NO, I meant what do you listen to for fun!?"

At that point I realised that I couldn't remember the last time I had listened to music for fun! I had been listening to what I was going to play or conduct, I listening to what I was arranging or copying, I had forgotten to listen just for fun. Ever since then I have been trying to go to more concerts that I'm not playing in, and so far I have never been disappointed.

In the mean time I still have to practise plenty as this weekend my three performances are on three different instrument.

Advent Calendar IV

 Advent Calendars come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, I note that increasingly few seem to have any sort of relationship with Christmas! I was quite pleased to find this picture of an advent calendar on line as it is very much the sort of thing that I grew up with in the 1960s. Of course my blog advent calendar is a bit different, although I do hope that there will be some small treats behind each day's "door" it is primarily about posting every day in the build up to Christmas.

This is largely about making some sort of commitment to writing, to you my readers, and to myself ~ as a form of self discipline, not one of my greater qualities!

1st obligatory Betty Boop picture

About a month ago I wrote about trying to get a bit fitter, well I have just got back from the gym, a phrase that is still uneasy on my lips, and I can report that there have been some improvements, I'm not going to share measurements as my vital statistics don't make particularly happy reading, but I will share that according to the scales in the ladies changing room I have now lost a whopping five kilograms! In the last few weeks as well as my excursions to the gym I have also been trying to drink a bit less and to eat a bit better, nothing too drastic, small adjustments rather than massive changes, and they appear to be paying off. As well as the story of the scales I must say I am feeling better for it as well.

So, as well as making a commitment to writing more, and more regularly I am also making a commitment to getting fitter and losing some of my still considerable excess weight.

It's all getting Better

 

Quite a few years ago now my Vicar asked a group of us "What does Christmas mean to you" once we got through all the usual rather trite answers around things like "it's all about the children" or simply a good party, we started to think about our answers a little more thoroughly. Of course from a religious view point Christmas is when we celebrate the transcendent made manifest - or if you prefer, when Christ was born. 

Nobody knows exactly when Jesus was born, but we may be reasonably sure that the 25th December is not the birthdate of Jesus, of course it may be, but the chances aren't good! Indeed until the Fourth Century there was no such festival as Christmas! (follow the link to an interesting article on the origins of the festival). I think it is fare to say that the celebrations of  Christ's birth became attached to other older festivals. Gradually aspects of those festivals became incorporated into how we celebrate, the feasting and present giving from Roman Saturnalia, the Christmas Tree and holly from Germanic Yule and Mistletoe from the Scandinavian God Baldr. 

All of his is very interesting (well I think it is!) but is not really to the point, for me the point is that what Christmas really means to me is not the meal, the party or the time with my family; it is not the carol singing the Christmas Concerts or the Church Services; indeed it most definitely does not mean the decorations, the presents, and the over indulgence. These are all ways we celebrate not the cause, not the true meaning. In many ways I am celebrating the birth of Christ ~ but, just like the Early Church Easter is the much greater cause to celebrate, Easter was the conclusion, Christmas is not even the beginning! I could argue that Christ's ministry is more of a beginning than Christmas, we should be celebrating His Baptism, the moment when He an others started to understand the import of what He was or what He was to do. Or we could argue that what we call the "Old Testament" all signals towards Christ and His sacrifice, so maybe the beginning is even further back in history. We could even argue that as God is outside time, and is omniscient then His whole plan has been from before the beginning and after the end of time itself.

But the question was a personal one, what does Christmas mean to me?

For me Christmas is the point when everything starts to get better, from the birth of Christ we have hope, we don't know what He is going to achieve for us, and we will not understand it all for a long a time, but we do know it gets better! Historically and theologically the intertestamental period was a bad one for God's people, it was with Christ's birth that things started to get better. My personal journey of faith also started at Christmas! It was my wife's drive to host the "perfect family Christmas" that drove me back to church, and through that to find faith, so for me it was definitely the point when things started to get better!

As I said earlier Christmas became attached to older festivals, the thing all these festivals have in common is that they are at the coldest, darkest most miserable time of the year, mostly on or around the shortest day. Of course after the shortest days come longer days, after mid winter comes spring, these are all about hope. As the days become longer and warmer we are reassured that spring will come, and will be followed by summer and autumn. We will again have plenty, we will have harvest, we will have warmth and comfort. In our less agrarian world we have become detached from all of this, so it's good to remember that even not that long ago a family would have to store most of their winter supplies for months. This would be the time in mid winter when they would break out a few extras and celebrate that they were half way through, the days would start to lengthen, the end was in sight ~ it was all going to get better.

I'm hoping that the same can be said for the World this year, certainly my Country has hit a big low right now, but I'm hoping, and praying, that this is the low point ~ our shortest day and longest night, that from this point things will start to get better. We now know that vaccines for this virus are coming on stream, we are learning more about the virus itself ~ and knowledge is power! For me I know that I have a couple of tough months ahead, but I also know that by March my work will be picking up again, I hope that with our increased knowledge and the spread of the vaccines my bands and orchestras will start meeting again. I know that as things get warmer and safer I will be able to see my family and my friends again.

This Christmas maybe we can't celebrate how we want to, or how we are used to, but maybe this year more than ever we have reason to celebrate, not because things are good, but because we know we have reached the point from when they are going to get better

Happy Christmas

Advent Calendar XXIV

We have reached Christmas Eve and it suddenly feels as though it has come upon me all too quickly even though by doing this Advent calendar I should be prepared. We have yet to decide whether to attend midnight Mass locally or watch it on the BBC from Croydon Minster, one of my own local Churches.

Malta is a primarily Roman Catholic country, and of course that is reflected in the churches, some of them do have regular services in English, but apparently not midnight Mass. We may choose to go to an English service in the morning and watch from the apartment tonight.

Yesterday I showed photos of the nativity scene from Valletta, after visiting there we went to Lija, where the tradition of living cribs started with their Presepju Haj.

A representation of a whole village is constructed, and then peopled with local volunteer actors as tradespeople, blacksmiths, millers, carpenters etc. Some livestock adds even more colour and reality. At the center, or culmination of your visit you come across the Holy.
Family.

I felt that this was rather moving, and got across the nativity situation so much better than most of our model, rather glamourised crib scenes.

I didn't take any photos myself as it felt intrusive and as they are all volunteers I'm not sure the actors would have wanted me to, so these are stock photos. 

Advent Calendar XXIII

Here in Malta Christmas is still very much a Christian festival, of course as I showed yesterday there are all the lights and decorations. Even in the middle of the Mediterranean we have lots of stalls selling mulled wine and ginger bread, but we are also offered more traditional Maltese celebratory dishes, timpana, imqarets etc.

There is also a reminder of what we are celebrating, it us not just the churches that display a crib scene but all of the towns and villages, and most homes will have a crib next to their Christmas tree. These photos are of the main on in the capital city Valletta. It is in the main square near the prime ministers residence, the Opera House, and the Foreign Office. 

Advent Calendar XXII

Arrived at our destination to find lots of Christmas decorations around, lots of public buildings with lights, and generally the whole place looking very christmasy, (if that's not a word it is now!)

I'm so looking forward to spending time on my favorite Mediterranean island at this different time of year, I've only been here in summer and autumn before. 

One thing is for sure, I won't be having a white Christmas, possibly a rather windy one but definitely not white.

All today's photos were taken in Valletta yesterday evening. There's a tremendous variety of lights and decoration a winter fayre and Christmas Market all in a space no bigger than a square mile.

Advent Calendar XXI

Only four sleeps to go! Are you getting excited? Well I hope that you've been good and that Santa will visit you, which Santa you want a visit from I guess is up to you!

Over on Stana's blog femulate.org you will find my photo is featured today! I may no longer fit the definition of a femulator but I still enjoy her blog.