'Gaelic is a dead language'...

...or so says Kay in our official quote of the night. Peter, if you are reading this, apologies. Actually after last night there were a number of us wishing that Gaelic were a dead language. Ol rather brilliantly made a new 'verse 3 sheet' for the ladies but we still had long discussions about the actual pronunciation. This, fans, is something that occurs every time we sing in an unfamiliar (though by the end of rehearsal I was beginning to think in soft 't's') language (sorry for confusing that sentence with unnecessary parenthesis- it is the way my mind works! Ha apologising in parenthesis, how ironic in an Alanis Morrisette way i.e. not ironic). Generally, however, we have our resident Gaelic expert and all round good egg Peter there to keep us right. Now he has abandoned us for the delights of Asia, we are all alone in the world.

Well, we eventually coped admirably. I think we probably all lost the will to live at some stage in the conversation. In fact, Anne began to eat her tea which, by her own admission, excluded her from proceedings. Nailed the two songs by the end.

This is all in preparation for next week's turn at the National Library. As regular blog fans will know, we have been working on (tearing up, cursing) a piece called 'O Bone Jesu' for a few weeks now. I still sometimes come to a passage and feel I have never read it before. If Jenny and Susan decide to sail away before next week, the two Claires will do a small avant-garde solo piece while the rest of the choir sing Carver's original. It would indeed be quite funny and a little frightening, but would be better than us attempting the tenor and second sop lines alone. It really could be a whole new song. We sang a bit of 'O Bone Jesu' to the rest of the choir. Sebastian actually looked quite impressed while Kay (in fact she won first and second place in the quote of the night comp) expressed surprise and horror(?) that the extract was only about a quarter of the whole piece. It is indeed the longest thing (except 'Five Hebrew' which doesn't feel long) we have sung in a while. We are considering handing out hot bacon rolls or providing an intermission after page six so people can stretch their legs and spend a penny.

Anyways, the concert is next week at the National Library. It is ticketed to stop the riff-raff getting in, but I suppose if you are respectable you may well be able to gain entry. This weekend is A-L's birthday party so there should be some jolly photos of that at some stage (by the by, cheers for the photo of the autograph, Christopher- how exciting Boosh fans!). Apparently we have to come badly dressed which is proving to be a challenge for yours truly (I jest). I concluded the evening by taking Jen on the most roundabout route back to Leith. Sorry lovely lady! I can partly blame my own incompetence and largely blame the roadworks which are beginning to drain the life out of us Leithers. Edinburgh Council, 'Relative Pitch' calls on you to get it sorted!

And on that political (oo-er dodgy territory here) note, I bid you a fond adieu.

CSW