Blog? What Blog?

So... do you see the tumbleweed, um, tumbling?

Hear nothing but a loose shutter banging in the wind?

Smell only dust?

Me too.

What happened to your blogetteer? Even more to the point, what happened to her replacement? Why has there been no word for weeks on end? Is this it for the Rudsambee up-date; an empty, unexplained silence; a blank page?

Nah, fear not. I’m back - though probably in the bad-books of every blog fan (and I am trying to type this while hanging my head in shame which is not an easy task, let me tell you, so I hope you feel obliged to forgive me).

Explanation as follows: I was away for three weeks visiting elder sprog in Australia. Had a great time happy in the knowledge that you would not be abandoned but that someone else would be keeping you up-to-date with the goings-on which I was missing. But no, apparently not! [Chris had not the time and nobody else seemed to have the inclination]. I fear this means I may never go away again. Never take a break or a holiday, never be sick, never forget where I’m supposed to be and when. What a burden. What responsibility – and I have never taken kindly to responsibility, you know.

Yes, but I was only away for three weeks so that leaves... well, several unaccounted for. To be perfectly honest, I forgot. For the first week or two. Actually forgot. How’s that for shameful? And then, once Christopher had reminded me and informed me about the lack of the promised substitute, I was sort of tied up with organising my 29th 21st birthday party which took up an inordinate amount of time and all my brain-space so I’m afraid I didn’t get round to remembering until just now. (The party was great, by the way, and really worth the condemnation I will no doubt receive for my dilatoriness, so there!)

On to last week’s rehearsal which was undertaken by a very select group indeed.
Where was everyone else? We worked hard and almost succeeded in getting the terrifying By Falsehood right. In places. I have to admit to a moment of hysteria as Ollie very sweetly praised us for the improvement made – which was genuine enough BUT he had his back turned and couldn’t see the petrified faces and goggling eyes of struggling choir members. We will try to eliminate those before our first concert, promise. We also worked on the end of Dance to thy Daddy which I find equally terrifying, having missed most of the work on this while I was away. I think it’s sounding great though, and my grunting and stumbling don’t seem to be too detrimental to the general effect. Most concerning of all though, is the fact that Ollie has given us instructions to learn a few things off-by-heart for next week. I’m all for this as I think it enhances performance beyond measure but I’m feeling the effects of my 21 years and am a little worried I won’t manage to retain the necessary information week to week.

Our new music – which you will know little about because of the long silence – is really quite exciting in spite of the terror it invokes so here’s to the first concert. And, oh what fun! It’s only 3 rehearsals away...