Wigtown and so on

Due to the demise of our blogstress, who has been dangerously infected by a splinter in her arm and is incapacitated at present, I have been asked to not only remember what happened at the last rehearsal, but also to remind everyone what happened in Wigtown.

Last Wednesday seems like a very long time ago. I spent the rehearsal in a state of hyper-tensive excitement and expectation, and dread about the amount of preparation I had to do, for the arrival of my American cousin I've not seen for more than 25 years, his girlfriend and friend. I know we sang something because we usually do, and then went into the other room to do the middle bit of Desh which goes very fast and proved that our new alto, Heather, can count better than everyone else! Then it was tea and coffee count and I went to Tesco to shop, forgetting to buy a haggis. If anyone would like to expand on this rehearsal blog, feel free.

WIGTOWN - was, as ever, a huge success. The weather was perfect, my American visit had exceeded expectation. On Saturday morning I had a crazy time shoving people out of the door and dragging others in to meet my visitors, cleaning the car windows and making sure everyone had breakfast. At the request of having people in the car who could navigate I ended up with a Wacky Races effect (link just in case you're too young to remember Dastardly, Muttley and Penelope Pitstop). I had four different directions, went off route very slightly, and nearly finished off travel sick passengers by hitting an unseen bump before bouncing over a cattle grid. (Sorry, guys! And if Kay says she can't sing that high in rehearsals don't believe her, I definitely heard a top C!). In the end we found a fifth way to get to Newton Stewart. In all the hurry that morning, I had forgotten my coat, so when we arrived at Newton Stewart for a 10 minute lunch break I parked outside a charity shop and found the best coat I've ever possessed. Even the hood fits properly! And so we arrived in Wigtown and parked by a sandpit built in the middle of the pavement with kiddies playing in it and parents flobbed out in old fashioned deckchairs scattered round. What a brilliant idea, it made such a happy picture.

We were impressed by the acoustics in the church. And were pleased with the musicians who joined us for Hebrew Love Songs and Cloudburst. Especially Sandy who did amazing drum rolls and crashes of thunder, and David Sumner who, after all these years of organising us, had the opportunity to join in.

The concert, as ever, was fun and well received. I didn't hear any mistakes. Our soloists were magnificent, Une Puce was so dreadful Claire felt obliged to tell everyone that's how it should be sung before introducing the next song. Maybe we should introduce all our songs like this and pre-empt any cock-ups in future concerts... hmm... We ended with the Irish Blessing for Alison who took it on the chin like a man. I hope she had a lovely last weekend with us and we wish her all the best as she takes off with the "snatchin' grabbin' pigeon pinchin' " Myrtles (apologies for Wacky Races reference again!).

So we had a jolly meal afterwards and Susan and I got the ginger icecream we've been dying for since Vittorias took it off their menu. I won't mention the fiercest barman I've ever seen, but I wouldn't have wanted to start a fight in that bar! We went to the rather strange talent show after Anne had sorted out the bill. In the middle of complicated counting she overheard someone discussing plans for Sunday and shouted - We'll talk about that later! - and continued adding up everyone's meals. That lady is amazing and we wouldn't go anywhere or do anything without her. So a HUGE thank you for your never ending patience and chivvying and your knack of being able to boss us so we enjoy it and would feel lost without it.

Talent show, oh my word! Did anyone understand the stand up comedians? If they were funny would someone like to tell me why? I drifted in and out of snoozes. One minute I was watching some people singing ten green bottles as if they were drunk, then I'd jump awake and there was a man singing a love song to a monkey very badly. And I wouldn't have known it wasn't part of the same act. It was like being in a very disjointed dream which made a lot of sense when asleep. Anyway, eventually we trundled off to our hosts, but not before Claire had recognised one of the girls in the talent show and told her she'd been very brave. "Oh!" the girl replied rather surprised.



I don't think I've ever stayed in such an incredible house. It used to be a church and drill hall. And I think Claire was just relieved she didn't have to share a room, or bed, with someone who'd forgotten her pyjamas. After breakfast and a confusing phone call from Elaine who seemed to know what she was doing but left me and Claire wondering if we'd got the plans Anne had carefully instilled in our heads after the concert right, we decided to stick to what we thought we should do, which turned out to be right. And we had a lovely day meandering around in the hot sun before going back to Edinburgh.

I hope everyone had as happy a weekend as I did. Claire, I hope you're feeling better. Alison we'll miss you. Thank you again Anne. Well done, Ollie. Sorry Jean couldn't make it :(. A big cheer for all of us!