Life and Death and Steelbands

Now then Debs

Sorry you missed Oakwood Farmers Market March 19, first Foxwood gig of the year. It was ace and the weather was too. Last year, same event we were under canvas, well nearly under canvas, trying to smile away the notes as they flattened themselves in the rain.

Whatever, Debs, that was two weeks ago; since then I've been through a bit of life and death. On Wednesday I was on show at the Hospital School Open Day with my little Year 11 rock band, then, in the evening at a lecture at Leeds Met. Here I bumped in someone from my old Foxwood School days, and in comparing people we had known I found out that one of my favourite ever colleagues had died. A bit late, but a bit in shock and a bit like newly bereaved.

On Tuesday my foster daughter gave birth to her third child [and third daughter]; but they all live in Singapore so that made me a bit happy and sad all at the same time. Even if I didn't have my flying phobia, I couldn't even afford the plane fare to visit her.

Going back to Monday I "celebrated" my birthday with a two-hour governors' meeting at my high school.

On Thursday I attended a planning meeting at the Council Chambers, Civic Hall, in an attempt to dissuade the council from allowing yet another landlord to build yet another student block sat the end of my street. Then I wrote a letter which made it into the YEP [Yorkshire Evening Post] a few days later. I mostly moved steel pans around Leeds on Friday. And of course I was at work all of these days as well.

Looking back to Saturday the 26th March, Natalie [Marks] and I took our eighteen of our Silver Sparrows to the Music For Youth regional festival event at St Aidan's School Harrogate. Host teacher, Mark Pallant always makes us feel welcome at his school. The adjudicators thought Buffalo Soldier had "an enticing laid-back reggae groove" and Lay All Your Love "had authentic caribbean feel". We also took Doves and Hyde Park Primary Percussion.

As the day cooled down to a crisp dry evening we waited, full of the joys of, Well we did our best, when a crackly little speaker on the Hornbeam Park platform announced that our train was cancelled. Forty minutes later we boarded at last; this included baby Maya, and were on our way back to Leeds.