Failure is the Key to Success

That is the title of this post, which should by all rights have been written yesterday.

Following the Music Centre Concert on Saturday morning, the kids went back with Jo’s Mum and Dad to stay overnight. This left us on our own, so we went kids free shopping in the afternoon.

Then in the evening we were picked up by some friends and all went to the Friends of Dunstable Music Centre Christmas meal. It was held at at The Old Farm Inn in Tottenhoe again, the same venue as last year. Some of the group are regulars there, singing and playing music on Monday nights. There were 13 of us in total, there should have been 14, but one of our friends dislocated his knee while carrying an amp out at the end of the concert.

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It was the last day of the term at Music School today and this morning was the end of term concert.

There were a couple of alterations to the programme, the first of which was the location. Normally the concert takes place at Manshead Upper School, where the classes take place. However, the school hall has been set out for mock exams starting on Monday, so it wasn’t available. Manshead shares the same campus with a middle and lower school, so the concert moved to Streetfield Middle School.

Continue reading » Music Centre Christmas Concert

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Yesterday afternoon I went to my first Christmas meal of this season. I can’t say first of the year, because that goes to our work’s meal in January. Unlike the last couple of year’s, when we have been bowling, work arranged a meal for us yesterday. On arrival, we chose Christmas presents at random out of a bag. On opening mine, I got a Homer Simpson Soap-on-a-Rope. I didn’t know you could still get soap-on-a-rope. Others got socks, deodorant, chocolates, nuts and bodywash. Hmm, I could have got better, I could have got worse.

Needless to say, we ordered what we were going to eat some time ago and couldn’t remember when the hotel staff were bringing the food around. Luckily the organiser had the original list. I had:

• Apple and Parsnip soup.
• Roast Turkey, potatoes, sausage, stuffing, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and of course sprouts.
• Christmas Pudding.

I hadn’t had apple and parsnip soup before, but it was really nice, although the parsnip was the dominant taste. The sprouts had a rock-like texture to them; I’m sure they had seen boiling water at some time. All in all a good meal though.

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I’ll start this post with an apology. Eight days ago it was Lyall’s birthday and I forgot to wish him Happy Birthday. What makes it even worse is I remembered when I got his last email a couple of weeks ago and then forgot. I could use the excuse that I have been busy at work and had things on my mind from that, but the long and short is that I forgot.

So Lyall, I hope you had a great birthday and the weather was fine for you.

The other birthday wishes are for my niece and my son who both share tomorrow, quite a few years apart though. My niece is away from home in Nepal at the moment, as part of her nursing training, so we won’t see her until she is back. I’m not sure if she’s back before Christmas or just after.

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We took the kids to the Christmas party that my work had organised this afternoon. They started off by feeding them, which was a good start as the kids got to know each other and by the time the entertainer arrived they were mostly all ready to take part.

We had Magic Dave to entertain the kids again. He was the same entertainer that we had at the Halloween party last year and remembered my son (oh dear he did make an impression). Some of the act was the same, but there were many new bits. He kept the kids entertained for the best part of a couple of hours with a selection of dancing and games followed by puppets and magic show. I think everyone was waiting to see if he would use one of the parents as a ventrioquist’s dummy like he did with me last time, but the changed routine didn’t have that this time. Phew.

It was all finished off with a visit from Santa who gave all the kids a chocolate Santa and chocolate tree ornaments.

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