Take it easy in retirement? It’s Sunday and we’re having a quiet day (apart from watching Forest win their first Premiership game for 23 years). Much needed, the day that is and the win of course. For example, it’s between Saturday and Monday which means it’s sandwiched between my latest Folk Fiddle gig in Otley marketplace and the next of my medical adventures on Monday.
Otley was ‘music on the streets’ day and was a very nice celebratory, annual (I think) event. If you’re performing, which I was, it was not without its challenges. For one thing it was bloody hot and, while the old market building provided shelter from the direct sun, it did nothing to mitigate the heat.
I tried standing but, for the second half, the pains in my legs encouraged me to sit down. Performing literally in public means the public is never far away. For example the, what I took to be the special needs lady, who, after a few minutes, looked at me and my music sheet and asked, are those quavers and is this ¾ time? Bloody hell, never judge a book etc.
Then there was the dog that barked hysterically every time the audience applauded at the end of each song. Could have been quite annoying but fortunately it was a collie and I’m a sucker for collies. Certainly much more appealing than ‘the end of the world’ guy who ranted through our early songs. We drowned him out when we got going. And then of course there were the motorbikes. Otley certainly likes its motorbikes. But, hey, all part of the music on the streets vibe I guess.
I was happy with my performance on guitar and a little bit on bodhran (but we had a drummer for this gig so that cramped my style a bit. But never mind*). At least I got to the front (as advised by friends) of the team photo making sure I wasn’t behind our violinist in the big red hat. In fact maybe you can see in the above photo I had my own hat to mark me out.
We celebrated the end of year gig (and last rehearsal on Thursday) with a beer in The Bay Horse, pub just off the market place. Many of the band did a final performance outside to say au revoir to the year but, I confess I did not. Mrs Summerhouse and the pups had joined me at this point (too hot for them earlier on) and to be honest we were all glad to get home. Should retirement be this taxing? Who knows?
So yes, a largely successful gig but quite knackering. And so, in anticipation, at this point, of the first of a number of medical appointments, I pressed on. This one at an entirely different hospital (I could do a consumer report on them all, except this visit is to the CT scan unit in a caravan in the carpark of Chapel Allerton hospital). At 4.30 on Monday it might come a little late for this Tuesday blog.
Just a brief paragraph to finish this retirement blog. Good news and no news. I went to have my brain scan. The good news was I got in early and it only took 5 minutes to do the actual scan and it wasn’t at all claustrophobic unlike the DAT scan. The bad news. I have to wait 3 or 4 weeks to get the results. Is there something wrong with my brain? I shall have to wait to get the answer to that little question.
Take it easy in retirement summary
So there we are or nearly, that’s my two hectic days with a rest day in between. Even the rest day was not without its stresses (see below). Hard work this retirement business. And I’m sorry this is all a bit of a jumble but then my retirement often is.
PS. One other thing I did do on Sunday was read the papers (including Saturday’s which I hadn’t had time to read on Saturday). I have often thought that the Guardian and Observer are aimed at a much younger audience than me, not difficult, I admit. Quite annoying nonetheless. Well, as they say, be careful what you wish for, because in The Guardian was an article which could have been written for me personally. It was about a 70 year old, retired brain surgeon (no that’s not me) but the fact he had had a CT scan (as above) and prostate issues definitely me. By the time I finished reading it I was wishing they didn’t write articles for my age group.
*It did mean I struggled with the songs I hadn’t practised and to which I played the bodhran at Keighley for example. So I thought I don’t need to be able to play this song because I can just play the bodhran. Well that didn’t work this time