March 31st.

 Okay, everyone will be going on about Good Friday today, but Friday March 31st. was, without doubt, the best Friday for me. There are two reasons why this date is very important to me and why I have decided to refer to it as Best Friday.

The saga of Best Friday really starts on 31/3/22 (although that day wasn't an actual Friday), just over a year ago. On this day I decided to start studying Paganini's 24th. Caprice, a piece that seemed very, very hard. Impossible really.

Okay, I still haven't mastered the work (in fact, far from it) but this was never really my intention. I studied some of the variations and managed to get them up to a reasonable standard, but the main gain is that I have learnt a lot that I have been able to apply to my own music. The work has also partially led me to think of different approaches and techniques. I guess you would say that Paganini's caprice has been an inspiration to explore my own ideas. I will slowly keep studying this work.

31/3/23 - Best Friday. a new and very special friend showed up. We share the same surname and he shares a name with the blogger who has the longest blog name - Robert the apathetic sanctimonious sinner, toilet cleaner, threatener of eternal damnation, and music snob.

His name is Harrison Robert Prowse.

Funnily enough, I found a picture of Richard (of RBB) when he was just a few hours old and the resemblance was uncanny. Between us we have decided that I will be known as Grandad (of RBB). We intend to spend an awful lot of time together.* It is my hope that, one day, Harrison will start his own blog. The name Harrison (of HBB) has a nice ring to it.

Oh, and a third reason to be thankful - the pubs and supermarkets are open on Best Friday.

* To be fair, H.R.Prowse doesn't know this yet.