The picture I see when I think of Robert's and Peter's blogs.

 They are...

What really happened last Thursday.

 Peter rang me early last Thursday morning. He said that he was booked in that day for a RBB tour and that he had paid $5000 for the adventure. He said that he had a sore foot and would need help getting in and out of the car. He insisted that, for $5000, he wanted to be driven around in a Nissan Note. I said that I could bring our blue Toyota Vitz but he insisted on the Note. Inconvenient. Then he barked, "And make sure you leave plenty of room by the kerb. My foot is bloody sore and I don't want to bump it while crossing the gutter. Hey, and I'll choose the route I want to take." Then he added, "Bring your wife but charge her $2000. Then you can drop my fee to $3000."

I followed his instructions about parking the car.

Here's visual proof.

We set off on our adventure just after 11am. 

"Take me around the bays." he commanded.

We got to the 'round the bays' road and were soon confronted by major roadworks. We pushed on to Shelley Bay, only to find that the road heading to Seatoun was closed. We drove back towards the entrance to Miramar and drove up the hill towards old Mt. Crawford prison. More damn road works! This MUST HAVE been planned by our elderly passenger. We finally found somewhere to feed him. Admittedly, we didn't get any food for Robert, who moaned about that on a comment on one of my blog posts. Hey, I thought he was living off communion hosts. Well, he swallows enough of them!

The next day Peter flew up to Auckland. Shelley and I looked forward to a bit of respite from him, but no such luck. I got thousands of comments on my latest blog post about him travelling down country by train to get back to Thorndon. Nothing was said about the opera he had evidently gone up to Auckland to see. I don't even know what opera it was. Maybe he just went to an action movie, but wanted it to sound like he was cultured?

Well, there you have it. Make of his posts what you will, but this is the truth.

Ciao.

I interrupt my music practice to warn you of new posts from TC.

 

Yes, Peter (Aka TC) is threatening us with has promised to write two new posts today. For me writing this quick post is taking me away from practice. I did 3 1/2 hours yesterday. I'm working hard on my guitar playing and I'm also putting much needed revision into my violin repertoire.

Peter will be telling you about two things.

1) His trip to Auckland, featuring his train ride back to Thorndon.

2) His experiences the day before on RBB Tours. Expect pictures of how I parked my car.

Robert likes to get a mention on my posts. All I can tell you is that he is going to church too much and making a bit of a nuisance of himself at communion time. Peter actually wasted less communion hosts than Robert back in the 1960s! Jesus will be getting tired of Robert using up all of his hosts. I heard that he is thinking of Purgatory for Robert.

Well, that's it. I'm back to my practice.

Ciao tutti.

And remember that Jesus doesn't like you wasting these.

No work today!

YES!!!

Oops, I meant...

NO!!!

It's a chilly morning in the Nui, but it's sunny and there is no rain.

AND I'm at home.

I have done 280 hours of music practice so far this year. 193 1/2 hours of that is violin practice. The rest is a mixture of double bass and guitar practice. Not too bad. I'll be pushing on towards 290 hours today.

Poor old Peter has had a rough time lately. I hope he's feeling a bit better today. It sounds like he has finally been given the correct drugs. I had advised him of these drugs, I learnt all about them at medical school. Anyway, I think he's finally on the right path. Let's hope he's feeling better soon.

Well, time for me to go and get organised.

If you're going to work today, sorry about that.

Ciao tutti.

A very surprising event!

 Some things happen that you just do not expect!

I woke around 6.30am this morning. Really no big surprise there. I took a while to get my thoughts together. I made my usual quick visit to the bathroom for a pee. That all went according to plan. Fortunately I didn't take my phone with me, so there was really no chance of a phone mishap, like often happens to Peter. 

I lay in bed for a while and then I got up. I guess I should have spotted that something was different. I guess I was still in the process of waking up and didn't spot anything to worry about. I revisited the toilet, cleaned my teeth and had a quick shower. I forgot to mention that I also had a shave with my electric razor.

I then took my meds and put some cream on my arms and legs. I went downstairs.* I turned on the heater and prepared to write a blog post. What should I write about? McDonald Trump? Ed Sheeran and his problems? The Catholic church? The Warriors getting beaten? Yesterday's jazz jam? I thought for a little while.

Then I noticed our front door.

I quickly went and checked the back door! Both doors were locked. On thinking about it, this was probably because we always lock both of these doors a little while before we go to bed. We're not usually expecting anyone to break in, it's just a safety precaution. Having them locked probably makes us sleep feeling more secure.

Okay, so far this was really a pretty normal Monday morning, but then everything changed! 

I realised that I had nothing to write about. How was I going to hold my readers' interest? I really needed some sort of catastrophe to report, but I had nothing! 

This is when 'normal' can really hurt.

I guess I'll just have to get on with my day.

Hey, I'm really sorry about that.

Bye.

* There really are only two stairs. Still, it involves going down stairs.

Domenica.

 Would you believe it? I'm going to mass this morning!

No, I'm not.

I'm just trying to warm up a bit, by the heater. I'll probably go to the Aro Jazz Jam this afternoon. I'll give my ears a bit of a workout. I don't use written music at these jams, though nearly everyone else does. I like to use my ears, to listen and play like a singer. 

I'll spend some time this morning playing the four scale shapes for major, dorian, natural minor and dominant 7th scales around the violin. That's sixteen shapes, each scale starting on fingers 1, 4, 3 & 2, in that order. I'll play the scales with completely long bows. I'll play different amounts of notes with my long bows. 

Of this AI says, "Think about what you're doing and don't listen to me."

Peter will be up by now. I hope his phone is dry. Robert will be dressing up for mass and maybe a quick confession. "Bless me Father for I have sinned..."

I'm enjoying the heater.

To quote Spike Milligan, when he saw and heard small things on his floor reciting numbers, "It's the little things that count."

Okay, I'm off to play some scales with long bows.

Bye.

Huge, exciting news!

 This is going to make your day!

Okay, I know he looks a bit serious in his raccoon hat,

but I know that this news is going to make Peter, also known as The Curmudgeon, also known as 3P Boy, very happy!

Very, very happy!

Wait for it!!!!!!

Ah, nothing really.