FREEDOM!

 

Actually, it's not that big a deal.

Okay, 8 days in isolation are over. Though I'm feeling a bit buggered and certainly not up to celebrating. I got offered work today but I turned it down, though I will go in to teach my violin students tomorrow at Settentrionale College.

My two flat mates don't leave isolation until Friday so I suppose I will be their wine supplier.

I haven't really missed being out, maybe because I felt so sick, but it'll be important for me to fit back into society as smoothly as possible. I'm hoping that Peter is feeling better too and feeling strong enough for a trip to the tip or a game of snooker with The Old Girl. 

Well, time for me to face the world again... there are cars to juggle (so that I can get mine down the drive), bottles to go to the recycling and a supermercato to visit.

Then there's practice to do.

Ciao tutti.

Don't forget to leave a comment, if you're in the mood.

Day seven of Covid.

 I think I'm feeling a bit better - not perfect, but a bit better. Hey, that's a lot better than how I have felt. Among other things, Covid has dug a big hole in my practice schedule.

I'll try to get some practice going again today. Softly, softly catchy monkey.

When one is too sick to do much, one has a lot of time to think. I read this statement somewhere, I can't remember where or who said it.

"How do you know what is right unless you have a standard and where does that standard come from? God of course."

I know the boys* have been chatting a bit about morals, so maybe it was one of them.

Many, many years ago our early ancestors came to a similar conclusion as they stared in wonderment at the sun.

I mean, there was no way these guys could instantly accumulate knowledge of planets and stars - hey, give them a bit of time!

In 2022 we have a lot more information available to us and don't need to jump to such conclusions. You any of us to say, "It was God!" is really just silly. So, let's remove the last three words from our statement that we are considering.

"How do you know what is right unless you have a standard and where does that standard come from?"

Humans have invented scales for many different things - temperature, speed, weight and time - to name a few. The standard we adopt for morals is to answer the question, "What is best for everyone?" Here is a list of things that most of us will have no trouble agreeing are good guidelines:

• Physically hurting other people or animals is not good. Though poor old flies and rats do get a bad rap on this one.
• Killing other people is almost never a good thing.
• Taking things that belong to someone else is something we need to avoid.
• Being kind to others is a damn good thing to practise. 

Okay, the list goes on and nothing is set rigidly in concrete, but a sensible consensus can usually be reached. Gun ownership 'rights' in the USA and their need to control women's bodies are two obvious exceptions. 

Okay, there are huge problems in the world right now and it is easy to see countless examples of this simple logic not working. Unfortunately there are a lot of stupid people out there. Somehow we have to get people away from false worship of instinct and into using their intuitive** brains with confidence - shutting out the comfortable nonsense many cling to and really learning to think for themselves. 

That's it from me for today.

Ciao tutti.

It's okay to comment if you'd like to. In general there is nothing wrong with commenting, so go for it. 

* Peter and Robert

** I'm not sure if that is the best word in this context

No more Mr. Cleanskin!

 Life can be tough when you are locked down with Covid and, at best, looking forward to a glass of Cleanskin Chardonnay.

"I thought Peter said this wine was the best!"

What to do?

I'm very fortunate to have a brother called Robert.

Unexpectedly, today he showed up with some vital supplies!

Plus real lemons and some lovely looking frozen potato things (Yum!).

This is Robert.

A man with a big kind heart.

I'm very lucky to have him as a brother.

HUGE THANKS ROB!

Dinner tonight: Robert's lovely looking frozen potato things. The flat mates will have to look after themselves.*

* though there is plenty for all

Hey, don't worry, I've got this Covid.

Wow! What a month!

What a shit of a month!

Firstly, my brother in law dies. Very tragic and included 10 days in a motel.

Then I get Covid - and it's not pleasant! That's for damn sure!

Then my two flat mates get Covid.

But, to top it all off, The Curmudgeon creator Peter has been seriously unwell.

I think he's had a haircut by now.

What a bloody month!

Many thanks to Rob's Sue for her phone call and kind offers of help and to Rob himself for his offer of help to clean up the pottery.

Let's just hope that June is keep everyone safe and well month.

Thanks to the many people who have been very kind at the time of Steve's passing (lovely flowers came from Lynn and Peter) and the lady who has just dropped off a lamb casserole - I live with vegetarians, so it's all mine!

Ciao for now tutti.

Keep well.

TC informs me that there will be no more furniture posts for a while. I think we can all be strong and learn to live with that.

Are comments necessary?

 

Robert (the quite a few different things) doesn't seem to think so. 

Could comments on posts become a thing of the past, like Marmite, sensible driving, leaving pregnant waitresses alone or thinking responsibly? 

Imagine if you've just written a post about moving furniture around in your house and no one comments. Okay, that's a bad example.

We, at Richard's Bass Bag*, are famous for the number of comments we get and we'd like to keep it that way. Okay, we know that it's harder for The Curmudgeon because he only has two readers. 

Robert (the quite a few different things) is obviously struggling to get comments too. 

Maybe we (the successful ones) can help out by donating comments to these boring struggling blogs?

It looks like a case of RBB leading the way again. 

No need for thanks losers other bloggers.

Ciao tutti.

* the original bass bagging site

Still no furniture post.

 

We've had posts from The Curmudgeon...

...all bloody god posts.

What his readers two readers are asking is, "Where is the furniture post?"

Maybe he's forgotten how to write a furniture post?

Here's a reminder of events for the poor old chap.

1. The Old Girl decides, for whatever reason, that some furniture needs replacing.
2. TC tries to sell it and has to take some things to the tip in his trailer.
3. We get a detailed account of things being put on the trailer and him getting passed by a ute or two on the way to the tip. "Sheech! Bloody tradees!" He gets an old guy from next door, who he's upset once or twice, to help.
4. He has managed to sell (or give away) some items - more detail is written and there are a few pictures of furniture.
5. He tries to find new furniture that TOG will approve of.
6. He finds some furniture (lots of pictures) and then sets out to get it delivered. 
7. The old bloke from next door offers to help so off they go with the trailer.
8. They get the new furniture into the house but TC puts his back out.
9. More photos.
10. TC opens a bottle of Cleanskin expensive Champagne, or something, and says, "Sheesh!"

"Sheesh!"

BEWARE!

 "How does one outrun such a beast?" Thoughts were flying through Richard (of RBB)'s head.

He stood directly in front of a monster. Each second seemed to last an hour - like he had time to think about his entire life. He thought about the blogs.

Was there a god? Would Robert's special rosary work if he just happened to pray it now? Could it really stop the beast? Maybe this thing would slip on golf balls, but he knew that there were none around because The Curmudgeon would have gathered them all. The Curmudgeon, that guy with multiple blogs. Many with names like The Boring Curmudgeon, The Tennis Curmudgeon and The Pick On Pregnant Waitresses Curmudgeon. He remembered a religious one too, all in those split seconds that were available to him. All in those split seconds while he faced the beast.

It was big and he knew it was giving its full attention to him. It was focused on him. If it could talk it would probably say something like, "The post is coming and there is nothing you can do about it!"

THE FURNITURE POST!

Coming soon on The Curmudgeon's blog.

Lightning and Thunder!

 We just had a big thunder storm. I don't know why they call it 'thunder and lightning' because the lightning always comes first.

These storms would have scared the shit out of people in primitive times.

"The gods are angry!"

These storms could easily have been seen as proof of a god.

It's been pissing down too. When I was a kid we used to say, "That's god having a piss."

Anyway, I made a decision last night - I'm going to concentrate on my violin and double bass playing. Unfortunately, that leaves no time for guitar practice. 

As I said, the Paganini is coming along slowly but surely.

I can play the theme (not hard) and the first four variations. There are still things to work on (like bowing) in these variations and I am slowly working on other variations. It's not really my intention to play these until I really have them mastered. I'm still in the first two months of my four month plan and have virtually lost the last week and a half. 

I also want to get back to working on my bass compositions.

It'd be a shame to let my bass playing go.

I saw this set of drawers online.

I also saw this little table.

Hey, don't worry, I'm not going to talk about furniture. I was just having a little joke. Really.

If you really want to be bored out of your tree, I suggest you make your way over to The Curmudgeon's blog as he's threatening planning a new furniture post. It'll probably be long and you'll hear the whole story, from The Old Girl not liking some items in their home, through to TC tracking down new stuff, then the story of how he will get it home, etc. Good luck with that.

Okay, time is moving on and I have things to do. 

Have a good Friday and make sure you get your practice done.

Ciao tutti.

Paganini Practice Update.

 

"No, I am not Paganini, I am Evil Doctor Richard. I am a Catholic Apologist and firstly let me apologize for all the stupid ideas that Catholics try to put into children's heads. 

Richard (of RBB) has kept up a minimal amount of practice throughout the last week and a half and, as I speak, is off doing a warmup on his violin. The drama of the last two weeks has certainly slowed him down but he promises to catch up. 

Before he rosined his bow he left this short message for all his readers. I will sign off now and leave you to listen to Richard (of RBB)."

I'm back and Richard's Bass Bag* is open again.

I've got to send out a huge thank you to two of my fellow bloggers, Peter and Robert, for their very kind deeds at this time. 

Lynn and Peter's beautiful
flowers in a vase made by
Steve.

Thanks for the prayers Rob.

For those of you who don't know, Shelley's brother Steve died at 8.53am last Sunday (March 15th). I just happened to be there and was the guy who told the doctor the official time of death. He'd had some very rough days on his journey but was peaceful at the end. We gave him a small send off at a crematorium in Palmy with Shelley and Richard (of RBB) and two very special people in his life - Kathleen and Ian. I played Autumn Leaves on my violin (hey, I need to grab any gig I can get these days) and we all wrote on the coffin. I wrote, "The autumn leaves drift past my window, the autumn leaves in red and gold." I signed it, "Rich the alfa male." That was something that Steve had called me recently when he was pissed off at me. It seemed to me to be a special little ceremony.

More importantly though, I'm disappointed to find that The Curmudgeon hasn't put a furniture post together yet. It would have helped me through these tricky times to hear about how he was dealing with the storage of clothing and other things in his house.

Fortunately Robert was able to help out by proving the existence of the Christian god. I guess the Muslims, and all the rest of people with 'wrong' gods won't be happy, but I guess that's their problem.

Hey, once again, a huge thank you to Robert and Peter.

 Ciao tutti.

* the original bass bagging site

Home for a night.

Wow, that was a long week!

I spent most of it in Palmy and I have to say that the city has really come ahead.

One night at home, hence the post, and we return tomorrow. 

I'll try to do a few 'comment posts' from this post (in the comments section below).

Fitting in music practice has been difficult but I try to use time sitting in the hospital to think about solutions to Caprice no. 24. I think it's fair to say that I have the first four variations pretty well mapped out and I'm working on the next one. I've also been checking out the upcoming ones.

It's a great experience when you solve problems that you first thought were impossible to solve.

Sii gentile.

Buonanotte.

"How's that Paganini practice going Richard (of RBB)?"

 Hey, firstly, thanks for asking fellas!

STOCK PHOTO

I'm now up to day 38 of my four month challenge. Technically that means that I have 84 of my 122 days left but, it's unlikely that I'll stop before the task is completed. This week progress has been a little slow but, as Bob used to say, "Softly, softly catchy monkey."

I've been keeping the practice hours up and I am aware that I also have to squeeze in some double bass and guitar practice. Yesterday I did four hours of practice - violin 2 hours, double bass 1 hour and guitar 1 hour.

The positive thing is that mostly I'm doing good practice. The technical practice is certainly helping my playing in general. I'm presently putting a lot of energy into Variation 4.

Again, thanks for the interest people are taking in my project.

NOT.

* * *

I'm now going to hand you over to Catholic Apologist Evil Doctor Richard.

"Thank you Richard (of RBB). Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the fact that New Zealand's cardinal is taking no responsibility for the evil actions of the clergy in his country. 

Actually, the planet seems to be in a lot of bad hands at the moment and there seems to be no shortage of self serving morons. Excuse my French.

Christians, especially  those Catholics, have some 'interesting' beliefs. Let's get simple here - many Christians believe that, after death, there will be a judgement and an awful lot of people will be condemned to eternal suffering. They'll tell you it's written here and there and all you have to do to avoid the certainty of this is to join up and worship their god, though it seems there might be three of those gods or, at least, one god divided into three personalities. 

It seems to me that this is an evil notion for some other person to carry with certainty in his head. It is very presumptuous indeed. This person (I'm really talking about a lot of people here) seems to think that he, in effect, has the right to tell someone else that he is doomed to eternal punishment because of what he thinks is true. This stuff gets dished out to children, as a warning too, "If you don't stop that, you're going to Hell!"

I mean, how sick is that?

Well, that's my thought for today. I'll hand you back to Richard (of RBB)."

* * *

Thanks Evil Doctor Richard. 

Well, it's Sabato and the sun is out. This means that I might go for a walk before starting my practice for the day. I'll visit the bathroom first though. Enjoy your Sabato.

Ciao tutti.

Call me God the Father but...

 

Why is everything about power and money?

Why do old men want to control everything, including women?

I live in Nuova Lazio and I am not rich, but I am very lucky. I have everything that I need. 

Want a Cleanskin? No problem!

Peter's favourite wine.

Things I don't have:

• A luxury yacht.
• Billions of dollars.
• Fame and fortune.
• A really, really fancy car.
• Lots of investment houses.

Things I certainly don't need:

• A luxury yacht.
• Billions of dollars.
• Fame and fortune.
• A really, really fancy car.
• Lots of investment houses.

Oh, and I certainly have no control over the two women who share my house, or their bodies.

I think that women should have a right to be in charge of their own bodies. Women seem pretty wise, to me, about what is best for their bodies (though they don't know how to check the oil in a car - that's why we have men).

Why aren't these old men who are so concerned about unborn things doing something very obvious to help all the neglected children in the world? There are a lot of them. An awful lot.

Okay, my arguments may be simplistic but I just read about the pope (il papa) and he is worth about 10 million dollars. What the fuck? He's supposed to be god's representative on Earth!* He's a rich old bugger in a dress! It's hard to think that he gives a fuck about starving children when he sits on this huge stockpile. Is this what Jesus had in mind? I don't think so.

And then we have people visiting church shops and buying condoms and holy pictures to support the church.

Let the pope chip in for condoms.

Oh, and what did the Catholic church do when people like Brother Benedict and Father Minto were interfering with children? They moved them around to other places where they could start anew.

This is disgusting!

So, it seems that the USA is working on banning abortions. It seems that they have a lot of Christians. It's good to remember that most of their founding fathers owned slaves.

We live in a sick old world.

Buonanotte.

* aka Jasper

Truck driver, once more 'round the block.

 LISTEN HERE

Saturday April 30th 7am.

Richard of Richard's Bass Bag* is in Grenada North on a very cold morning and about to drive a truck out of a yard and follow another truck to a depot to pick up some asphalt.

A photo later that same day.

So, what is a violinist doing climbing into a cold truck with misty windows and a wide open window on such a cold morning? One thing is for damn sure, he won't be playing Paganini on this morning!

No way.

"Follow Adnan!" the instruction is given. No time to turn off the wipers or work out how to shut the window because Adnan is already moving in an identical truck. Richard (of RBB) is trying to find the right gear and he jerks and bounces out of the compound and onto the road. A couple of minutes and they're on the motorway and heading in a two truck convoy to a quarry somewhere in the distance. Cold air is blowing into the truck but, for the life of him, Richard (of RBB) can't find how to shut the window. There is no winder and no sign of an electric button - remember it is dark. Cold and dark and the windows are covered with wetness that gives little vision. The two trucks head down 'the gorge' and, after making a turn, they're now heading back up the motorway. Richard (of RBB) now knows where they are going. Adnan picks up his load first and then it's Richard (of RBB)'s turn. He remembers doing this about 35 years ago when he actually worked for this company. You do a narrow back in under a big silo thing that dumps half the load on your tray, then you receive an instruction to go back a little further so that all the asphalt doesn't fall in the same place. Richard (of RBB)'s Irish mate, who's name is still on the side of the truck, calls the stuff hot mix and it is. So the first job, before leaving the quarry, is to cover the load with a big tarpaulin. Richard (of RBB) knows that collecting the next load will be easier, once the windows have demisted and he's had a chance to get used to the gears and shut that bloody window.

This is basically a group of boys, led by Mr. Kelly, sealing a drive for a friend. I got involved because they were a driver short and I must admit that it was a trip down memory lane. If you think that your job is hard, spare a thought for the people who do this kind of work every day.

That's Adnan.

That's Aidan.

Here's the finished product.

Not a bad day's work!

* the original bass bagging site