Day 6.

 Okay, if you've been reading this blog for the last five days, I don't need to explain what today's title means.

So, I guess I'll just get on with things as usual.

Oh, and no surprise that Robert's blog has shut down again. I guess I'd better write a biblical message for him.

Graham 1:23 A man walked among the people at a market. He had the look of a holy man. Maybe he just needed to buy some new clothes at the market? He approached a store where male clothing was sold. The man running the store asked his name. At that same moment in time the man hit his big toe on a rock that was partially hidden and hard to see. He said, "Jesus Christ!" The store owner replied, "No you're not. He was in earlier."

Years earlier.

God the Father: Okay, son, I'm going to send you down to Earth on a mission.

God the Son: Is that the place that we originally called Jasper? 

God the Father: Yes, the humans I made needed a simpler name that they could remember, but don't worry about that now. It should be a nice little trip with no big dramas. [G the F giggled to himself] I'm sort of trying to get rid of Original Sin in a slightly different way. We'll have to get you looking like a human.

God the Son: Can I wear makeup? I like makeup.

God the Father: [under his breath] Jesus Christ! [speaking normally] Hey, that's not a bad name for you to use. Jesus Christ! It sort of has a ring to it. Let's go with that. Look, don't overdo the makeup. Just a little bit. We want you to blend in. We don't really want to push the idea that they can bonk anybody. Come to think of it, I'll have to make some marriage rules too. I'll invent the word fornication. That has quite a ring to it!

No practice yet today. Today my intention is to get a contractor to cut our lawns. I guess I've reached that stage in life. I'm also going to resign from the job of playing the bugle on Anzac Day. My job today is to try and work out who runs the day now. I'll start by making enquiries at the library. I've heard that there is a group that is in charge. Remember how one of them wanted to interview me until she found out that I probably wasn't related to Richard Prouse. (Richard Prouse Park, Wainuiomata) I guess she could play the bugle this year. It's not that hard.

Then it'll be just about time to pick up Prowsey Senior from daycare. 

That's it for today.

Ciao tutti.

5/5

 There's an old man who often sits and plays his harmonica in Cuba Mall.

Hey, every little bit of music can help.

Lately, another man has shown up quite a bit wearing a very unusual hat. He doesn't seem to be a local.

Maybe he's from Alaska? No, those who have heard him say that he speaks with a Kiwi accent. When the old fella is playing his harmonica, he starts singing what he calls blues scales very loudly. It spoils the gentle sound of the harmonica. People on the spot are obviously not enjoying his interruptions and would like him to shut up. 

I think I'll need a comment apologising for that.

Also, PLEASE DO NOT wear that hat in Thorndon. Please.

* * *

Okay, this post is named 5/5 and will be the last time you will hear Peter speaking kindly to me. Next post it's back to reality.

I guess I'd better enjoy my last 'treat'.

This is Peter in 1970.

He seems to have had some dress sense then. Now it's shorts and a t-shirt. 

He may think he looks like this.

When actually he looks like this.

Hey, I just had a thought!

All this 'teasing' of Peter is going to come back to haunt me on my next blog post.

Please ignore all the stuff up above!

I'll start again here.

I did 25 minutes of violin practice yesterday, which wasn't bad because I'm still not well. I really am sick of being sick. At least the bells seem to be improving.

So, it's Wellington Anniversary Day today.  Really no difference for me, but good for the hard workers who get a day off. I guess that Shelley and I will drive over to the Hutt. That's what we do most days. We'll visit a supermarket. Exciting!

That's it.

Ciao.

4/5

The PB's recording session went well yesterday. Rob took over the 1st. violin part, because I wasn't feeling well, and did a very good job. I played the much easier 2nd.violin part.

I think this photo is from nine years ago.

Peter and I had a big argument on the phone yesterday. He tried to tell me that the C blues scale contained the notes C Cb Eb F Bb B. He said that's what they use on the bagpipes. We finished up yelling at each other and I feel that I need an apology. The C blues scale is C Eb F F# G Bb.

He also said that there's an eighth mode called the Sheesh Mode and it is frequently used on the bagpipes.

I'm looking forward to a comment from Peter on these two topics. REMEMBER that this is the second to last post where he has to be nice to me. He promised that.

I did 5 minutes of violin practice yesterday. 5 minutes down from the 3 hours I was doing not long ago. I guess that's what happens when you're sick. 

Ah well, I'm off to have a shower.

Enjoy your long weekend.

Ciao.

3/5

 Peter has a big day today. His bulky furniture is arriving. The big stuff. In a big truck. His neighbours in the other town houses aren't going to enjoy this.  Well, a person has to be able to move into their new house. That's not rocket science.

Though rocket science made this possible.

You've no doubt noticed the title of this post. I helped Peter move some boxes and he offered, in return, to be nice to me on five of my posts. We're up to number 3, two more to go.

Robert has buggered off again. No big surprise there. The PBs are doing a 'practice' recording this afternoon, so I'll see him there. The tune we're playing isn't hard to play but you've got to have your eyes and ears open. I'm sure that, the last time we played it, I was a bit out of tune at times. You can't have that on a recording, so I'd better do a good warm up this morning (well, in what is left of it).

I had a bad night. I'm getting yet another reaction to the medication I'm on. My nose is swollen and I have big bags under my eyes. I look ten years older. Hopefully the antibiotics my local doctor (his nurse actually) gave me will help. I did a HUGE vomit yesterday evening, which is not something I usually do. I largely missed the toilet and it took a lot of cleaning up. So I didn't get out of bed until closer to ten. Not much time left until I have to go to the recording session.

I'd better leave you there.

Ciao tutti.

Hey, this is a pretty non offensive post for Peter to deal with. I'll try to make the next one more 'interesting'. By 'interesting' I mean that I'll give him a few challenges.

2/5

Peter (aka The Curmudgeon) has promised that he will be very kind about everything I write, for the next four posts, because I helped him move some boxes.

Okay, here goes.

Something weird happened at St. Patrick's College in 1966. Two classes, and their results in the entry test, got confused. In reality, 3P should have been 3G and 3G should have been 3P. Consequently, the brightest boys in that year level were made to study Bookkeeping and French. The dumb kids in the other class got to study Latin and Becoming a Priest. 

Very unfair, as I'm sure Peter will agree.

The real 3G in 1966.

Fortunately, Peter wasn't accepted into the priesthood, though he did try hard to get there. He spent most of his time at school distributing communion hosts.

It's great to see Peter showing such an interest in my violin practice. I thought I'd take this chance to pass on some music theory knowledge to him. Okay we have the major scale. It can start on any of the twelve notes used in Western Music - obviously they all sound the same, at different pitches.

Let's look at the C major scale.

It contains these notes - C D E F G A B C.

It is also called the Ionian Mode.

You can play the C major scale starting on any of the other six notes in the scale (D E F G A B). These give you different modes (really like scales, just from an older system).

Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian.

These modes cover minor scales (Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian) and the dominant 7th scale (Mixolydian) as well as other scales.

Really, apart from these scales, there are only three others that matter - Chromatic, Augmented and Diminished.

The harmonic and melodic minors come from small adjustments to the Aeolian Mode.

I hope you enjoyed that, Peter.

Okay, I'm off to do some violin practice soon. The new strings are on and are settling in.

I'm looking forward to Peter's very positive comments.

Ciao.

Rainy Thursday.

 Yes, it's very wet in the Nui.

You might have noticed a bit of a change I made to yesterday's blog post.

I'd started telling a story about a moth that I was intending to develop. 

Then, much earlier this morning, that Catholic blogger with the long silly name left a very long comment that took over my story. I guess he thought he was being clever, or something. Anyway, I deleted his comment and the story.

Beh, non me ne frega una sega.

However, it feels like a boundary has been crossed when you have the cheek to take over someone else's story. He has done it before. 

Moving on...

It was good spending time with Peter yesterday. We got quite a few boxes moved into his new house. It's in a nice area, but the parking could be a problem for a visitor. Anyway, it seems to have a nice big space - AND three toilets!

I'm sure he'll be happy there.

I also spent time with H & H, my grandsons. I pick up Harrison three days a week, from childcare, at present. He is very fond of his Grandma, which is very nice. He had a bit of a wrestle with his Grandad yesterday. Grandad came out in second place before mum came and saved him.

It's still raining heavily. 

I think I might change my violin strings this morning. I have a new set of Pirastro Violino sitting in my drawer. 

They're not my favourite strings, but they are very good strings. It'll take me about half an hour to change strings. Then I'll need to get them settled down for the big recording session on Saturday (no TikTok involved). It takes at least (if not longer) two days of plentiful playing to get violin strings settled down. Ah well, that'll keep me busy today and I won't have time to finish off other people's stories. Ha, ha.

That's it.

Ciao tutti, ma non i cattolici.

Wednesday.

This will be a very short post because I have a busy day ahead. I'll write a longer post tomorrow.

I'll be very lucky to get any practice done today because I'll be back working at Murray Roberts. Then I'm over to sort out the two Prowsey boys. So, it'll be at least 6pm when I get home and that will be time for a Cleanskin.

Hey, maybe I should do a bit now, instead of continuing here.

Good idea!

Ciao tutti.

I thought I'd start today with the oldest blogging joke ever.

 Here's a new post.

Sorry about that.

Okay, you might notice that I've edited stuff out of my last post. Sorry for the deleted comments, Peter. It's just that some things aren't worth going into. That's it. Finito.

It's a fine day here in the Nui.

I'll probably pop over to the Hutt today. Later on I'll be picking up my elder grandson - Prowsey Senior. Then there'll be a bit of 'Prowsey sitting' (Prowsey Senior and Prowsey Junior) until daddy gets home from work. 

Tomorrow Murray Roberts is back in action.

Peter and I will be taking some boxes, that are in storage in Newlands, to his new home in Thorndon. Peter is getting to be a bit like Bruce Campbell, our boss from Murray Roberts. He gave me a pretty detailed explanation on how to get to Newlands, "Take the far left lane, up the gorge, and don't turn around immediately on entering Newlands or you'll finish up going back down the gorge road."

Okay, I first visited Newlands in about 1958 when my Aunty bought a house there. I have visited it regularly since then and had two brothers who lived there for a long time. One is still there. When Aunty was about to move into an old people's home I spent quite a bit of time tidying up her section in Black Rock Road. The point? I think I can find my way in and out of Newlands.

I hope Peter doesn't try to explain to me how to carry boxes.

Ah well, at least there are three toilets in his new house.

Hey, I have to look after those bells.

Nothing to report yet on violin practice today. I've been sliding along lately on one hour per day. Yes, I know, that's not really good enough. Hey, I haven't been that well. I went to the Cardiac Department at Hutt Hospital yesterday and they were happy with how I am going. That's good. It'll just leave the bells to worry about.

Okay, that's it. I'm off now.

Ciao.

A bit about Christianity.

 

Makes sense, eh.

This is a short post, like what Peter writes.

Ciao tutti.

PBs Day.

 It's very windy in the Nui.

The PBs are getting together at 1pm. I read Robert's post this morning. He seems very confused about this get together. I know that Peter got all muddled up about it too. It's really quite simple. Two distant relatives used to design covers for adventure books in England. They painted pictures of a guy called Dick Turpin. One of our oldest boy's children suggested that a sort of viewing of the title pictures could be made up and set to music. The oldest boy wrote some music. That's it. Simple really.

"I still don't get it!"

"I thought it was organised
by our mandolin playing brother?
Anyway, I'm off to mass to get
money off parishioners."

I'll try and get some practice done this morning. Violin practice. Just my usual practice. Not because of the PBs' get together. I just have things that I like to run over regularly. I must do a bit of double bass over the next few days. Let's see how it goes.

It'll be a windy drive to Daryl's. I'll just take it slowly. Most drivers won't because they need to express themselves in their vehicle. 

Ah well, the trick is to stay out of their way. Stay well back - remember how physics works.

That's it for this morning.

Ciao tutti.

Nothing much to tell you, really.

 So, why am I posting?

Well, I like to sit at the computer, for a while, when I wake up.

This morning I had a pretty rough start to the day - my bells are playing up.

I'm hoping I can get them under control by next Thursday because I'm booked in to help Peter move boxes. Murray Roberts all over again.

When I was driving for Murray Roberts (this is going back to the 70s) I wrote a song:

"Dickery dickery dobbits,

I'm the man from Murray Roberts.

I'll deliver your grog,

You can drink like a hog,

I'm the man from Murray Roberts.

(slowly) Man from Murray Roberts."

Murray Roberts was a liquor outlet on Adelaide Road in Newtown. From memory, I don't think it had a possessive apostrophe in the second part of its name.

Lots of boys I know got jobs there, including Peter and Robert (now old boys). I was the first 'boy' to work there. I got the job through a guy named Danny C (I can't remember how his surname was spelt), an old school friend who, like Peter, was in the P classes. We'd met earlier when we were both working at the Wellington Gas Company. I got two brothers and two friends jobs at Murray Roberts - Robert, Chris, Peter and Tony. Unfortunately, my Murray Roberts song never took off, but I used to sing it while I was out delivering grog.

Actually, none of my songs or tunes have ever taken off. Around 1979 I wrote a show that was performed by a couple of secondary schools. It was called Seaview Appleby. It was about a town where people optimistically said, "You can see the sea from here." Actually, it was 56 miles inland. I still have the words to quite a few of the songs in my head. 

"There's a story that's told

In the township of Appleby,

That on a clear day

A sea view is at hand.

But, if you know the facts,

It doesn't add up very logically,

from fifty six miles inland."

The idea for the show came from when I was living (teaching) in Taumarunui. Locals used to often say, "On a clear day you can see the mountain." They were talking about Mount Ruapehu.

In my story, men's importance was shown by the tallness of their hat. The most important guy had a hat that was about a metre high. All good fun.

The band for the show was the young PBs.

A photo from much later.

 Actually, the PBs are having a play tomorrow. We're practising a song that we intend to record. It is written by the oldest PB and it's about Dick Turpin. Early relatives of ours (great grandfather and great-great grandfather?) wrote books (called Penny Dreadfuls) about Dick. I think that the intention is to put something on Facebook.

I've decided not to worry too much about bass practice at the moment, though I will try to do a little bit. The old bell trouble seems to have zapped quite a bit of my energy.

It's much easier to get around with a violin. Fortunately, the PBs want me on violin tomorrow. 

Well, that's about it for today. 

Don't worry, Peter will write a post soon. Robert is turning out to be a mega star on Facebook!

Ciao tutti.

What's new around the blogs this morning?

 NOTHING.

That's good because, as I've told you before, NOTHING LASTS FOREVER!

Nothing on Robert's blog lasts forever. His posts often disappear. Peter's posts stay but there is just a very slow turnover. 

I did an hour of good practice yesterday. I started with my 6th/5th double stops. Then I played ten tunes from my thirty tune repertoire that I play with a backing track. That took 45 minutes. Today I'll run over my nine unaccompanied tunes and I'll also try to get some double bass practice done. Later in the day I'll go and pick up my elder grandson from childcare. I'll take Grandma for a ride. He'll be very excited to see her. After his parents, and his five year old cousin Evie, Grandma is his favourite person. 

Playing unaccompanied is a lot different from playing with a backing track. Playing with a backing track is like playing with a rhythm section. You play the tune and solo. When you play unaccompanied, you have to supply everything yourself. Obviously you play the tune, but you also have to play the chord progression as well as soloing. I just thought I'd tell you that.

Still no new posts from the old boys. I just checked.

I guess I'll go and do some jobs. Recycling is one of those jobs. I'll get rid of our wine bottles at the Seaview Recycling Centre.

 

Obviously I'll put them all into a bag (or two).

Well, that's it from me.

Ciao tutti.

JAC

 

It appears that, when he shows up, he will be Jewish - JAC.

Robert tells us, "The real Anti-Christ will be of Jewish descent evidently."

I don't know how he knows that. Maybe someone mentioned it in The Bible? Hey, that Netanyahu guy could qualify. There again, though, God hasn't done anything to stop his killing. I'm talking about the Catholic 'all loving' God there. The same guy who bestowed Original Sin on everybody then the only way he could get rid of it was by having part of himself crucified. Come on, there must have been simpler solutions! "I am God. Go away sin!"

I think I'll go over my 6th/5th double stops on violin today. All keys, of course! I woke up this morning and thought of Dm6. Why is it made up of D F A B and not D F A Bb? Well, for whatever reason (maybe because it sounds good), it is taken from the notes in the Dorian mode. The Dorian mode is the second mode of C major - D E F G A B C D - D minor with a #6. Ah well, I can't find any good answers for this online, so I'll go with my own. 

It's a nice day in the Nui. Yesterday I tidied up one side of our drive where a quite big plant was getting out of control. I think I'll leave the section alone today. Those little yellow daisies are growing everywhere in the Nui. You cut your lawn and, in about two or three days, they're back and TALL! Ah well, I think that bees like them.

Buon compleanno Lynn!

It's Peter's partner's birthday today. I hope that Peter has something nice planned for her. Happy birthday, Lynn.

Ciao tutti e tanti auguri a Lynn.