Getting Ready ...

It's another industrious day here, not that I'm contributing any effort yet! 

N is doing the final bits and pieces to make ready for the plastering next week. Because the previous owners used vinyl silk paint on everything, the areas to be plastered have to be coated in a green gritty solution (can't remember the proper name for it) to provide a decent base layer for the plaster to fix to. It's an extra step in the process and needs a day to dry out before plastering can begin. S is making good the holes left by the electrician, created when cabling was hidden in the wall rather than in trunking, and where the electric door bell and the old thermostat have been removed. 

Later, I need to finish getting fourteen brass instruments ready for tomorrow when I start this year's intake of new players following the workshops I ran in the local primary schools. I've already washed them so now just have to clean the cases, do a final check of the valves and complete a loan agreement for each instrument. I say just, but this will take most of the day - loan agreements require a detailed description of the condition of the instrument.

I'm excited to be starting a new group of players. This time there are thirteen children and one parent, so it's a nice sized group and it will be a fun start to every term time Saturday for the next year. Tomorrow is mostly about getting them registered and all the forms and agreements completed and signed, but they will get the chance to blow their instruments. It's the one and only week when it is just a noise - from next week they start learning to play simple one line tunes, in unison, based on the first three notes. I'd better get started ...