Thursday 16th December
Yesterday's nutrition quiz was fun and informative with a few suggestions on how to manage excesses at Christmas. Most of the suggestions don't really apply to me as I don't drink alcohol and have no intention of indulging in too many foodie treats this year. The piano lesson was mainly taken up with chatting about how to progress after Christmas. There's a break now until the first week of January and we have agreed that I will work on the version of Für Elise that C prefers to use to improve pedalling ... she'll email a copy to me. For the second piece I'll just choose one of the ones in the book I'm working through, and if I have time to do anything else I can choose one of the pieces from the Les Misérables (which is one of my Twelve Days gifts). Towards the end of the lesson I played through the two pieces I'd been practicing and ... no, it wasn't a happy ending to this term's lessons! I made loads of mistakes in the bass clef but got through both pieces without messing up the treble line or the rhythm. I'm counting it as a win as, even with all the mistakes, I actually played better than I thought I would! C laughed! 😂
I finished reading the book group choice, Snowflakes over Baytree Terrace. It was okay, a pleasant enough read but not really what I like reading so I'll be starting a new book today, chosen from the ever growing selection of thrillers, mysteries, and crime novels in my bookcase ... much more my sort of thing!
T will be here later this morning to collect my car for the MOT. It's a brilliant service ... all I do is hand over the keys, he will take it, test it, resolve any issues, and deliver it back complete with the new MOT certificate. I just have to pay! He's not an early morning person so I doubt I'll see him before 10 o'clock and even that is a bit early. It doesn't matter as I'm expecting a couple of parcels so have to wait in anyway and there are a couple of online classes in the diary - Indian cookery at lunchtime (cooking Paneer Jhalfrezi) and later on it's the Age Well class where the topic is 'Creating an Age-Well Environment'.
I'm sure you played your pieces quite well; we are our own worst critics! Enjoy your winter break from piano lessons and you'll do fine when you start again in January. :)
ReplyDeleteI like the arrangement you have with T to get your car ready for the MOT, which, I am assuming is similar to our smog test, over here (basically to test for emissions).
Sounds like you have a nice day planned. Enjoy your Thursday!
The MOT is a legal requirement once your car is over 3 years old. It's an annual test at an MOT approved garage where they check that the car meets the minimum defined requirements to be roadworthy. They test the emissions as well as things like bodywork, road wheels and tyres, lights, brakes and seat belts.
DeleteWe both agreed I could do better but there wasn't enough time left to try again ... thankfully 😂. I played one of the new pieces last night and could play it very slowly straight away so just have to build up the speed now, which has cheered me up!
Thanks, hope you have a good day too.
I loved learning Fur Elise and it should work wonders for your pedalling, I agree. I'm glad the lesson turned out to be fun.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the MOT. My garage does very much the same thing and it's worth its weight, definitely.
xx
I'm still waiting for the music to come from C but I am looking forward to learning it. I love her teaching style and she keeps everything fun and interesting.
DeleteI'm sure the car will pass without needing a lot of work, and I get to stay in the warm and not worry about it ... can't ask for more than that! xx
Glad the piano lessons ended for the year on a positive & upbeat note (see the pun there?!) What an excellent service T is providing with the MOT process. Our province did away with the MOT which IMO was a bad move for the environment ... it was a vote grab move.
ReplyDeleteHaha, yes I saw the pun 😀🎵
DeleteI'm not sure that T offers the same service to everyone. He was a good friend of my late partner and he helps me out where he can. Some garages do offer a collection service but none that I know of locally. The MOT is a bit of a nuisance but I'm glad we have to comply with it. It's sounds like a backward step in your province. I wonder if that decision has led to an increase in accidents due to an increasing number of cars not being roadworthy but still being driven?
That's a good service for your MOT. We use the dealership as we bought the car from new six years ago and it makes sense to stay with them. We have the service done along with the MOT and they give us a lift to a nearby town and collect us when the car is ready. This year was different as we had the pup with us so used the buses there and back and thankfully she behaved herself.
ReplyDeleteI feel so lucky to have that level of service from T. He also checks and test drives new-to-me cars ever time I update my car. I used to have it done at the dealership I bought the car from as free servicing for three years was part of the deal, but now I've got past that stage they don't offer any help with transportation and they are based on a huge estate outside of town and there is always a long wait in an uncomfortable and cold waiting room, so I went back to using T.
DeleteEnjoy your break! I hope the car did okay in the MOT.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sharon. Yes, it passed. I'm just waiting for the winter checks to be done now.
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