Post 346. I'D BE LOST WITHOUT MUSIC.

 IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THERE. 

Though I cannot read a note of it, music is very much a part of me. 
Throughout my boyhood our home was seldom without it. In old age I become more and more dependent on it. 
Now my day starts with Classic FM (Ts and Cs apply) and ends with something musical (when I can find it) on Sky Arts. 
The end of day musical alternative used to be stored in my television recordings: then along came a Sky engineer to transfer our television from the old living room to the new and, in the process, lose my entire collection.

These included a cherished recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto played by Pekka Kuusisto (with hilarious encore) at the 2016 BBC Proms, which I'll never get back now. 
It also housed Beethoven's 1st Piano Concerto played by Lars Vogt, and Brahms Piano Concertos 1 and 2 played by Daniel Barenboim: both appeared on Sky Arts, which no longer features them: I have sent a message to Sky and am hoping they may be shown again. 

Meantime, I still enjoy a background of music when I'm writing. Currently I am playing the Beethoven (1 and 5 Piano) CD with Lars Vogt and his beloved Royal Northern Sinfonia on the little Steepletone Music System. Superb.

YouTube has some damn good background listening, too, but even an old guy like me finds it difficult not to keep returning to the film when the soloist is somebody as attractive and talented as the violinist Alena Baeva. Nobody should look that good and sound that good. Which I seem to remember was exactly what I said the first time I saw Doris Day ride off as Calamity Jane singing Secret Love. I was in my early twenties then.

Nothing really changes.

THIS LOT NEVER WILL.

Do beware of zealots.

Every country has at least one organization made up of patriotic zealots bent on strengthening the power of the non-elected. America has many. The Orient, Asia, and rest of the world, is packed with them.

In this country the prominent haven for bureaucratic chancers is Westminster where they are described as 'advisers.' They are invited in by certain of our elected representatives who should know better.

None of these patriots does a worthwhile thing for country or mankind. They are professional nothings. 

But just try getting rid of them. 

Or, until next month anyway, ignore them. 

Hasta La Vista.