Away game

As I blipped earlier this summer, our quartet, The St Maura singers, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and as part of that celebration we visited St Bride's Church in Hyndland, Glasgow, to sing the same concert as we did in Cumbrae in August. It seemed very fitting to me that we should be singing in this lovely church, as it was the first place we performed in outside the Cathedral of The Isles. I seem to be the only one of us who can remember this with any clarity; I can still see my parents sitting halfway down the church listening to us ...

I took the chance for a further wander into memory. As it was such a glorious evening and we'd done our rehearsal and had our tea I took Mr PB for a wee walk. I grew up in this neighbourhood; stood waiting for the number 10 tram at the tram stop across the road from the church - this bit of Hyndland Road was the terminus for the 10 tram - and I've rarely been back. We managed to get into the close of the tenement I lived in till I was 10 - the owner of the ground floor flat was gardening and had propped the close door open - and I was pleased to find that the wally close (tiled, if you're not from there) hadn't changed at all, except in becoming smaller because I'm no longer 10.

I'm blipping this well past midnight in the infuriating euphoria that follows a successful performance; the audience wasn't very large but was made up of discerning and knowledgeable people and they were extremely enthusiastic, not the least about the two McIntosh pieces. I was so doubtful about my own ability to sing tonight, right up till the moment we started, but it worked. The church is beautiful; the acoustics are amazing; I'm happy. 

Gosh.