Where Did The Last Eight Years Go?
I've updated the website itself several times, adding two books about Rushmere St Andrew, and tweaking a few things, but I haven't added any new rants or rambles, despite them being the main point of building the site in the first place.
A lot has changed in those eight years, and my wife and I now have an extra four great grandchildren, maybe five, but I'm not the expert on such matters, so I might be corrected at some point. We have also lost a lot of friends, some to Covid-19, of course, but most to old age, which makes me stop and think a bit, as I'm not getting any younger myself…
I have started trying to teach myself to play guitar, but it's a bit of a struggle at my age. I can, however, just about manage to play an F major chord, and even, if I try really hard, a B minor! I'm certainly not ready for a public debut yet, and maybe never will be, but I'm definitely making progress…
I have also become a folk singer! Nothing fancy, of course, just an untrained amateur, taking my turn and belting out a few songs at a local pub once a fortnight. It's great fun, (maybe not so great for anyone listening, of course), but it did take a lot of nerve to get started. My wife and I sat and listened for about five years before, on a very quiet night when there weren't many performers, I finally plucked up the courage to ask if I could try a song. The lady running the Folk Night said that I could, so I stood up, shaking like a leaf, and sang Bold Nelson's Praise, the only folk song that I was sure I knew the lyrics for. I couldn't believe the reaction I got, and afterwards everyone there kept asking me why I had never sung before.
That was it. I was hooked, and although I have never completely overcome my nervousness, I now love singing, and I have plenty of songs to choose from.
Also, in the past eight years, I have given up visiting and posting on forums, and running a forum of my own, but I have been on Facebook since shortly after Covid-19 came along. I have mixed feelings about that, as I seem to have simply replaced arguing with people on forums with arguing with people on Facebook...
Maybe it's time to reopen my forum, and give up Facebook...