A soul cake at 4am…

A soul, a soul, a soul cake,

Please good missus, a soul cake…..

Endlessly ringing through my head. We were singing this minor key song this evening at choir and it’s turned into an ear worm….

When I went to bed a few hours ago I was determined not to be kept awake by intrusive thoughts. I was going to think of the word ‘the’ over and over again to keep my mind on the straight and narrow path to slumber. It almost worked, but the ‘the’s’ started to form into the Soul cake tune, and soon it took over.

It didn’t help that I’d gone to bed on an almost empty stomach, not feeling well, I’d decided just to eat a couple of sandwiches, and I was being kept awake by the feeling of hunger. I’ve come downstairs for something and ended up eating a tub of curried noodles.

Now I’m sitting in my armchair wondering what to do. I can hear traffic outside and the patter of rain on the ground by my front door, almost like the soft sound as a cat licks itself before settling down to sleep.

Maybe I’ll stay downstairs and hope that I can doze, or go back to bed and try and sleep with the radio murmuring softly. Insomnia is not my friend.

Soon it will be dawn again, things to do. But with the change of the clocks I always feel jet-lagged, unsettled, trying to find my comfortable place.

Maybe writing here, using my thoughts of other things will clip the earworm and stop the repetitive tune. I do hope so. Goodnight.

Thunderstorm overhead

My hanging baskets are getting well watered. I took a video but you can’t really see the rain well. I looked up the storms on blitzortung.org which is a free thunder and lightening monitoring service covering the whole world. There is a line of thunderstorms heading up from the south from the Welsh border to around Derby passing over Stoke-on-Trent and rumbling north.

The closest lightning was about 2 seconds between flash and boom. That’s about a mile away as there is a time delay due to the speed of light being so much faster than the speed of sound. The last combination was about 12 seconds… 2 seconds equals a mile distance, 12 is therefore 6 miles. It’s going North.

One thing I’ve noticed is the rolling boom of thunder seems to last a lot longer these days. Starting soft before reaching a crescendo then gradually fading. There must be so much energy up there! And it’s just stopped raining… And the birds have started singing again…

Longest (or Shortest? Day)

Someone reminded me what day it is today. Midsummers day. In the Northern Hemisphere it’s the longest day. I’m not sure but I think it’s the Shortest day in the Southern Hemisphere.

We have been singing “Summer is Icumen in” in choir. I usually sing the “foot” which is sung under the lyrics which are an example of middle english polyphony.

This is a set of lyrics from Wikipedia :

Middle English
Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu
Groweþ sed
and bloweþ med
and springþ þe wde nu
Sing cuccu

Awe bleteþ after lomb
lhouþ after calue cu
Bulluc sterteþ
bucke uerteþ
murie sing cuccu

Cuccu cuccu
Wel singes þu cuccu
ne swik þu nauer nu

Sing cuccu nu • Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu • Sing cuccu nu[9]

Modern English
Summer[a] has arrived,
Loudly sing, cuckoo!
The seed is growing
And the meadow is blooming,
And the wood is coming into leaf now,
Sing, cuckoo!

The ewe is bleating after her lamb,
The cow is lowing after her calf;
The bullock is prancing,
The billy-goat farting, [or “The stag cavorting”[11]]
Sing merrily, cuckoo!

Cuckoo, cuckoo,
You sing well, cuckoo,
Never stop now.

Sing, cuckoo, now; sing, cuckoo;
Sing, cuckoo; sing, cuckoo, now![12]

So much for a restful day…

Next door is banging and drilling again! So much for a quiet day. I live in a terraced house and there is no soundproofing between us, so the noise can be distracting.

This has been going on for probably a year. I thought the drill was going to come through my wall a few minutes ago. He must have been drilling a deep hole. I presume he’s fitting the house out now?

Last week I found half a window frame in my yard. I was tempted to try and throw it back but I don’t have the strength and I don’t want to break anything! And there goes the drilling again. I will have to go out.

SWEARWORDS!

Learning a tune!

A few weeks ago. I usually sing alto at choir practice but recently I’ve been trying to explore my voice. It’s helping to keep me going dispite the Parkinsons disease and shortness of breath. Sometimes I sing up higher, as a slightly squeeky soprano, and also as in this photo as a bass if they are short of singers. Here me and the only bass singer that night were trying not to be distracted by the altos tune which was very similar. My friend was laughing at us and took this photo of us trying to avoid hearing the other tune.

Mystery

Hubby played a prophet in one of the Mystery Plays a few years ago. It was outside but his big booming voice could be heard by the audience sitting on the green. He could project his voice over the traffic noise. If he had been bought up in a more middle class environment I’m sure he would have been an actor. But mental health meant he struggled to remember all his words. We also did the local amateur panto together. He got a pretend Oscar one year for most enthusiastic entrance (or something like that). He was a marvellous, memorable man.

Last night

Last night I thought I heard movement in the garden, a bit of noise, something rattled. I didn’t know what to do so I opened the back door. I think the noise was coming from a neighbouring property but just to be on the safe side I made a noise to make them aware someone had noticed. Then I did something strange. My phone was on charge but I pretended I was speaking to the police! I had a one sided conversation and left gaps as if I was listening to their response. It went something like this…..

Hello

Police please?

Hello, I’m ringing from…..

I can hear movement and think there is someone in my garden.

Yes it’s been happening for a few minutes.

You’ve got someone in the area?

Thank you

Ten minutes? I’ll lock the door and wait..

It was a bit like improvised acting. I don’t know why I did it. I wasn’t going to go outside, and I wanted to make anyone out there aware they might be caught. I feel a bit daft now. Was I right to do it?

Anemometer

My Anemometer is spinning round

Twirling and twisting…

Maybe March winds have arrived?

The old saying goes

March is either in like a Lion and out Like a Lamb

Or vice versa…..

Today was gusty as a growling lion

Soon it’s paws might carry it

Across the land

Howling and Roaring.

Then gentle showers of April

Will come again…

Hello Spring.

Noise, traffic, pollution

Name your top three pet peeves.

They go together

Revved engines

Traffic fumes

The smell of petrol and diesel.

More than pet peeves

Dangerous to the planet

But when a motorbike

Or a car,

Revs it’s engine at the bottom of our hill

Then speeds up

Exhaust banging

Then I’m really peeved!