How can I keep from singing ...?

Well if you come here often, you'll know I don't. Keep from singing, that is. Himself and I met in a vocal octet when we were both still at Uni; I found a truth that had been lacking in my life when I was singing at my first ever funeral at the age of 27; we came here to live and within six months had started a new choir so that we didn't have to. Keep from singing, that is.

Today saw the concert our choir has been working towards since Christmas was over - the poster used "How can I keep from singing" as the name of the evening and it was one of the songs we sang towards the end of the gig. It felt as if the whole day had been focussed on this evening, so no matter that it was again a lovely day, though slightly cloudier in the morning, I was indoors for most of it (this is a bad time of year for the first signs of hay fever ...) trying to focus on making sure I wasn't going to forget any vital item on holiday or any vital key changes in the evening. I did spend some time in the (sunny and warmer) afternoon outside, reading the Sunday paper (still); Himself and roadie went off up to the church - for it was our church in which we were singing tonight, in aid of the loo fund - to set up the electrics for the keyboard and mic. We ate at a silly hour and had a not-very-convincing doze afterwards. 

The concert was great. The audience was fantastic - they all stood and cheered at the end - and several people singled out songs they'd particularly liked. I was practically voiceless by the end of it - not only singing, but announcing a set plus the very last song, even with a mic, is quite a drain on my dwindling vocal stamina. But we were all happy by the final song (Himself's arrangement of the classic farewell song The Parting Glass.)

There were drinks and cakes at the end of the concert, as people vanished into the gloaming where the blackbird was still singing, leaving in a mini-bus that belongs to a CoS congregation. There is very little space for parking at the church door, so the minibus picks them up from a nearby car park..

Right. I'm beginning to write nonsense again. I've made the collage above out of two photos taken by people who were doing what I'd have done had I not been singing. More coherent ramorra, I do hope, ...