Over the water to sing ...

Today has been absurd. We'd arranged a rehearsal with our quartet, the St Maura Singers (founded when we were still in Glasgow, well over 50 years ago, and still performing occasionally, the only change having been in our soprano, who came to us when she was still at school) - a rehearsal in Largs, as soon as we could get there in the morning, to fit in with everyone's arrangements. This arrangement saw us having the alarm go off ruinously early so that we could be at the Hunter's Quay ferry terminal in time for the 9am ferry, thus missing the holiday change-over crowds that can end up queueing away along the road ...

We made it. We met in the soprano's house, had coffee, sang till 12.30pm. Neither Himself nor I had much of a voice - and worse, neither of us was hearing ourselves as well as we need to. This virus, whatever it is, has left us both with that thick-headed, slightly unreal feeling; I felt as if my voice was far away, coming from someone else, with minimal resonance. We were tetchy and irritable, trying not to be but not really succeeding, We had thought of staying in Largs for some lunch, but the thought of a crowded afternoon ferry decided us and we drove back up the road home immediately.

The photo was taken just before we boarded the ferry that was coming in to the slipway as I took the photo. You can see that Western Ferries really pull the stops out when there's a lot of traffic, as the preceding ferry has just left. A spatter of rain is hitting the windscreen, and the Firth is dark and threatening, with the small white shape of a yacht heading upriver. Out of sight on the right of the photo there is a strangely-shaped, brown-hulled vessel which my Shipfinder app identifies as a luxury yacht ...

We drove home through the rain, put on the gas fire, drank a quick espresso to revive us then settled down with the sausage rolls that our soprano had kindly provided to keep her aged colleagues going. There were big sinful cookies as well ... reader, we ate them.

And then I fell asleep in the chair and woke feeling I was about to pass out - I'd straightened myself in such a way as to cut off the circulation to my head, or something. All very trying. I sat there for most of the afternoon, reading or comatose. And now I'm heading for bed a whole hour earlier than usual. There's another rehearsal on Thursday ...