Unoccupied

Fully back in harness after my little sabbatical from the Music Group, it was my turn to act as host again today. Naturally, that meant that I had to get up early to whip the house into shape. That mission was accomplished around 12.30, so I wasn't as panicked as usual when the gang began to arrive.

We had a terrific session, with everyone on top form and lovely choices of music on offer. The concluding 30-minute slot was especially entertaining: a recording of the final programme in John O'Conor's Piano Plus series for RTÉ television, dating all the way back to 1987. Apart from how young he and his guests looked, the whole style of the programme was fascinating. It was all like a time-warp trip. Great stuff. This armchair is normally reserved for Tony, the elder statesman of the group and one of the founding fathers. I refused to let anyone use Tony's chair until almost 2.00 pm, when it became absolutely clear that he wouldn't be joining us today.

A couple of bevvies in the local pub continued the relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We're approaching thr point of making a decision about where we go next year for our annual trip away. The four cities being considered are London, Hamburg, Paris and Vienna. It's surprisingly difficult to find 2011 schedule details for London venues, so the lack of information may well rule out that city's chances of being the final choice (there's also the complication of the UK's not being part of the eurozone, which deters a number of our members). Judging from comments in the pub it may well turn out to be between Hamburg and Vienna. We shall see. There's a chance that we'll make our decision in a week's time.

Back home again I had a bite to eat and then got back to work on the quarterly magazine. I was feeling a bit tired around 10.00 pm, so went for a bit of a lie-down. Three hours later I was back working, and kept going until 8.00 am.