Yes, Playmates, God willing, we'll be setting off for Luxor on Monday morning. And about time too; I'm becoming disillusioned with our "summer" here in Windy Nook!
Freda and I have packed and re-packed cases until we were blue in the face! It's very difficult trying to balance weight against volume across 4 pieces of luggage. Some articles need to be well padded with soft bulky items for protection, whilst some others need the same sort of packing to protect the hard sides of the cases from being damaged by them! It's all a bit complicated.
Never mind. I've been doing some more repair and modification work on "that stupid thing"! (Freda's latest name for my lovely little melodeon.)
You'll remember (of course?) my "adjustable" thumb strap? Well, even though it was adjustable, I found that the instrument weighed too heavy on my right thumb, and therefore decided to utilise a single strap, like Steve Harrison and Anahata and the like. But where can I find something suitable without spending money? Well, where there's a will, there's a way (as you well know) Dear Reader! I eventually plumped for the shoulder strap from an old computer carrying bag. (One which I acquired, years ago, when I was a rail replacement coach operator, with the name of the main contractor plastered on the covering flap: "Fraser Eagle Management Services".)
Of course, there's no bracket on the instrument on which to fasten such a strap, and it's not of a very robust construction, either. But never fear, Jenninsy is here! (I really should re-style myself as the latest Superhero..........Modification Man!)
A simple angle-bracket (which I'd shoved down the corner of the back stairs carpet, imagining that it would definitely come in for something eventually) strengthened the corner where I decided to fix some sort of attachment for the strap:
However, I found that using only one strap (even though the melodeon itself is very light) was too awkward, as it didn't keep the melodeon exactly where I wanted it to be! I further modified my modification by adding a heavy keyring for space to allow the use of a second strap, so that I could adjust them to keep the instrument's row of treble buttons in the centre of my chest.
Last Sunday, we celebrated (early) the birthday of my favourite brother-in-law, folk-singing partner and fellow choir member; Uncle Roy, by taking Afternoon Tea on the historic Tanfield railway. (According to several sources the oldest railway in the world!) Here comes the toot-too:
It wasn't exactly what you would term as "palatial" inside:
Wooden benches for seating, and wide enough for me to get only one cheek of my bottom on, whilst still cramping Freda's eating arrangements next to the window! Never mind though, the food was lovely, even though we had to make do with lots of half cups of tea and coffee in order not to have it spilt in our laps as the ancient carriage jumped and jolted along the equally ancient rails; it was also very noisy!
I know that the pictures of me are VERY unflattering, but that's probably what I really look like, uuugh! Sorry.
We've been keeping in touch with our Luxor friend, Slack Alis, over the past few weeks, and she has assured us that the power cuts haven't been too bad this year. So we're hoping that that will continue till the weather breaks. (Well, till the temperature falls below 40 degrees, anyway!) Good old President El Sisi!
On Monday (us being exclusive "Gold Card" holders) we'll be luxuriating in some executive lounge at Heathrow, while we wait for our connection to Egypt, away from the hoi-poloi. Sorry, but we don't expect to find you in there, Dear Reader!!!! You'll have to wait until we land in Luxor. Then we hope to see all our Internet Friends once again. TTFN.
Cream cakes looked nice,Freda looked as if she was a little bored but the train looked good, take care you two and keep enjoying the life!
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