In Concert

It's been a while since I sat down to update this blog.  Where have I been?  Well, nowhere much - however, I've been filling my free time with other stuff, mostly making things.  And I've been learning to code - I know, at my age! - which both fascinates and frustrates me.  

Anyway, I've decided that it's high time to shape myself and write another instalment.  

David was a Billy Joel fan.  Billy Joel more or less passed me by - I knew Uptown Girl and Piano Man but that was about it.  In the early days of our relationship he wrote out the words of "She's got a way" for me.  (Did I write the lyrics of a song for him?  Yes, I did, but I'm not telling you what it was!) He was thrilled to get tickets to see Billy Joel at the NEC in 2006.  

We set off mid-afternoon, heading for the Premier Inn where we'd booked a room - it seemed like a good idea not to rush back immediately after the concert.  It turned out to be just as well, as the Sat-Nav denied all knowledge of the NEC and told us very firmly that we couldn't drive there.  

The traffic was heavier than we'd expected (road works along the way) but we were there in good time for the concert and met up with a colleague - who told us that, not long before we got there, Billy Joel himself and come out, picked up a guitar from someone and given an impromptu concert.  David was slightly gutted that he missed it, but the concert itself was everything he'd hoped for, and the pint of lager consumed in our hotel room afterwards instead of a long drive home felt like the height of luxury.

 I have to admit that David was more of a fan of live music than I am - I'd honestly prefer to listen to the CD most of the time.  I did enjoy Proms in the Park;  the first year we went it absolutely threw it down- we wrapped ourselves in bin bags to try and keep the worst of the rain off but we were still soaked to the skin and freezing when it was all over.  We were a bit luckier with the weather the next time we went!  Someone started a chain of the helium-filled balloons that were given out and I have a wonderful memory of watching this long, long train of balloons floating against a backdrop of a beautiful sunset while lovely music played.

Another concert that sticks in my memory was Don McLean in the Colston Hall, Bristol.  David pointed out the concert to me in the belief that I was a fan of his music.  I suggested that we should go as I thought David was a fan.  It was only when we got there that we discovered that, while we both liked Vincent and American Pie, they constituted our entire knowledge of the man's repertoire.  

It turned out to be a really good concert.  However, on the way back, it took us a long time to clear the car park ("Shall we pay for parking now?"  I'd asked on the way in "Nah!" was the reply.  I very carefully didn't say "I told you so!" when we got caught in the rush of concert-goers trying to get away) with the result that, by the time we got to Newport the M4 was closed for planned road works.  The Sat Nav (the same one that denied the existence of the NEC) tried diligently to divert us back to  the motorway and we kept ignoring it.  Halfway round the Docks it metaphorically threw its hands in the air and refused to speak to us thereafter.  I crossed my fingers and hoped that the lorry I was following was heading for Cardiff.  Fortunately, it was!

The other event that sticks in my mind was seeing the Monkees (all four of them) in Cardiff in 1996. That was something that I'd never thought would be possible - Mike Nesmith was notorious for not touring (and I suspect he was only coaxed into doing the tour because his son's band was the warm-up act).  "Sometime in the Morning" was one of David's favourites and it was background music in our wedding video.  

David was admitted to hospital when he became breathless after a chemo session.   We were both expecting that he'd be kept in overnight and then sent home to recover.  It didn't happen that way. 

I wanted to give him something he'd appreciate to welcome him home and I came across Spotify glass pictures, which were something of a big thing at the time.  If you haven't come across them, the idea is that the picture incorporates a Spotify code for a meaningful song that can be scanned. 

I was working on it when the phone rang.  It was his doctor, asking me to come and see her and that set the alarm bells ringing.  And as soon as I was told that I was allowed to see him, I realised that things were not going well.  I spent most of my time in the hospital and everything I'd been doing was dropped.

It's been some time since I could bring myself to finish the project, but I managed it.  The picture is a "Spiral Betty" (another crafting in-thing) and is my tenth (at least) attempt to get it right.  I think it was worth it in the end, I just need to find somewhere to hang it now.