2023 Home

2023 has been OK... quite a few good things, but also quite a few stressful things. It's no good beating about the bush. Things like noisy builders next door for the whole year, irritating house buyers being a pain for both John and Chris. But we were all mostly physically healthy, so I shouldn't complain. I just thought I'd let you know.

I'm not sure we did much in January, but in February we went to a great Cézanne exhibition at the Tate Modern. Loads of gorgeous apples etc.

In March we had a rush of gigs, including Emily Portman and Rob Harbon, and Lucy Farrell, and we saw Death Cab for Cutie at the Albert Hall. Amazing!

In April we visited friends in Hampshire and in Dorset, and had a great time.

In May John, Holly and Hana (3.5) came to stay which was lovely, as always. Later in the month we went to Amsterdam to see the Netherlands Bach Society play. They were one of our music lifelines during the lockdowns, and we decided it would be fun to go and see them in person. There was also a fabulous Vermeer exhibition there.

In June we had a holiday in Suffolk. Nice and close with no long drives!

In July we went to the Proms for the first time. Wonderful! We saw Beethoven's Ninth. We also went to Folk By The Oak, which, unusually, wasn't ridiculously hot but actually a bit wet. Quite nice to have a normal summer for a change.

In August we visited the family in Glasgow and did all sorts of things, including visiting the Burrell Collection. We also went to Kate's Uncle John's 90th birthday, and Mike visited an old school friend of his that he hadn't seen for 57 years!

In September Mike spoke at a Folk Conference in Sheffield! Yes I know - a bit strange. The talk was about drawing phylogenetic trees of folk songs. It went OK, and the audience were very nice (phew!).

In October we had another string of gigs - Leveret, Cara Dillon, Martin Simpson and Trish Clowes. John, Holly and Hana came to stay again, and at the end of the month we went to Northumberland for a week. The weather was wet, but we still had a good time.

In November the stand out gig was The Manfreds at the Corn Exchange - all the hits: "Pretty Flamingo" was so evocative. Paul Jones looked great for 81. 

In December we did some Christmassey things - Botanic Gardens Winter Lights, Unthanks Winter Show and of course Kate Rusby's Christmas show at the Corn Exchange.

Wish us luck for 2024. Let's hope it's a good one, as John Lennon said.