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Strumming Up The Spirit

 

My guitar has made its way up to the Zen Den! That internal voice - you know, the one that nags, mostly because it wants you to do something that is good for you - started pestering me a couple of days ago. ‘Pick up that guitar you bought,’ said the voice. ‘Take it up to the Zen Den and learn a few chords so you can strum out a few Christmassy songs by the end of the year.’ 

Needless to say, I ignored the Internal Voice because I really do not like being told what to do. Odd, given I was such a bossy child, and to be honest, I have to fight really hard against being a bossy adult, too. I don’t know why I have such a stubborn streak, either. Mostly, it has served me well over the course of my life. Occasionally it has got me into trouble. I shall always strive to do things my way, though. To be honest, I should go and live in a cabin in the woods, shouldn’t I? Such a grumpus....sigh.....

Anyway, it turns out the Internal Voice is more persistent than I anticipated and thusly, to shut it up, I brought the guitar in from the studio and have spent a happy hour in the Zen Den tuning it, reminding myself of the chords A,D and E, and banging out wobbly tuned versions of ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane.’ The neighbours are out, thank goodness. Tuesday is their shopping day. They will never know the lucky escape they’ve had! I now have dents in my fingertips, so have paused awhile before permanent damage occurs to the nerve ends.

The last time I played guitar was at primary school. I had group lessons, after school I think, and we played enthusiastic versions of ‘If I Had a Hammer’ and ‘She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain.’ There was lots of wild strumming and some plinky plinky string plucking which played havoc with the ends of my fingers. Was there some talk of soaking the finger ends in vinegar to toughen up the skin? Or am I getting confused with conkers? I can’t remember. Anyway, I’m revisiting the Childhood Days and shall attempt to be more disciplined in my practise, rather than having a quick session the night before a lesson in order to make it look like I’d be rehearsing all week! C’mon, we’ve all done it...haven’t we?? I shan’t be employing the vinegar to fingers technique either - Andy is already recoiling because I am fragrant with TCP in an attempt to quell the arrival of my annual chin spot. 

I suppose the next thing the Internal Voice will be nudging me to do is to bring in the piano keyboard and resume playing that. Shouldn’t have said that, should I? I’ll be giving the Internal Voice ideas. I wonder if I should give it a name? Ivy, maybe? I.V? Nah...that’s too much like heading down the imaginary friend route. 

And in case you didn’t know, this evening Mars (the planet, not the chocolate bar) will be the closest to Earth it has been for ages. Only 38 million miles away so we’ll get a good view unless clouds stop play which they have a canny knack of doing when these astronomical events occur. I shall pop out and see if I can spot it with my little eye.

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