Rings On Her Fingers

Saturday 8th April

The nursery rhyme we sang as little children goes..”Rings on her fingers, bells on her toes, she shall have music wherever she goes”.  I cannot remember much else except these lines.  But I am just like the young girl in the song – I must have music wherever I go.  And somehow I have contrived to achieve just, or almost that.  I try to listen to music every day, at least a couple of albums.  I have almost always managed this.  Of course it was easier when I lived on my own, I could have the music blaring and no-one to complain.  But since I am happily married I have to take into account another person’s sensibilities and taste.  I manage about an hour in the morning on my own setting up the café, and then when I am painting or some other household repair or gardening I listen again.  It is almost always from the laptop nowadays or on my Walkman.  And I agree, digital sound, even with semi-decent speakers, isn’t that brilliant.  But it is better than nothing.

I used to have quite a good set-up in the old days.  Record player, double cassette player, amplifier and large speakers.  But one by one they have failed or no longer work so well, and I have not replaced them.  You never know, I always promise myself to buy a decent system again one day.  But our lives out here are so busy I am not sure I would really find the time to just sit and listen.  Not that I ever really did that; I would usually paint or write while the music played.  And in a strange way it almost doesn’t matter how you listen to the music, it is what you listen to that is important.  So now my Walkman is my ‘bells on my toes’ and my laptop which has all my music on it and with a small but powerful speaker is the rings on my fingers – and I SHALL have music wherever I go.