Happy as a borboleta!

 At the grand old age of 66 I have finally fulfilled a teenage dream and had my first guitar lesson. 

It was a perfect day, so I walked the back route through the Lee Valley, almost all the way there,  and delighted in the dancing butterflies, taking the route with me.   To my relief, the teacher, did not faint with shock when I arrived, although he rubbished the guitar I have been nursing for years,  and mainly talked - though I did get to play Happy Birthday and attempt some chords - which is fair enough for a first session , which was free.   And three more have been booked!  I will have to borrow his guitar, but suffice it to say I almost skipped home the mile or so and as I danced a little song came to me about the little borboleta floating by.    Rarely have I felt so happy. 

Originally I was on a waiting list as a teenager to have lessons, but then the rumour circulated that the man was not to be trusted, so when my place came up, I turned it down.    In today's climate we are rightly aware of child safety and it is clear that the rumour then was attempting the same thing,  but I have no idea whether there was anything in the rumours so shame on me and I felt too scared to tell me parents about things so they never knew why I did not do the lessons.   Meanwhile my piano teacher gave up on me, and in truth even though I have a piano at home, I can scarcely play more than my 11 year old self could.   And with arthritic shoulders etc perhaps this is a dream that has arrived a bit too late, but I will give it a go, 

I had also planned to have a sewing lesson this week too, but had to work, however, I was crap at sewing at school,  and for a long time have wanted to try again, so I will try and reschedule,  old age a chance to be a teenager again. 

Whilst I have been very happy, all over England and now Europe flooding on a virtually unprecedented scale seems to illustrate again how serious the climate catastrophe is, yet sadly the Green Party seems to be going through the types of problems normally associated with the bigger parties.  Both leaders have stood down recently over various issues including trans rights. 

Italy V England.

 Amazingly we are still in with a chance of winning the European Football Championship,  it has brought joy across the nation. Tomorrow night millions of us will be watching football with a knot in our stomachs.    I still remember a school project I did when England won the world cup,  I can see the kids coming home now with their England flags and they are clearly doing something similar.    After a year or more with the pandemic it is bringing joy.  However, it is not uncontroversial.  The thousands watching the games - people are worried that is spreading the virus and whether it is or not the virus is spreading again.  But we are told the vaccine will keep us safe. It is hard to know.   

Meanwhile I am trying to enjoy the summer and actually prefer to do things before we fully open up and things are absolutely packed, so I have been to an exhibition and a social distanced concert with violinist Nicola Benedetti, up in London, both of which were fabulous and seen several friends, and I am paying for all this fun, by feeling ugh.    The exhibition was a follow on to a huge community art project that included a march to Whitehall a couple of years ago to celebrate women getting the vote.   It was housed in a placed called the London Scottish, so these wonderful works celebrating women's power,  were exhibited against a background of soldering and war. 

Whilst in London,  and after the exhibition, the friend I was with, who also has M.E,  was suddenly so ill she had to just go home and recover.  I know I sometimes get like this and I hate it when I feel like that, sometimes I just try and find somewhere to sleep and rest, luckily although it was horrid for my friend, we were a relatively short taxi ride back to her place and safety, but whilst it was at its worse it really was horrid.    The condition is mostly manageable thank goodness, but it still sometimes comes back to bite one.  It has taken me a week to recover and my friend is still recovering. It is the backdrop to our lives so thank goodness for Wimbledon and the likes of Raheem Stirling for making it a memorable summer.   Good luck tomorrow.