Fiddling again ...

Well, it wasn't really a practice, but I certainly was practising! Having resolved that I should revisit my violin, which I took up when I was 11 and had some 10 wonderful years of orchestral playing as a result, I had help to retune the strings and straighten the bridge yesterday. Today I played it. I was encouraged by my pal, who's been having the greatest fun taking up the recorder again and had books of music that we could play as rather strange duets. We set up the music stand in her sun room and while the rain battered on the roof we tootled and sawed away for well over an hour.

The result? Well, we had fun, that's for sure. My pal was surprised that I could still find the notes with no bother, but I think it must be like riding a bike: muscle memory or something. The main problems, apart from lack of suppleness, were faulty tuning - my hands have grown since I got this violin at the age of 14 - and the unpleasant sound when I lost concentration and let the bow slide off course. I shall have to work on making the correct angles a matter of habit once more.

But I won't be able to do that just yet. Did I mention the biggest problem of all? Three of the fingers on my left hand have impressive blisters on their tips ...