Things are certainly moving on at Island - they are expecting all images and copy for the sleeve booklets to be with them this side of Christmas! Ha!Ha!Ha! They think this material is just lying around??
And last we heard, the tapes have turned up from WC so that completes the set now although the sound quality of one or two demo pieces could be a bit dubious. That means I have to revisit the miscellaneous lyrics now and try and finish them off, using RH input and trying to come up with a definitive version to hand over for John to sign off. Could be interesting. He's done loads of work on this already, so it will hopefully just be a case of listening super-carefully. Seems weird that this is how its done - there is no more professional method avaiable to us. The songs don't exist on master tapes, 8 tracks or in any layered or digital form right now and no-one has ever transcribed the lyrics before. As Rob says, it is often the case anyway that real fans do a much better job than music industry gimps. That's why he's scanning and retouching all the artwrok. Again, most of the photography from the period doesn't exist in digital form.
You'd think that once the songs have been re-mastered properly the vocalcould be extracted and played through independently which will give us all a much better clue. Ho hum. Something else to discuss on Saturday. before then I need to revisit and familiarise myself with at least babelfish if I can't find any other OCR software. Email Mr Alldays, that'll turn something up.
Talking of emails, a message from Steve in deveon has turned up out of the blue. Seems it was he that IDd the Least Sandpiper in Devon recently, previously on Birdline as a Temminck's Stint - so well done you sir. Nice one. Glad to see he's still sharpening the old skills. Must admit I'm a little bit envious of that as I do virtually no birding at allthese days, let alone twiggling. His account of red-flnked Bluetail and Squacco Heron too brought back fond memories of my own experiences with these incredible birds.
Thhis is one part of the Earlier Man that I perhaps miss most of all, although its difficult to see how rejuvenating this would fit into the more stable, less fragmented life I lead these days. Its gelling togetehr more coherently every day almost now and the other night as I sat up within Cathedral Oceans I became very aware of this. If you think of music as perhaps the plaster in a mosaic, poured around the little bits of glass and lumps of rock that is me and all the elements of my life then I can feel it strating to set and form an identifiable image for perhaps the first time. "Can you tell what it is yet?" . Well, now I think perhaps I can.
Hand in hand with that tho, and something I can feel beginning to form, is an awareness of the gaps in the picture. Most things are very complete and satisfying, but there are weakness and gaps in the structure that will need to be addressed if I am to see the completed form. Things like my impatience with Kink and D, my insular attitude to others around me and lack of motivational skills. I'm too quick to criticise and slow to appreciate. I need to recognise and allow for tiredness in myself and others. I tend to feel that I have largely got on withthings during my life. Not at the expense of others, but perhaps without many confiding friends, without looking for approval, and without stopping to get bored. There are just SO many exciting things to do and get involved with that bring their own rewards, to me the single most irritating phrase anyone can say is "I can't be bothered". It really grates on me, so when I hear Kink saying exactly this I have real difficulty offering her support and motivation. Perhaps this is reflected in a shift change in the things I read and listen to lately? Darker, more difficult books and music are getting more and more attractive, as the things around me that appeal. It worries me a bit and Trx more - her take on this is perceptive as usual. Its because I am holding up this mirror and can see the personal failings that I ned to face. Its therefore natural to turn away from them. taking up the challenge is much more difficult...
All this comes from the relationships I am developing within and around the church community and I can feel it all lifting me and helping at a very fundamental level. Prayer has proved itself such a powerful medium. Even at Monday night's second PCC meeting in a week, when I expected to be bored silly, the presence of Bishop Paul and the short pieces presented by other members of the PCC about our church and its life was inspiring. So many people do so much and get great satisfaction from it, I feel almost unworthy of my place on the committee. Suddenly printing off and trimming another 1500 fliers for the bizarre seems a breeze, and tonight I need to get a couple of huge posters painted up for displaying around the building at the weekend. I was particularly moved by Carol's work with our link parish in Wakitaka in Busoga, Uganda. Must make an effort to find out more about this and see if i can get Alice and Flo to start some penfriends or something.
More uplifting news last night from Dave. It seems Mervyn is not as ill as we first thought and has responded so well to medication that he's coming home today and should be able to manage on his own. the difficulty has been casued (as we suspected) by a change in his medication that hasn't quite worked. The drugs to control his leukamia aren't necessarily compatible with the drugs that keep another stroke at bay, and now to control future seizures too make the balance even more delicate. Trx wants to go up on Sunday, but is obviously relieved that her Dad's out of any short term danger.