I'm sitting outside on a winter's day admiring the beech hedge's spectacular shades of brown and yellow.  Thursday's concert was very enjoyable - we played on the floor rather than using the stage, and had the audience around us in a semicircle, which was much more relaxed. The dance tunes sounded better than ever, much to my surprise given that half the band, for one reason or another, were deps.  I'm not sure our ensemble or intonation were quite what they could have been to do the Muffat sonatas full justice, but we had a pretty good shot. There was a very nice review in yesterday's Herald - here it is.

Playing in the bar afterwards was great fun: Chris, Greg and I joined the piper and guitarist who were already jamming down there, and then Mhairi, who'd given a stunning performance upstairs, led the assembled throng in The Jeely Piece Song and Wild Mountain Thyme, before taking over at the piano when I'd nipped to the loo, to sing The Wild Rover. This is not normal behaviour for a soprano of such stature, but then I remember a few years ago at the St Magnus Festival in Orkney, Mhairi and Jacob Heringman were giving a lute song recital live on Radio 3, and within a couple of hours we were dancing a Strip the Willow in the Festival Club.