Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Sir Paul McCartney

Since my last post Robin has been busy.
He performed his second concert on the Queen Victoria and was very pleased with the result.
As I have said before, he doesn't often say that he is happy with a performance, so this must have been quite a concert.
He has had many lovely comments from members of the audience which always helps when dealing with time away from home.
But he is now at approximately 30 000 feet, flying from Istanbul to Manchester, and is expected home later today.

So whilst I prepare for his return, and tend to a sick son number one, you can read about a new piece of music composed by the Royal composer, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
The piece, 'Liber Pulsationis Fabulatoris', has been dedicated to another Sir, Sir Paul McCartney.
Maxwell Davies appears to have a sense of humour as the first three letters spell, 'Lib Pul Fab'.
To find out more, read this article by Mike Wade, in The Times.

Time Machine

Well, it has been rather a surreal day.
Robin set off early to drive down to London.
Those following Twitter yesterday will have seen that we did in fact try to purchase a train ticket.
After a frustrating time 'on line' we discovered that we would have to pay one part of the journey twice, just to collect the tickets...
As the cost was already nearing that of a small sized family car, a quick visit to the railway station followed.

The surly man at the desk assured us that it was indeed possible to get from Manchester to London, but he couldn't guarantee getting home again....
What! We're talking two major cities here.

To cut a long story short, Robin got up early this morning and drove instead.
He has had a successful rehearsal with Izzy Cooper and is particularly pleased with the Villa Lobos and Manuel de Falla arrangements he has been working so hard on recently.

Meanwhile here at Hillhouse I made an innocent comment on Twitter about son number two wanting to make a time machine.
From this I have received advice on black holes and wormholes, made new friends, and it appears that my progress has been followed as far afield as Michigan, where an order has already been placed if successful in my quest.

Well, I can report that it has been an extremely successful day.
Our time machine is complete.
So far we have travelled to the Jurassic period, met pirates on the high seas, a cyberman (Dr Who style) and Alien Spacemen, which were obviously from the future.

The patent is pending, but as you are such a trustworthy lot out there in the blogosphere, I shall let you into our secret.

Requirements:

1 plastic bucket - large
lots of paper
lots of sellotape
crayons
plastic poles

and most importantly, the mindset of a 5 year old.

As for my order, my Twitter friend, Ari in Michigan, the cost, well I'm afraid it's priceless.
And if you think I've lost my mind now, just wait until you read my ramblings after another 5 1/2 weeks of school holidays...