spotlight on...
Guest contributor John 'Ed' Smith.
Well, as the quiet one on the Committee .... I thought I had better pen a few words, although writing may not be my "forte"?!
That's a strange word as I recognise the word Forte to be a musical term meaning Loud. Opposite to the word "Piano" meaning soft. Did you know that the full title is Piano-forte? (Quiet & Loud) unlike the
harpsichord that was fairly bland in the volume scale.
Where is all this going, I hear you say? Well, I play the piano(forte) and Cornet in a couple of Brass Bands. My heart and soul is in the Salvation Army, which I have attended as my church all my life (21 years - LIAR!).
Santa brought a Digital Piano last year - (that's electronic digital not finger digital!!) and I love chilling out playing simple melodies.
I assist with leading the Songster Brigade (Choir) there too and accompany the congregational singing on the piano'. Apart from Christian worship, I enjoy playing Table Tennis weekly (or is it weakly?), something I
resurrected after 40 years, when I gave up playing Squash, or to give it the correct name "Squash Racquets." I have played one full season and as you read this I will probably have started playing in the second season. The team did pretty well last season - mid table - so perhaps we will push for promotion from Sunderland League 3!!
I love travelling, especially abroad and have been fortunate to have enjoyed some super holidays, particularly in the last fifteen(?) years. Prior to that Diane ("her indoors") and "yours truly" holidayed (is there such a verb?) mainly in the UK. From Cornwall to the Outer Hebrides, these were great too. Perhaps it is just that I enjoy being away from the pressures of working at the Civic Centre!
We had our honeymoon in 1980 travelling down to Torquay via overnight stays in Harrogate, Rugby, Swindon, Exeter - how come couples now wed in Timbuktu or Madagascar, or other exotic places?
Where have I been? I toured America (West) in a Ford for almost 4 weeks, hitting San Diego, Los Angeles, California Coast road, San Francisco ("I left my heart in ..."), the great parks ("canny trees like"), Las Vegas
("Kerr-ching"), Hoover Dam (too hot man!!), Grand Canyon (One smallish hole!), Route 66 (Get your kicks on ..."), and so on !!
Then there were many others including a tour of Italy, a Caribbean Cruise for our Silver Wedding , an island holiday in the Maldives, and this year Thailand. Holidays on Lake Garda, Ibiza, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Majorca now pale into insignificance!!
As I enjoy photography I have lots of memories for when my memory goes and I start repeating myself. Then there were others including a Caribbean Cruise for our Silver Wedding ....
I enjoy using the computer for many activities, surfing the web, keeping in touch by email, making MP3 recordings, compositing music, the odd computer game (as long as it takes no longer than 30 minutes!), and of course creating audio visual presentations from my photos. You should come round some time to see the holiday pics ....(Yawn)
I love driving, and as I write this, I am anticipating a new car being delivered in 45 hours 30 minutes ..... 29 minutes .... 28 (Stop it !!). I have cleaned the Honda and valeted inside - it really has been a super car,
in fact now it's clean I fancy keeping it instead.. No!
I am looking forward to a couple of odd weeks in England in the car in September and October. We have no children but have a gorgeous little Ugandan God-daughter so we feel like Grannies without having had the
"pleasure" of the trials of our own kids! We are all off to Yorkshire soon and we are like bairns at the prospect of the break together!!
Of course, I am actively committed to Sunderland Advanced Motorists group, but observing is difficult to fit in to a busy and regular schedule of activities. The newsletter is usually composed in the early hours of the
morning ("So that's the reason ...") and if you're wondering... No this is 5 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, within half an hour of the suggestion that I might write some script. You see if I don't do it straight away, it might never be done!!
Yours truly
John Smith's (Smooth not bitter)