Daily Diary

Silver Octopus Studios

Daily Diary

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August 2009

The end of another chapter in my life fast approaches since by Friday (21st August), the van will be gone. I shall certainly miss it since it has been my home for two years but it is now time for a change back to a more normal life and time to settle down - albeit on a fairly temporary basis for the next couple of years or so. My return from Spain for the moment, I see as a little blip in my long term plans to eventually settle there.

Eventually, I reckon that I will probably settle in Navarra and get another van so that I can winter in the South though of course, I may very well get a house in the South for the winter instead of a van. the future is a bit uncertain at the moment and all things can change. By the time all of this becomes possible, the economic climate will have little effect on my decisions.

However, probably the most useful aspect of my sojourn in Iberia has been the realisation that I don't need some great four bed-roomed house and small but comfortable is the byword. Like many, I have lived my life with the expectation of what if........ I have learned that it's a complete waste of money to invest in facilities to cater for the very occasional multitude of people which is what I have done in the past. What is the point in having 3 or 4 bedrooms when the largest amount of people one can expect to have on even a semi regular basis is one or two ?

It might cost a bit at the time but entertaining a host of persons in a restaurant and putting them up in nearby hotels is one hell of a lot cheaper than having the accommodation and facilities to fit the very rare occasions where this sort of thing might happen. My friend RDS has arrived at the same conclusion and has downsized accordingly even though he has three daughters with all their entourage - most logical and sensible.

Apart from anything else, there are the ongoing and ever increasing maintenance costs for repairs, heating et al which just don't justify the occasional big shindig. There is also the horrendous clearing up afterwards. Is this age catching up with me ?

Certainly my aged parents are a moot case in point where they have a good four bedrooms yet three of them are so filled up with detritus that it is impossible for even one person to stay these days. My mother seldom cooks now - even for just the two of them because it is "all too much". There was a time when she would cater for 20 or more. Of course it was very nice but it would also be equally nice in some local hostelry. Fortunately if this was ever to happen to me in Spain, then my experiences have shown me that most decent hostelries are more than happy to allow you to enter the kitchen and create or home prepare and bring as an addition or alternative. (They aren't so strict there).

But much of this misses the point....... I don't have a multitude of kids and my worthwhile friends would be easily accommodated in a modest facility so I don't think that there will ever be some great mansion in the future.

From now on, I reckon there will be little point in keeping a daily diary in the way that I have done so for the past couple of years apart from as a footnote. There is so little exciting happening in my life at the moment. I'm not exploring, I'm not discovering new things particularly and the occasional news worthy event can be introduced as required. I know that a lot of people around the world have followed my travels and I thank them for their interest and support over the period.

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I certainly miss being in Spain:- The weather in the UK leaves so much to be desired for a start and of course, the country has had it's best summer for years after a particularly severe winter. This time last year I was busy repairing and tuning the organ in the historic church of Santa Maria ready for my recital and subsequent Sunday paper interview and 9 o'clock News interview on National Television. This year, I am wondering what the future holds.

I must confess to being non-plussed by my work on the sample libraries.........On the one hand I have all the necessary stops to create pretty much any instrument that I desire. Unfortunately, through headphones, the results are not quite what I expected. Experience tells me that what sounds incorrect over headphones may very well sound perfect over speakers in a given acoustical space through several amplifiers and speakers. If I sanitise the stops too much so that they sound wonderful over headphones then equally, I know that the result over multi channels and speakers will sound like any other electronic organ.

The problem remains - the compromise is neither one nor the other. It seems the only answer is to prepare two different versions of ostensibly the same thing. Neither will work properly in the wrong environment and both will work superbly in the correct one.

I have always believed that it is impossible to create an organ that fulfills all requirements in all situations. This brings the whole aspect of Hauptwerk so much closer to the very thing that it seeks to emulate. One size does not fit all and for HW to be really successful, it requires that each instrument be tailored for its desired resting place.

EVENTS PRIOR TO THIS DATE HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE DAILY DIARY ARCHIVE TO FACILITATE LOADING OF THIS PAGE ETC.

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