The Bear has always been a bit ambivalent in his support for my hobbies and interests and so when I took up the flute and the saxophone after retirement I was prepared for a mixture of sneers and encouragements.

The local 'music school' consists of peripatetic lessons in several neighbouring villages at subsidised rates for inhabitants. The 'downside' is that everyone is expected to take part in the 'Auditions' (probably translates as 'concerts' but really means all the parents coming to listen to their offspring but talking through everyone else's performance) which are pretty laid back and sometimes excruciating!

It is not surprising that the Bear wasn't keen to drive me to the end of year 'Audition' last night (I don't drive any more because of sight problems) but the lengths he will go to to avoid it are quite amusing. It started after lunch with a 'bad head' and 'back ache' which necessitated going to bed. He languished there for the rest of the day keeping his eyes tight shut whenever I went through to see how he was. When he showed no signs of waking by 7o'clock I asked Jay if he would drive me there and I would get a lift back with someone else from our village - or telephone if I couldn't.

The venue was about a ten minute journey away and I arrived to find a group of teachers and pupils waiting outside the hall. No-one had a key and the president was talking into his mobile trying to locate one. Eventually a key holder turned up and we all trouped in.

Various people were supposed to have a little practice beforehand but there was nowhere to do it except at the back of the hall so my sax teacher decided to forego our run through of the duet (which we had never played together!). On the other hand, young Sophie and I had worked really hard on our flute duets as our teacher couldn't be there. Besides playing during our lesson time Sophie had come to practise for two half hour sessions at my house. Even so we were not that confident . . . . . . .

The 'concert' started late - as usual - and was the expected mix of good, bad and absolutely terrible. The sax duo went better than expected. Ok, I forgot the repeat, but we finished at the same time and were reasonably in tune.The piano accompaniment for Clarisse was no problem as I had enlarged the music in case of poor lighting but the flute duet was a complete disaster. Poor Sophie, I really let her down. Goodness knows how or why it happened. The first piece wasn't too bad but during the second my sound became fuzzier and we went more and more out of tune with each other! By the end we were about a semitone out!

Never mind, the one advantage of this type of 'concert' is that that kind of thing is accepted and soon forgotten during the distribution of prizes and certificates and 'vin d'honneur' afterwards. It was well past ten o'clock before Clarisse's mum dropped me off.

The Bear was awake and waiting for me to get him something to eat . . . . . . .