keeping Fit.. (dancing Sopranos..)

                                           More photos from our Posh Do in May!

                                          Katherine and Tara, being  coat hooks (don't ask...)

                                                en route to Daft Eddies on a Bike Day Out..

Sampling the local fare - purely for research purposes.

                                     
And here's everyone getting ready for skinny dipping in Lough Neagh, brrrr, but sadly, I didn't get a shot... (too busy holding the towels and hot whiskey..)

Action Paparazzi...!!! Here's me, trying to work out how to turn the camera on. I know, dangerous to take pics while traveling at such high speeds (ahem).  By this stage I was so hungry the camera was looking tasty.. 

Didn't we have a lovely day, the day we went to...

Saturday was another Bike Day Out which is THE social highlight of the choir month - honest! There are generally a dozen or so of us, and three of us have bought bikes specially, having tried hiring once to see if we liked it, and wow! we couldn't believe that we'd forgotten what great fun it is just getting out on a bike!

The forecast for rain was completely wrong, we had wall-to-wall sunshine. This time we met in Bangor, some having arrived there by train (Mary had to sweet-talk a grumpy attedant at Carrick to let her cross the line so as not to miss her connection, and she made it to Central with 1 minute to skip across the platform onto our train), others driving to Newtownards or Helen's Bay and cycling in from there.  Alice was handicapped by two full panniers as she'd succumbed to the temptations of apples and potatoes from St George's Market.. The route followed the coast through Groomsport and then we criss-crossed through the lanes till eventually we reached Eden Pottery for lunch. However, it was a more circuitous route than it might have been and some of us were peckish by 12, I joined in by 12.30 thinking we MUST be nearly there, and by 1.10 the Maxol station Centra would have suited me rightly...! (Unfortunately, Alice was way ahead of us otherwise I might have got an apple!)

                                                           yummmmm yummm...

However, we kept going, and sure someone has to be last, and as Robin's wife Fiona said to me, she's always glad to see me on the bike day, then she knows she WON'T be last. (Huh!!!)  In my defence, my bike is the heaviest bike in the world, so I'm expecting Popeye-style thighs to match.

                                             Mary and Nuala's high-protein energy-boosters...

You can never have too many hearts, or enough chickens. 

We had a lovely lunch, starting with pudding, obviously to get the blood-sugar back up, and I've requested that next time, we  take in a Spa, purely for my legs..

In this pic we were showing off our new flashing-lights, as its dark so early. Katherine won the prize for Most Flashy as she had an hidden-extra light in her helmet, oh yes, but I won the prize hands down for the Most Blinding Light!!

All in all, a wonderful day off, brilliant for our lungs. Next time, we're doing a Christmas Special, bringing a board game to make lunch even rowdier.. And we're hoping for lights which sing Jingle Bells, and maybe hi-Viz angel-wings would be nice?

So if you haven't been on a bike for years, now's the time. The pace is chat-speed, the only competition is for the biggest ice cream. And if you have a bike going rusty in the garage... Come and join in the fun.
Speak to John in the Tenors or Maureen in the Altos for details.

the Point is...

Well, two consecutive rehearsals for the Mozart Mass in C Minor has left me croaky, so like the rest of the choir, I shant speak all day tomorrow, as the concert is in the evening...
This concert is hot on the heels of Carmina Burana, and is a challenge to everyone. However, our Audience Of One was extremely appreciative of our efforts. I know the actual concert is sold out.

 It would be lovely if we could all take a turn to hear ourselves sing, for the expression on some of our conductors faces, when they like the sound we produce, is lovely to see. If only we could hear what they hear!

I took a few snaps while we were getting ready to rehearse, and was most surprised at the results. While being in the choir is a lovely, friendly experience (among other things), now I see the photos, we look like a very bossy lot indeed... There's definitely a Pointing Thing going on...

This (above) is my favourite, that's a very long Point, full of conviction...

I don't know WHAT Stephen must have done, but he's clearly not taking his telling off very seriously, for here is Hilary not only Pointing, but wagging her finger at him. tut tut! Either that or she's very helpfully giving him the beats in the bar...