Anežka pushing her chin out at me, Malcolm screaming blue murder.

Playin me ole heart out.

It's finally Spring, the first daffodils have struggled up through the winter-beaten ground. Yellow flowers are my favourite, equally suitable for weddings and funerals. Other anonymous plants are tentatively pushing up rubbery green spikes, looking as if they'd shoot back underground at the next frost. We're curious to see what has survived. Dozens of bulbs, cuttings and other odds and ends were planted in early Autumn last year, so many I have no idea where anything is. Every evening, now the light lasts longer, is an adventure into the garden to see what's new among the rotting leaves of last year's swift autumn - winter transition. A myriad of unknown little plants cover the ground before the grass gets a hold and it all gets mown away. Spiders dash nervously over the bare ground, transparent mosquitoes and mayflies soak up the damp midday sunlight and shiver under cold stones at night.

The Band is 'playing away' in Prague tomorrow to play at a ceilidh in ancient Vysehrad, the fortress of the mediaeval Czech kings. It will be a long and gruelling event from 8 till late, playing for the over-enthusiastic Prague Caledonian Club, perfect in every detail (very unlike us - five rustic north-Bohemian mountain dwellers stretching the middle age spread).

And before I forget to add my voice to the madding crowd, Free Tibet and Sack Robert Mugabe.

It was Easter Monday a week or so ago, so we escaped the hullaballoo and went to Kutná Hora, a delightful town about 70 miles SE of here. Historic silver mining town, once the capital of this great yet little country. The pic shows the Town Hall.

Will post some pics (and hopefully an mp3 or something) of last weekend's big-time better-late-than-never St Patrick's Ball. The band was in good form I would say; put it this way, they wouldn't let us go home till nearly 3am.

Am trying to make rough plans to go to Edinburgh for a week or so for the NM event, but will have to wait and see.

In memoriam

Today I received, as did others, a circular from St Mary's about the memorial concert for Nigel. I was very moved to be asked to play the Strauss Metamorphosen with a reconstructed orchestra of ex-Nigel pupils, but I'll leave that to the professionals. However, I will try as much as I can to at least go, I owe it to him. But I must admit to being a little fraught at the prospect of seeing so many fellow pupils, who I haven't seen for maybe twenty years, all at the same time at such an emotional moment. The circular was sent to many who I have lost contact with, and now I find I don't have the courage to write to them. Why one requires courage to do such a thing I don't know. But, as I wrote in my reply to Ms Ellison (who she?),

"St Mary's has had a lasting and positive influence on many aspects of my life, and unknowingly provides me with inspiration and guidance today, even after so many years. I am indebted to those teachers who struggled to enable me to see and hear my way in the world, in particular Audrey Innes, Lyell Cresswell and Nigel Murray, whose recent death saddened me greatly."

I will try to go. It's far and expensive. But as I said, I owe it to the man. He tried against all odds to nurture in me an inner understanding of the violin. If I compare myself to his other pupils he had a particularly hard job with me, maybe he even lost the battle. But his approach, his teaching (and his enthusiasm for hillwalking) instilled in me a special appreciation of how valuable it is to have a musical understanding of the world we inhabit.

I will try to go.

Messiaen - The Music Point

Today spent a fascinating hour doing spontaneous interpreting for a meeting of the Association of Czech Music Schools with the EMU (European Music School Union) where both sides discovered (through yours truly) that they in fact share the same aims and ambitions. Which are, by the way, that we do not send our children to school to learn what we teach, but

1) to learn their craft,
2) to learn social responsibility, &
3) to inherit, nurture and pass on their cultural identity.

Make of that what you will.

Present at the meeting was a rather fascinating gentleman - Albrecht Goetze - a German composer and I suppose performance artist (formerly with the Royal Shakespeare Company). He is the driving force behind the "Meetingpoint Music Messiaen" in Gorlitz, not a stone's throw from here, where Messiaen was imprisoned in the POW camp StaLag VIIIa for 7 months during WWII. Messiaen wrote his Quator pour la Fin du Temps there, now the site of a new centre for young European musicians to compare their various experiences and beliefs. A hellish place which once screamed racial and religious hatred, today breathes tolerance and an attempt at musical understanding.

Albrecht is one of the handful of people you meet in your lifetime who, without consciously trying, change the way you see the world. If you understand German, go to the website and investigate. If, like me, you feel that children can learn more about their peers through music than through most other subjects on the curriculum, go to Gorlitz.

www.messiaen.themusicpoint.net

Photo finish

This is a long and unfinished story. I have an annoying habit of writing to those in authority challenging their authority (yesterday I wrote to the EU Commission complaining that they included a disclaimer in the EU Charter for Human Rights, effectively rendering the whole document null and void). The following extracts come from correspondence with NorthLink, the ferry company operating the service between Scotland and Shetland. They have decided to introduce a photographic ID system, apparently clamp down on apparent terrorism (pull the other one) on their ships, which I find I cannot agree with. My first email to them was a bit stroppy:

Dear Sirs, I hereby refuse to identify myself photographically to any Northlink staff. And I dare Northlink to deny me passage home to Shetland because of this. Never has any evidence been published by any respected scientific body to suggest that photographic identification reduces any hair-brained 'terrorist' threat.

To which their reply was:

Dear Mr Edwards, Thank you for your correspondence of 28/01/2008. For a number of reasons it has become increasingly important for NorthLink to be able to have confidence that those travelling on its vessels are who they say they are. We are aware of recent incidents - several of which have been reported in the press - where passengers have travelled under false names specifically to avoid identification. So while we know that it can and does happen, we have a responsibility to do what we can to ensure that we know who is on the ship at any time. The requirement for photographic identification at check-in will therefore be introduced from 1 May 2008. While we understand that some customers may not be at all happy at this change in procedure, should you wish to travel with NorthLink after 1 May, we would strongly recommend that you take the opportunity now to acquire appropriate personal identification. While it is not our intention to prevent people from travelling freely, should you be unable to present appropriate ID when requested, after 1 May there is a risk that you may be refused passage. Our terms and conditions of carriage make clear the extent of passenger rights, together with our responsibilities and limitation of liability as a ferry operator. Copies of our terms are available from our port offices, on-board the vessels or on-line at www.northlinkferries.co.uk. If you have already registered with NorthLink to access the discounted islander fares, then your current customer ID card can be updated. From February, should you be able to take your card and a current passport sized photo to the terminal then our staff will be happy to update it to include your photo, this or any of the number of forms of ID which we have publicized will be entirely acceptable. Again, thank you for taking time to write expressing your concerns. We do hope that come May we will be able to have you travelling as a passenger with us. Regards, Lesley Johnston Customer Service Co-ordinator NorthLink Ferries Ltd


I didn't like that at all, so became all polite and firm:

Dear Ms Johnston, Thank you for your reply. Your arguments regarding photographic identity checks are in my opinion - and that of many others - flawed. Daily I travel on buses and trains, go to theatres and walk through crowded shopping centres without suffering the indignity of 'proving' who I am. It is also my view, shared again by others, that your requirement for me to identify myself photographically to you, an internal transport company, on purchasing a one-off ticket (not a season ticket or loyalty card or some such thing), is illegal and encroaches upon my right to privacy. However, if I am wrong I would be grateful if you could direct me to the relevant law which permits you to carry out such vetting.

However Ms Johnston failed to answer the question regarding law and she passed the buck thus:

Dear Mr Edwards, Thank you for your reply. We are acutely aware of the potential inconvenience for passengers. The company is however committed to do what it can to help ensure that those travelling on the ferries to and from Orkney and Shetland are who they say they are. Our terms and conditions of carriage are available from our port offices, on-board the vessels or on-line at www.northlinkferries.co.uk and these give details of passenger rights, our responsibilities and our limitations of liability as a ferry operator. Should you have any further queries on this matter, please feel free to contact our Chief Executive, Bill Davidson, at info@northlinkferries.co.uk . Yours sincerely, Lesley Johnston Customer Service Co-ordinator

So I did as she suggested.

Dear Mr Davidson, The following is a copy of correspondence I have had with Lesley Johnston, Customer Service Co-ordinator of Northlink. I feel my questions regarding photographic identification have not been answered satisfactorily. I question your legal right to demand photographic identity of passengers travelling on Northlink ferries. CalMac and other large carriers (operating within the British Isles) do not require such identification. Why therefore does Northlink feel it necessary to invade my privacy? I think it has been proved that photographic ID does little or nothing to deter 'terrorists', if that is the issue here. I was under the impression that I was able to move freely throughout the British Isles on public transport without having to identify myself to anyone unless such a person is so authorised by the State. If I am mistaken please refer me to the article in Scottish law which permits your company to demand photographic identification.


And received the following:

Dear Mr Edwards

Thank you for your further correspondence on this matter. Mr Davidson has indicated that he will respond on his return from leave on or around 20 February.

In the meantime should you have any other query or concern please feel free to contact me (details below).

Regards
Gareth Crichton

Commercial Director
NorthLink Ferries Ltd

So it's gone to the top, and the top's away on holiday. Typical.