Thank-you Jenny! ...

- for welcoming me into the world of the easter oratorio, as we sat at the piano at 'The Acorns' going through every note and its significance till I knew all the major works quite by heart - and with understanding:

- for marrying such a fascinating and exotic husband; Uncle Jim never saw me as anything but a shy and clumsy 'townie', but during stocktaking he marked me up on my nose at three-farthings, and somehow that sense of being valued stayed with me ever since:

- for showing me that the delights of home-baked bread, of ducks' eggs, of home-produced honey and mead, could all belong to a self-evident everyday life:

- for taking seriously my first-caught fish, from Newhaven pier and weighing a glorious half-an-ounce:

- for calling me 'Richard' for the few days when I thought I wanted to follow the family tradition and change my name:

- and finally for taking my 'Baltic partner' Dagmar into your heart on a moment's acquaintance, so she could feel she knew and loved a real English lady:

- for showing me, after my musical path had taken me so far from yours that we almost lost touch, how we could bridge the gap between your polished bel-canto artistry and my improvised renaissance tones, as we met, at Peter's & Marina's wedding, in Handel's 'Where'er you walk':

- for plucking up the courage, as a sprightly youngster of 67, to come and share the adventure of my tiny Norwegian island, and your music with the fishermen's children; and when the piano teacher couldn't play because his hands were all chafed from building the stone foundations of his new house, simply setting to and both playing and singing so that we could realise a life-time's plan and perform Schubert's 'Shepherd on the Rock' together:

- for my first public performance - 'Bless this House' on the clarinet at the Crowborough Music Society, its stately measured tones perfectly suited to my toddler's technique, and to the audience's taste:

- for a haven in the country during school holidays, where I could feel myself accepted on my own terms, and grow in quite a different way from what term-time offered:

Thank-you Jenny! ...