Family Time

Me and My Brother, Will

Had the best couple of days. Bumped into the brother of a school friend, a guy I didn't really know before, and we ended up drinking heavily and sitting outside the church in the wee hours of the morning, putting the world to rights. Excellent night.

Then headed over to Leicester with Merrick to meet up with my brother Will (Merrick's son) and his friend Richard. I wrote about Richard back in 2015, the last time I was in the UK. He is an incredibly talented luthier. Unfortunately, he was finding it difficult to make a living from this, so took a job at a local hospital and - ironically (and painfully) - shattered his knee.

Several months, and a large dose of morphine, later we managed to drag him out for dinner. Or 'an airing', as Merrick called it. Just want to give him a huge hug and put him on a plane to Rwanda to come and build pianos. Meanwhile, he's busy fixing up an old motorbike to keep himself focused. Coming down off the painkillers is really taking its toll.

Meanwhile, my brother is busy riding one. He offered me a ride but I'm trying very hard not to break myself before going home.

It was such a nice meal. I went for the all-day breakfast. I can't seem to get enough of those at the moment. Just can't get it quite right in Rwanda. Plus, the all-important black pudding, which I don't think I've ever seen there. Followed up with a couple of pints and a dollop of mint chock chip ice-cream.

Then, the day after, I popped over to Market Harborough to catch up with my awesome cousin, Tamsin, who came to visit Kigali last year on her round-the-world trip. I have an extremely large extended family, so we really didn't know each other until last year, and it's always very pleasant to meet members of your family that you really get on with and feel glad to be related to. Her mum, Aunty Anna, is married to my mum's younger brother, Fred.

L-R: Me, Aunty Anna and Tamsin

Aunty Anna also made me a very special chocolate cake with African animals.

Naturally, the first thing that occurred was a beeline towards my aunt's piano. Sadly, I didn't have my kit with me, so couldn't tune it for her, but it was interesting to have a look inside. I've never seen an action quite like this. Usually, there's a little piece of metal in front of the hammers called a damper spoon, which lifts the damper off the string as the hammer hits, but this one has an extremely convoluted mechanism involving a button in front of the whippen, attached to a long metal pole which lifts the dampers. Really intricate and a little bit weird. Apparently it's known as a 'birdcage'. No obvious manufacture markings or anything to help date it, but the keys are plastic rather than ivory, and it's not in bad condition, so possibly not that old.

We had a fascinating time looking through really old family pictures of my mum and her brothers and sisters in their early 20s. This was my mum. Think there's a likeness?

Then me and Tamsin went for a walk along the canal, ending up back at the pub for a drink.

Got home to find mum raiding the garden for redcurrants. It's been a bumper crop this year.

And Merrick made very yummy cheese and corned beef sandwiches with Branston pickle, before I persuaded him to tinkle with the piano.

 

I sort of feel it's only fair, after secretly filming Merrick, that I should share my own practice tape. It's quite difficult when I say I'm trying to build a piano because people ask me if I play. That's extremely hard for me to answer, because I have some stunningly talented cousins, such as Alx and Sali, who can really, really play. So, in that respect - no. I can hit the keys, but I can't make it sing. The point of building pianos was to finally have an instrument to improve on. I'd like to be able to play. Sometimes I film myself to listen to the playback, though I tend to play at double speed when I practise, to try to get my fingers moving.

Anyway, back to reality. Been busy packing, ready to head back to dad's in Gloucester. Got two cases of 23kg each. Mum dug out a second suitcase for me and it had a couple of flight labels on it. I think they might even have been from my first trip to Rwanda. Apparently, I left Brussels in 1945... thought it felt like a long flight.