Mostly Pianos

Bit of quiet time recently. Been busy stringing up the piano. Just finished the treble section with the help of some guest stringers. We've been inviting friends and local musicians to come and put a strings on. You can read about that here and here.

One of the guest stringers was André, who is lead guitarist in my favourite Kigali band, Viva Beat. That's where the picture of me and Harris was taken in the last post. They are absolutely fab, so it was a real honour to have him come and put a string on.

Dés and I also did a little interview with BBC World Service, which you can listen to here. This is a picture of Désiré in my home whilst we were recording the interview. We're really grateful to have been given the coverage, though it adds a little pressure to making it work.

Also been discovering my practical side, working out how to replace felt with leather and how to cut that to precisely the correct shape for the frame. Figured out you could do it by tracing the frame with masking tape, transferring that to the leather and cutting around it. All those days in art class at school learning to trace around my hand obviously weren't waste.

In other news, my foot still hasn't healed (heeled?). It was going okay, until I misjudged the shower step and tore the ligament again. Hurt like hell, but thankfully recovered much quicker and I'm back to where I was just before I did that. Dosed up on diclofenac and ice compresses the past few days, but now doing okay.

Mmm, the yummy pills.

The fluid around the foot just isn't quite shifting, so I limped down to the doctor on Saturday and he referred me across town to Legacy Clinic for an ultrasound. It turns out my leg is a boy! 

Err, no. It was a DVT scan for deep vein thrombosis and any vein obstructions, just to make sure that it was just a muscular issue and that I hadn't seriously damaged myself. Thankfully, all came back clear and it was a really good clinic. Just turn up, pay £30, take a ticket and in you go. Results within fifteen minutes. Excellent healthcare.

Blue and red show my vein and artery.

I didn't think there was anything majorly wrong with me, but it was nice to get peace of mind, especially as I will be doing a lot of air travel next month. 

Today, I put music on whilst stringing the piano and got so engrossed in the work that I completely forgot about my foot. Realised I was having a little boogie and that it wasn't hurting, so I think I'm on the mend. Which is good, as when it first happened it led to me waking up in strange places because I couldn't walk home...

The kids' playroom at my friend's restaurant. I'm a little concerned the unicorn is giving me the eye. 

Nice thing about waking up in a restaurant is that you don't have to go far for food. 

Speaking of which, my ex-roomies left a ton of stuff when they left, including a half-eaten bag of semolina. I didn't realise that was pretty much the same as couscous, so I was Googling what you could do with it. I stumbled upon an American breakfast dish called 'grits', which is like a quick-form semolina pudding. I think they call it 'grits' because it's like eating grit. I'd heard of it, but had no idea what it was. It's actually pretty good. So, I've been eating a lot of grits for breakfast. World cuisine, huh?

Had a slight oopsie when a friend came to visit. She misjudged reversing out of the drive and this happened.

Africa never ceases to amaze me. Whilst I'm standing there thinking 'Oh shit, we need to find a jack, call a tow truck, hire a crane...' five men appear off the street (a moment ago completely deserted), gather up some rocks and manhandle the car back onto the road. Job done.

I shall leave you with this entertaining cartoon from The Guardian. Having pulled out of Europe, mostly on grounds of immigration, our Prime Minister has now decided that what the UK really needs is stronger trade alliances with Africa.