vivdunstan

I was awake a little today, so managed finally to go through some old things Mum gave me recently. Including many old photos. Lots of little me at school, especially primary school. Lots of Borders Schools Orchestra things, including a photo of us all. Lots of 1978 Melrose Festival photos - I was a train bearer. And some lovely graduation photos of Martin and me in 1994. Here's one of the more informal graduation photos. And after that is a photo of my granddad at the top of Melrose Abbey. He was the last in a long line of family beadles or church officers. Who, among other things, rang the abbey bell regularly.

Looking in the British Newspaper Archive, trying a search for where my Kerr ancestors were living in the early 1900s, among the Cheviot Hills near Yetholm. And found great uncle Andrew - a shepherd - winning loads of sheep competitions. Need to gather these up properly and blog about them sometime! Great Uncle Andrew was a fantastic character who I was lucky to meet several times when I was young. My last visit to his home (by then in Yetholm) saw him get young me to try snuff (!), and also fill me and Mum full of Selkirk bannock. Oh and I drove the three of us to Kelso to buy him more snuff!

This will be blogged on my dedicated genealogy blog. On another branch of the Scottish family a gg-uncle at Melrose was a well known breeder of Border collies and a sheepdog trials judge.

Just been chatting in the comments on my accordion tuner's Facebook page with someone who may have sold us one or more accordions at Clinkscales between 1976 and 1981, and also brought down my first accordion teacher from Lanarkshire to work in Melrose. Bill Sharp was my first accordion teacher when I was aged just 4 in 1976. And again later in the late 1980s before uni. Small world!

Mum loves to recall the story of little me in Melrose glued to the accordion shop's windows. And absolutely sure, though aged just 4, that I wanted one. And always going back to look in the window some more.

I told my Mum I'd learn a brand new accordion tune for her on my wee French chromatic button accordion, and play it for her when I see her around her birthday time. One I haven't learned before on any accordion. I picked a French musette standard, and when I told her on the phone which one I'd picked she sang the start of the tune to me. So well that was a good choice! Anyway had my second good go at it today. I picked a rather ambitious arrangement, that would be a challenge even on a piano accordion I've played for approaching 50 years. Never mind a chromatic button accordion (where a button grid replaces the piano keyboard portion) that I've only been learning for 7 months. But I can build it up slowly. And already on go two I am playing most of it pretty much through, at speed. Including the gorgeous middle run sequence of 3-note harmonies on the right side. I am still learning where the notes are on that right hand mass of anonymous black buttons. Especially on the upper octaves. But learning another tune like this is a good challenge for me. I am managing to find the right buttons ok and just working out on the fly the fingers to use. Unlike some beginning chromatic button accordionists I don't want to write down the fingers I use for each note on the sheet music, and prefer to feel my way through. Anyway going good! And I have a couple of months to polish it. I will not be uploading any recording of it anywhere before I've played it for Mum in person.

Got a leaflet with the post about coping with power cuts and registering for priority needs help (I did that, years ago). I was wryly amused at the advice to have an analogue phone to plug in if need be during a power cut. Which I don’t think will work when UK copper phone lines are turned off by 2025. Martin didn’t know about that at all. In case anyone else doesn’t here’s a helpful page.

If my 86-year-old mum is still alive then I know she will struggle with this. She has never signed up for broadband or switched to a mobile phone. We also still largely use our landline for incoming calls. I know many people are now primarily mobile phone users, but mobile phone signals can be patchy, especially in rural areas, including much of Scotland. And VOIP doesn't work in power cuts.