Monkey love

It's strange, this, how I have been swept off my feet by my little Monkey. I love piping so much! I've been playing for so long it's like falling  suddenly, hopelessly, madly in love with an old friend. At least, I hope it's not hopelessly: I hope this is the beginning of a long relationship. I just want to play and play, and I love every second of it. I don't know whether it is the Monkey, or whether the Monkey's arrival just happens to coincide with this sudden surge of piping love. However - let's not reason this away, let's just enjoy.

Played for 45 minutes plus some extra time while waiting for bits of dinner to do. Somme again. Not sounding like the CD version, but then he's playing all the grace notes and, as tends to happen when you play pipe gracing on strings, they come out as strings of extra notes.  Tried the Cock o' the North (known to me in childhood as Chase me Charlie - Chase me Charlie, chase me Charlie, I've lost a leg of my drawers, chase me Charlie, chase me Charlie, lend me one of yours). It seems to get played with the Somme a fair bit. Ceol Sean has it as a march or a quickstep and neither is quite coming together. I am sight reading very well in terms of notes, but note length, timing, difficult to get right when I don't know a tune.

Also tried Mrs McL of R again, Kantara to El Arish (which the fan recommended not so long ago, and I didn't get on with, but it's in one of my books). Also found Delvinside in a version that is much closer to the one Iain MacInnes plays.

Then Whaling and Flett round and round, and once Whaling ran into the King, which became Galloway, and I just play on and on. Battle, Alick (finally humming this at work). Droneless still, but it's so comfortable, like breathing, like cuddling a little velvet Monkey, like love.