MOT

Well, we've been up to Scotland, and mostly avoided midges, and visited the Monkey's maker. He showed me how to add hemp, remove hemp, start from scratch when hemp falls off or pushes too far up the joint. He also showed me several alarming things to do with reeds which involved pliers and made me feel pretty much the same way I feel about steeking: very nervous and slightly sick.

I played a little while I was there so that Ian could judge that everything was working right. The fan noted that I looked nervous. I certainly was. It's not often I play for another piper, someone who can see and hear every fluffed, missed or mangled grace. I feel more worthy than I did of my Monkey, and Ian is such a nice man I am sure nothing like this ever crosses his mind, but I feel that if I was an instrument maker I might feel a little peeved about having my beautiful instrument in the hands of one who doesn't quite deserve it.

The Monkey's joints are all now really air tight, and I felt a difference when I played yesterday. I also loosened off the bellows strap as Ian says if I wear it lower down I'll stop pushing the bellows askew, but that felt very odd indeed, as if the bellows were about to slip off me entirely. I also thought too much about bellows and bag as Ian noted, as the fan has done, that I tend to snatch the bellows a bit and not use their full extent. So all in all it was a bit like getting the car back from an MOT or service. On the plus side everything is clean and shiny and tight and responsive, but then the seat will have been pushed back, the mirrors adjusted and the radio tuned to something awful. It's great to know that everything is in full working order, but it takes a while to get everything feeling familiar again.