Saturday afternoon continued with the answering of emails and I am pleased to say that a friend who has got a cheap holiday to Orlando will be dropping in on me soon.

The Saturday and Sunday masses proceeded as usual with the choir in particular doing a good job at the 1100 and the young instrumentalists getting a special clap at the 7pm Mass.

Monday would ordinarily have been a day off but with some additional events this week I thought it better to take Thursday off instead. So I spent Monday preparing the worship aids for the next 2 weeks and for tonight’s ‘Ring’ Mass of the Tampa Catholic High School. There had been some communication about this and once it seemed there was agreement the goalposts would change and we had to start again. In the event I seized the initiative a presented a fait acomplis for which, in the event they were most grateful.

Folk arrived early for the Tampa Catholic Mass and having learned unfamiliar music myself I played some Bach and Clerambault beforehand. Then there was a procession of 180 students to the G major Fantasia of Bach. There were some amusing moments and also some awful moments. In terms of outfits the girls of course made a real effort to the extent that I thought I was at the Oscars! I had spotted their intention to sing the ‘school song’ at the end. All was going reasonably well until then as my Pastor (an old alumnus) led it from the microphone. Then towards the end and en masse the boys erupted into shouts thus derailing the song in a very raucous manner. The earlier ‘sign of peace’ was a similarly extended ‘love in’ that was uncontrolled. I decided against playing Widor’s Toccata at the end as they had clearly decided not to sing the final song (‘We will make a difference!’). In any case it was 8.30pm.

Back home I checked my mail box to discover a letter from the dental insurance. The total bill for the work proposed was $10,298. I may have to reconsider!

Tuesday morning started early with a Skype call to my friends in Goa. 27 January is always a big celebration for my friends there. The Bue family from Denmark celebrated the birthday of Annette every year. I skyped them at what was 7.30am here and 6pm there! They had started with G&T and would soon be joining others. I was pleased to learn that Martin & Jill were maintaining my tradition of supplying a Christmas pudding and that Steen was supplying the red wine.

That done, I could go to work happily!

Thursday was a ‘day off’ in lieu of Monday’s national holiday falling on a day off. I awoke when my body clock informed me and pootled about the apartment for a while.

You may recall that last week I bought a Yamaha Superwoofer system? Today I tried to get it to work! Having downloaded the manual I realised that I needed an amplifier and speakers to work alongside it! This was turning out to be more expensive than I had planned but thanks to Goodwill thrift shop I was able to develop things cheaply. I picked up some speakers and now all I need is the amplifier which should come into Goodwill some time soon!

In the evening I was back at the church for a J&P Mass to celebrate LIFE. I had not chosen the music and the choices included a few I did not know so 30 minutes of preparation was well-used! For all the hype very few people attended and I had to muse that it was a pity that the RC church is so celebrated for its stance on abortion, perhaps to the extent of other areas of injustice. I was particularly pleased to hear the Pastor widen it to the death penalty.

On FridayI managed to Skype my mum and eventually went down to the beach. It was very windy, a foretaste of what was to come later on. In the evening I attended a charity dinner funding a Cristo Rey school in Tampa. There are already 30 such schools in USA dedicated to providing quality education to those enduring poverty. The education is part funded by each student working 5 days a year with consenting employers. It took place at the Salesian Church in Tampa and also served to honour the ex-pastor at St Lawrence. It was ironic therefore that this was also the day on which the current Pastor announced that he would be moving at the end of May.

I returned home just before the rain. The wind picked up terrifically and kept me from sleep a while.

On Saturday I pottered around again. It was still very blustery outside. I discovered the SPAM folder on my emails and was horrified to find several messages there which needed my attention.

I awoke on Tuesday after a good sleep and was in work by 9am. By 1130 I was enjoying a lunch break with colleagues and then had a funeral. This time the funeral was not delayed and after it I was able to prepare a bit for the school liturgical music practice. Today we looked at ‘Come bring your burdens to God’ (Iona), my psalm ‘You are a priest for ever’ (with the kids pointing at an imaginary priest!), Song from Walker’s Stories & Song 2, Eucharistic Acclamations, Jesus you are bread for us (CW) and Goodness is stronger than evil (Iona). After that I prepared some scores for choir practice and tried to get the Worship Aid printed for Sunday but the printer was malfunctioning.

In the early evening I had been invited to a local church for the welcome concert of their new musician, Kevin Keil. Kevin is quite a big name over here and I hope to meet up with him again soon. The reception afterwards featured some great cookies but both events meant I missed the Faith & beer event happening elsewhere!

I rushed home to watch Obama’s State of the Nation address. What is happening to me?

Today I awoke early after a night of broken sleep. I managed to message my Danish friends just before they left for Goa. I had shared so many holidays in Goa with them that it is a real mutual wrench not to see them this year. I will Skype Annette and the family on 27 Jan when traditionally we celebrate her birthday.

I was in work by 7am setting up for the Mass and printing the Sunday music sheet. The Mass went very well and within 10 minutes of it finishing I was off home. It was a wonderfully sunny day and I was not due in until 3pm for a meeting about silence! In the event the meeting was cancelled and I had an extra couple of hours at home.

I was in work by 5pm and in choir practice at 7.15pm

This all went well and after the rehearsal I went home to relax.

Another week passes and I must resolve to publish the blog more frequently because clearly my memory is fading!

The weather is still unreliable here. It can still be warm but cloudy and there have been relatively few sunny days. Thursday was a sunny day after 11am.

This week followed the usual pattern but on Tuesday afternoon after the usual liturgical music rehearsal with the school I did the first rehearsal with the choir. They will now be the ‘cantors’ at the Wednesday morning whole-school masses. The school choir would not get much to do without this.

The following day we had the school mass and the effect of the choir was well witnessed. After Mass I had a meeting about opportunities for silence during Mass. there would be a follow-up meeting next week.

Choir practice that evening was great and we decided to introduce quite a lot of new stuff for the remainder of the ordinary time before Lent.

On Thursday I had a day in the office working on planning for Triduum. Towards the end of the afternoon we had a meeting to discuss the same.

On Friday I was free and after 11am it brightened up so I went down to the beach for a few hours. Saturday started later than it had for recent weeks. there was no funeral or wedding so I was able to relax until time for the vigil masses. At one of these masses the son of a woman recently dead approached me to discuss the music for the funeral on Monday. He also requested that I sing the chapter 31 from Proverbs about the ‘capable wife’ .

On Sunday it was Masses again with a brief return home in the afternoon. During the weekend I had introduced my ‘Glory to God’ from the New Wine mass at all masses. It had been well-received and although I taught only the two outer sections I heard people singing the middle section too! I also introduced 3 iona songs – ‘In love you summon’, ‘Greenbelt’ Alleluia and ‘Goodness is stronger than evil’.

This morning I awoke slightly groggy but went in for a funeral at 1130. On the way in I decided to set the ‘capable wife’ text to a psalm tone. When I entered the church there were hundreds of folk queuing to pay their respects to family and the open coffin. It took a further 80 minutes for the queue to disperse and the funeral started at 1245! In the meantime I had given an organ recital including four preludes from the ’18’ and two ciaconas by Pachelbel.

The family had engaged an octogenarian lady to sing the Ave Maria who certainly had a unique interpretation to offer!

On the way home I stopped at Goodwill and bought a Yamaha active speaker and at Charann’s bar for a few beers and good conversation.

Once I got home I picked up a message that my uncle Colin had died. He had be huge in my life as a family member who was more present than many. He was there at the German Church in my early years, a great supporter of the Catholic Church and equally its critic when needed. He worked hard to support his family which was not without its own difficulties. He had a wonderful sense of humour and remained convinced that my big house in Sheffield was really a brothel. May he now rest in peace after a  long battle with ill health.

It’s been a week since my last blog and that will indicate my busy-ness somewhat. The fact that this amounts to a week will mean that my recall is not as exact as has hitherto been the case.

The slightly cooler weather here has allowed me to get more domestic things done and shoes repaired etc. I continue to frequent the Goodwill charity shops and to increase my stock of DVDs.

On Thursday I went to the dentist to sort out the gap in my teeth brought on by Bernadette Farrell’s fresh strawberries covered in chocolate. Of course it wasn’t really her choc that did it … the tooth was in a poor state already and the dentist’s exploration revealed further decay which may cost me a fortune. I even considered a return to UK to get the treatment done as this may be cheaper. We’ll have to see how much my insurance covers.

I had two ‘days off’ at the end of the last week and in one of these I played a funeral. there have been 3 funerals this week and one in particular was attended by a vast number of people. The deceased had been a waiter for many years at the famous Columbia restaurant and knew many people.

It was a delight on Friday evening to join a few work colleagues for a birthday celebration for Audrey. Her house is in the historic quarter of Tampa and being wood-built had been moved up the road when the whole area was re-designed to accommodate road widening. It feels odd starting a meal with cheese but clearly this is the pattern over here!

The Sunday homilies here are great. Octogenarian Fr Keating gave a magnificent one in which he drew the attention of all to the fact that many of the scriptural events and language were modelled on those of greek literary tradition. He spoke of Jesus as champion in the struggle against evil and how immediately after the ‘baptism’ in the Jordan (in which he accepted the sin of the world) he went into the desert to do battle with evil for 40 days. The public life then followed and the next major battle would be on the cross (must I accept this cup?). You had to be there!

In the evening the Pastor in his homily even referred to something I’d said during the week, which caused him to challenge us to find an encounter with our fellow Christians in other churches/denominations.

At the end of Mass (now about 8pm) I changed the planned final song to sing the ‘last carol in Tampa’ Hark the herald. That went down really well.

This morning I managed to Skype Laura and Eddie, my long-standing friends in Goa. I don’t imagine I shall visit this year and I guess this will be the first of several Skype conversations with them and others in Agonda. I really miss the place and the people!

On Saturday I awoke still depressed about Chelsea and hoping that they would fare better against Watford in the FA Cup! I had a funeral in the morning. There had been great communication even though my contact lived in Manhattan. When we met 30 minutes before the funeral she turned out to be a Presbyterian minister who knew well my friend John Bell!

During the funeral I had to say a few cautionary words to three senior citizens who did nothing but criticise somewhat loudly what was going on. Why were they there?

I returned home to relax and do some ironing. It does seem that even though my apartment is a fraction of the size of my Sheffield pied de terre I spend a lot of time doing house cleaning and the like.

During the early afternoon I got an email from a concerned neighbour who reported a large gathering of Asian men at my house. That is why one has agents, so I informed the agents with whom I am in some dispute as I have received no rental payments since the tenant arrived in November!

Back at St Lawrence for the vigil masses I was pleased that I was still able to play the C major Prelude (and fugue) of Bach. I don’t get much time to practise here as there is so much else to do.

On Sunday it was more of the same with the usual four masses in the morning. The choir re-appeared for the 1100 without a rehearsal (who rehearses on New Years Eve?). They did rather well coping with my Epiphany communion antiphon at sight! After a return home for a rest the evening mass required no preparation as I was not expecting instrumentalists. In the event the trumpeter and cantor did arrive unexpectedly but they were very amenable.

I delayed my arrival at work until noon on Monday which I had decided to work as there was much to prepare. Once a month I produce a new song sheet for the 4 school masses. This takes some planning and at this early stage a fair amount of typing of new material. I then rehearse with the junior school on Tuesday afternoon, with the school choir after that and once a month with the senior students on Friday if I feel like it! The mass is on Wednesday morning.

Tonight I had set up the SING OUT EPIPHANY event, a first for St Lawrence, and a way of extending the celebration of Christmas. I had to plan this during the afternoon and write some prayers for the Pastor to offer. It is an informal affair in which we just delight in singing carols, most of which had been requested by a poll of those wishing to attend. Catholics generally don’t turn up for anything unless it is Mass so I was delighted to find about 45 people willing to give it a go. As well as the traditional carols I also introduced ‘Come all you people’ from Kenya, ‘Emanuel est la’ from DR Congo (with a wonderful line: ‘Emanuel, he’s a very handsome man!’) and John Bell’s unpublished ‘Anti-Christmas Carol’. Of course it is not anti-Christmas at all but it does ask some searching questions.

Happy Christmas, one and all. …even to those who have taken down their decorations and moved on to Valentine’s Day!

I went into work on Tuesday to prepare Epiphany and to sort a few things that were coming up. I was pleased to be able to leave in the early evening with everything sorted. The following day was New Years Eve and after a morning of pottering around the apartment I returned to work for the two New Year’s Vigil masses. The feast of Mary, Mother of God is a holy day of obligation here in US so I was delighted to see so many people in church. I had thought that folk paid little attention to such holy days but clearly when it falls on a holiday people come out!

As soon as I’d played the last chord I was off driving to meet up for dinner with a few work colleagues. It was a lovely evening with me doing my ‘mad uncle Phil’ act for the younger element. On my drive home I received an unexpected call from my old school music teacher, Paul Reed. He had popped out to the toilet at 4.30am and decided to ring me! Half an hour later it was almost midnight here and I was home and able to share a glass and a natter with him.

The following morning I was back in church for a couple of New Years’ Day masses with a three hour gap in between, most of which was spent chatting with one of the priests and designing the content for the next month’s school masses.

One of my singers from church agreed to go for a beer with me and he took me for my first trip to Hooters. As soon as I went in I realised why it was called this! An assortment of young maidens squeezed into shorts and t-shirts reeked of exploitation to me. We stayed for one expensive drink before moving to a pub in my neighbourhood.

In the evening and somewhat knackered I watched a few movies to take away the pain of having discovered that Chelsea had lost to Tottenham!

I was in work by midday on Saturday for a wedding at 1.30pm. The Dil Family Strings arrived at 1pm for a brief rehearsal of my arrangement of the requested ‘secret garden Song’. Of course it went well as did the wedding in general. I’m not sure why they requested hymns and liturgical songs in English when the whole wedding was conducted in Spanish!

The weekend masses were next on the agenda and this included my setting of psalm 104 which I had not done for 6 years. I’d forgotten it but is it Ok to consider that it is rather good? The congregations really got the long response immediately although it was more difficult for the cantors.

On the Sunday I’d have to admit to being really tired. When the alarm went it was an unwelcome surprise. I was cantor and organist for the first 2 masses and the ever-reliable Gerald managed the third and I was back again for the 4th. The 1100 was a real pleasure since in addition to having the choir support the music the Dil Family Strings were also there.

For 2 masses there was a visiting priest who was a professor at the seminary. He spoke a refreshingly unsanitized gospel about the family of Jesus. He would make a great pastor if ever he escaped the seminary.

Fortunately I managed to get away for a few hours rest during the afternoon and then back just before the evening mass because there were no other musicians expected at this mass.

Monday was a day off and with good weather forecast I headed for the beach. I was not disappointed. I retired in the early evening to a local bar where I offered the chocolates Bernadette Farrell had sent me. These seemingly inoffensive chocs had brought about the collapse of one of my teeth! I hoped to get this replaced soon.

I apologise to my thousands of readers but I have misled you all. Without recourse to Norwegian instructions I had informed you all that my recent charity shop acquisition of a Sony CD/DVD player DVP-CX777Es was a waste of money. I must have inadvertently touched a switch the cancels the video and it now works! So my $800 machine purchased for $30 now functions beautifully!

Today has been a lazy day watching premier league football, washing and ironing clothes and catching up with the family. I am hoping it will continue in the same manner but perhaps accompanied by some wine!

That aspirational bargain of DVD/CD equipment from Goodwill doesn’t seem to have delivered. I got the thing connected up and I fear the disc reader motor is malfunctioning!

On Saturday I was in work by 9am to prepare for the Christmas Choir rehearsal at 1030. The choir numbered about 24 and they did a really good job. Some of them seem to be finding it difficult to deal with my observations about their performance but this is not the first time I’ve had this reaction. As they get to know me I hope they will discover that my remarks are made with good intent. The rehearsal was followed by a wedding which brought a visiting singer whom I was pleased sang Acapulco!

After that came the first of the weekend’s masses. Sunday’s four masses were followed by carols for the M25 Christmas dinner. Matthew 25 is an amazing operation of mercy for those who are struggling. 350 folk sat down to a specially prepared Christmas Dinner in the Celtic Hall, received generous presents and got me singing carols with them. What could be better?! For the last few weeks parishioners have been leaving all manner of generous gifts in the church, most of which have been temporarily stored in the music rooms behind the church!

I dropped into my favourite charity store and was appalled to see a white family enter and immediately spot a black family with a hereditary condition which caused distortion of the face. The white children registered their disapproval with shared pointing and immediately the kid who must have suffered such jibes so often reached for anything to cover his face. I suppose you can’t blame the kids but my mind went back to similar events in my childhood when my parents made it perfectly clear what reaction was appropriate. I was horrified by this to the extent that I was moved to talk with the African Americans and offer what I hope was a more accepting reaction.

The 7pm Mass is a wonderful experience for me. Just when I am getting very tired the musicianship of these young instrumentalists keeps me going.

Monday started with the printing of a service sheet for a funeral, some more carol-singing with mothers and children at a nearby low-income estate. The needy bring out the Christ in us all and I am grateful for that.

After the funeral I set about writing more instrumental parts for the Christmas Masses. This kept me at work until quite late.

I had hoped that Tuesday would be a day of staff party and nothing more but ‘best laid plans ….’

The 24 parish staff gathered at 11am for a prepared brunch followed by gift sharing. Each member brought a $20 gift to the party and folk picked one from the table in turn. There was then the opportunity for the next person to take that gift or to select another from the table. My gift was a bottle of gin, some tonic and two lemons. I was surprised how promptly folk recognised the donor!

After the party most went home but I met with our technical guy to sort out the amplification for the keyboard in the Higgins Hall.

There was an unexpected knock at the door just before I left for church on Christmas Eve. It was a postman. The package was a box of luxury chocs kept cool with a freezer pack. How typically American, I thought. But the present came from Bernadette Farrell and family complete with the advice to enjoy, earn a fortune and get back to UK! What lovely friends they are. Last year she offered a me a cake slice ‘ so that I could have my cake and eat it!’

The first Mass of Christmas was in the Higgins Hall, large enough for the 1200 folk who attended. It was a family affair and rather noisy. It started with a Nativity play with music and then went into Mass. In his homily the Pastor reminded us that Santa’s ‘Ho ho ho’ is derived from ‘Holy, holy, holy’! A storm was brewing as the procession left to bless the outdoor crib scene. I was anxiously breaking up the amplification gear to return it to the church for the next mass before the rain came.

Just in the nick of time all was set up for the 5.45pm rehearsal for the 6.30pm Mass. We had 4 violins, trumpet and 2 cantors. All excelled themselves. My revised instrumentation for Silent Night went down well.

I had time before the rehearsal for midnight so I adjourned for a Chinese meal to keep me going. The rehearsal was in good spirits and I found time to be positive with them about my hopes.

Midnight mass went well I was in bed by 2am only to be awoken at 6.15 to get back to church for the 7.30am mass and the three which followed.

Work done I dashed home for my 2pm Skype call with the family. It was great to be able to share their gathering even at a distance. It was particularly good to see my twin whom I have not been able to Skype and therefore see since August.

I had been invited to join the family of one of my instrumentalists for dinner. It was a vey Italian affair in terms of food and conversational volume!There was a familiar exchange of firmly held opinions, some a little extreme, but it was great fun. During the evening I retired to the long bar where I met up with some familiar faces before returning home for a  film. I didn’t get further then a sip of wine before sleep overtook me!

Thrly and was able to watch Chelsea beat West Ham live on TV. As I type Man Utd are facing Newcastle but this does not have the same attraction for me!