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Edited by Gill Burrell, Thursday, 12 Sept 2024, 17:33


Last year I had to have a deferral due to life/health circumstances. I also had Covid. Things had built up and I just couldn't cope, but  I am now back again and raring to go!

What did I do this summer?

• I picked bramble berries and apples  in my garden and made Jam. I also made apple and bramble berry crumble pudding.

• My friend and I walked to the next village (2 miles)  We carried on walking through the footpaths and found a lovely sunny spot for a picnic in the corner of a field near to a little stream. We had a lovely walk and saw some cows,  horses and  sheep on the way and the occasional rabbit!

• Visited my eldest son in City. Went for a McDonalds meal and had a sight seing tour!

• By kind permission I was allowed to play some Bach on the  church organ in a local village church.

• Read some good books which I borrowed  from the local library. These were on my "to read list."  I had read some of them before in the past,  but I wanted to re-read them again for English practise.

Austen
Bronte
Dickens
Elliot
Hardy


•  Translated a very small book in french into the english language just for language practise.

• Went out to celebrate our wedding anniversary this week, at the White Hart Hotel in the city, there we ate the most delicious pancakes with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and maple syrup, with a glass of bubbly of course!

•  I walked a lot everyday this summer including up a very steep incline. My husband pushed me hard to do it,  as I would never dared to do this by myself!

•  I think I might be becoming fitter again at last,  after having had the dreaded  Covid .  I must perservere and keep up the good work on exercising my muscles.

I had to have a deferral from studies due to family circumstances  (various operations to help and support my family with and my own health issues to deal with) I feel much better.

•  Now there is just this English module  L185 to get through in order to fulfill my dream of achieving a language Degree!

Good luck to everyone! 

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Jim McCrory

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Thomas Hardy, that takes me back. It was on the English curriculum when I was at school. Tess, if I recall.

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Hello Jim,

Yes, that's right. It is a very tragic story but I don't want to give the plot away.! There's a moral to this story about the  pursuit of fame and riches which has  tragic consequences as Tess finds out to her misfortune.

I am looking forward to english module for accademic purposes online.

Hope all is well with you. Keep the faith! 

Gill

Mike Beard

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Hi Gill

Sounds like you've been through the ringer a few times health wise, great to hear you're on the mend.  I've been coughing quite a bit, possibly with a chest infection but finally starting to feel the signs of improving.

Most recently I have been trying to flush out plastic dust from under my right eye but not going to jinx myself yet because you can probably bet, I'll say it's cleared when most likely in reality it won't have cleared.


Music wise I have been keeping my hand in and working on new stuff but runming into hiccups now and again with the compositions.  Also I built myself another 5 string bass, already had the body and added the rest to it.  I will add a picture of it once I have edited as it might be too large for the OU pictures allowance.

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Hi Mike,

I hope your health improves and that you will soon feel better again. Great that you can build an instrument like that, you are very clever👍

I think life would be very dull without music.!

Best wishes in your next venture and hope all goes well and that you will be successful.

Gill

Mike Beard

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Hi Gill

The bass was literally my 1st attempt at building up an instrument with just the body as a starting point.   There are a few few things slightly wrong with it and a few corrections needed but for a 1st attempt I think it turned out pretty good all things considered into 

5 String Bass I built myself, not easy to do but it worked.

Here it is, took a bit to add it into a comment as I have not tried this before. 

Mike Beard

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Hi Gill

My apologies for the massive post showing the bass I built, I had no idea it would be so huge.

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Hi Mike,

That's Ok Mike because I have a mobile so it doesn't look too large. It looks good and very professional! 

Thank  you.  Gill

Jim McCrory

L185

Keep us up to date with what you can share regarding L185. It looks like an interesting module.

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Ok Jim will do👍