vailian

Long talk with my mother (via Skype... thank god for new technology), frustrating because she couldn't work out where to plug her headphones in the laptop and so I had to talk through the echo of my own voice. I want her to go see a show by Tom Brosseau, who is a young folksinger building up quite a career. He has a lovely voice, and more to the point, he is a former student of my mother's, and he told her he would never be where he is now without her help while he was in school.
Mailed package to Barcelona.
Practiced for some concerts.
Sent my favorite laptop to Berlin. This was agony, I really like the machine, but L. needs it more than I do.
Grocery shopping, load of laundry, Christmas tree moved onto the roof garden, pine needles between the living room and the roof garden hoovered up.
Organized accomodation for 6 people in Croatia in July.
Took pictures of some of my clothes (don't ask).
Thought hard about doing my taxes.
Cleaned out my fridge.
Spent a lot of time on the phone: with lawyers and so on about a flat I am buying... I have signed the purchase contract, but there is an unusual situation with the house: the apartment block is a condominium, but the association doesn't own the land it stands on, only leasing it. But the landowners insist on looking at every potential apartment owner and have veto rights. This would be complicated enough, but in addition, the land is owned by an association of descendants of the original farmer who bought the property, and the association (in order to avoid taxes) are based in Cypress. Now we are trying to figure out whether they are obliged to fly to Germany to sign the permission papers, or what?? Anyhow it is going to delay the procedure.
Then a long talk with L in Berlin, who is frustrated because he is Music Director of the musical, and is writing some of the songs, rehearsing the singers and choir and the band, doing the arrangments, etc etc etc, but the actual nominal composer is sitting in Vienna and refusing to let L change the songs to suit the singers and players that he has to work with. Things are at an impasse, the singers are all for his changes but the composer (probably trying to protect his royalty payments) is blocking all the variants, but is too lazy to go to Berlin to see the problems for himself.

Anyhow: I got most of the things done that I wanted to, except for the taxes, which was the most important. Typical typical.