Hello. It is the 12th March. A lovely Thursday. We have moved house, and are now living in a wee place which overlooks fields and trees. It’s a great place, and although takes a lot of getting used to, it’s a good place for us for the moment. Hobbes loves it. He’s been bringing us presents of shrews and mice, most of them alive and well, thankfully. Just wee presents to kick about the place and play with. He’s not really understanding our reactions as yet, the shrieking and commotion as we do whatever we can to remove the wee gift from the house. But I have fashioned a ‘Mouse Removal Kit’ out of a soup carton and some cardboard which has been working well, and I now plan to invent a Mousearena which will be an easy way of stopping the mouse getting anywhere else in the house. At the moment the mousearena consists of two pictures and two mirrors, all flat, which need to be whipped out quickly and positioned around wherever the mouse is, to stop its getaway. And I want to put the pictures up sometime before we move again, so the mousearena is imperative. Hobbes has also met a pheasant, who curtly escorted our cat of ‘his’ field. The pheasant was quite clear in its squawking that Hobbes was not welcome chasing after the bird’s tail. And the bird was bigger than Hobbes! It’s clear that Hobbes is loving his new place.

And the wee md funk who is wriggling about inside me is in no rush to leave. My waters broke on Friday night, Saturday morning last week through the night. Now no-one told me that that would happen… I didn’t know! I woke up on Saturday morning thinking ‘Holy cow, I am soaking with sweat… what a crap night’s sleep!’ So I got up and had a bath, and carried on the day. And as I’m sleeping on a single airbed at the moment (it’s the best way for both of us to get some proper sleep at the moment), with ‘Princess and the Pea’ style layers and layers of duvets and sheets to minimise the reality of sleeping on an airbed (you do what you have to, eh?!) by the time I got back into the airbed that night, I just thought ‘oh dear, this new house is bloody freezing at night. I need more layers on top!’ So I slept badly again, cold and damp, thinking our new house isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Hahaha blaming it on the house! I did this for one more night, and then had to do something about it. Deciding I would change the sheets, change where I was sleeping, fix things somehow, I started to unlayer the bed. One by one I took off layers until I came upon the bottom duvet. Which oddly enough had a HUGE wet stain on it which was blue!!! As blue as the airbed underneath. Which was also wet. Blue? Man oh man, it looked like a great big giant’s panty-liner… you know the ones you see in the adverts. It’s blue to remove any minging thoughts…

Anyway, there we were – not pee, (sorry – life gets very real when you’re very pregnant – there is no need to hide the fact we all have bodily fluids anymore…) and it couldn’t have been anything else really. So if I hadn’t changed the sheets, I would never have known. And would have kept blaming the cold house. Should I have told you this? Hmmm, possibly this story is too much information. Well I can always go back and delete.

Btw, since the bed change – I have had amazing sleep – warm, comfy, and lovely. I had no idea the house was so warm and cosy…

But the hospital want to induce me now. So I’ve been seeing a wonderful woman Susana, for acupuncture to see if we can speed it along naturally. And I have just been told (David just got a text from Colin Steele) ‘a hot bath, a hot curry and hot sex’ is the way to go to move things along. Or there is the unusual technique of jumping up and down on a mini trampoline until labour starts. Hahaha. Md funk is a chilled character, I can tell. Everything in its own time. And I am blessed that this wee character has chosen us as parents. It’s a good choice. I will not be a disappointment. 

No concerts for the month, but some lovely ones coming up in April with the Harp Festival in Edinburgh, and some Grace, Hewat, Polwart shows in the coming months. I’m taking it step by step – aiming for a band, a tour, a recording, new songs, writing songs, a new book of harp music, lots and lots. And I have some harp pupils who are exceptional, and I’ve been neglecting them of late. I hope they are working towards our next lessons – I’m looking forward to hearing their progress!

And it will all happen. I’m excited about it all. But first, baby coming. I’ve had two contractions since writing this. We’re close.

All the best to you. Good times ahead!
Corrina