Light weight

All this beautiful sunshine, and what have I done all day? Errands... And then waited an unfeasibly long time for a 134 bus to arrive at Highgate station.  It eventually rolled up, all innocent, seemingly unbothered by the fact that its late arrival meant that my carefully planned day had gone to seed! I should have left earlier but didn't realise there were road works on the Archway Road or that they'd decide to change bus drivers on the Junction Road. To make matters worse, a man got on who smelt so bad that I was forced to breathe through my mouth. Every time I forgot and breathed through my nose, I gagged. Why does anyone take the bus these days?!

This morning I had to put the final touches to Rich Mix' bid to enter The London Requiem for the British Composers' Awards. It's incredibly kind of them to put the entry in, but I'm certainly not holding my breath!  So many pieces of my music have been entered for this particular award and I've never even heard back from them, let alone been nominated for something. I suspect the compositions that do well in the competition are much more serious classical works, and relentlessly tuneful "pieces of fluff" like the Requiem probably simply cause the judges to either laugh or implode! 

My music all too often conveniently falls between two stalls, which makes it relatively easy to pass off as "not quite right for the competition/ radio station/ commissioning editor / ensemble!"  The head of music for BBC Wales once described my music as "lightweight," which I found hugely insulting. Perhaps it's not the most academic or complicated music ever written but it packs a serious emotional punch, which hardly makes it lightweight. 

The other issue is that I'm always called upon to provide three copies of my work's score. This is a relatively easy task for short pieces, but the requiem is 50 minutes long, and has a 150-page score, which costs the best part of £50 to photocopy and bind three times. Add to that another tenner to ensure the scores' safe return by post and you're looking at serious money, which is, of course, only justifiable if the work is taken seriously by the judges.

In order to save myself a further tenner, I'm going to take the package in by hand this afternoon. Problem is, I can't remember where Berners Street is. It's one of those streets I feel I ought to know. I'm thinking it's in the Goodge Street/ Charlotte Street area. Or is it down in Soho? Or am I thinking of Brewer Street? Really, I should just look at a map, but that would make me a tourist! 

Wherever it is, I shall be glad to hand it in, as the heat is making me sweat all over it and I don't want the scores inside to smudge!