Ok. A slight cheat here, but yesterday was a bit chocka for even a quick blog.

The two prompts for days 4 and 5 are (respectively):

• What is a TREASURE THAT’S BEEN LOST?
• what brings you joy in life?

I intend to combine these two prompts in reverse order. Firstly, a couple of definitions:

Joy : a feeling of great pleasure and happiness

(Oxford languages)

Treasure : something of great worth or value

(Merriam-Webster)

The thing in life that can change my mood, almost in an instant, is music. It can evoke feelings of great sadness but also sheer happiness, or joy.

For as long as I can remember I have loved music. My initial exposure was through Ed “Stewpot” Stewart and his Saturday morning “Junior Choice” show on BBC Radio. There was a wide range of sounds from light pop (Bay City Rollers, The Osmonds, David Cassidy) to folk favourites (“All Around My Hat”, “Scarborough Fair”) and novelty offerings (“Sparky’s Magic Piano”, “My Boomerang Won’t Come Back”). Even the Goons made an appearance.

I soon learned to love rock and roll, glam rock, disco, pop. I wanted it all. When visiting a friend’s house, I started to play the piano. Just simple stuff, but it was clear that there was some aptitude. Between then and now I have had piano and singing lessons, been a member of several choirs (including at church), performed a charity events, taught myself bass guitar and played in a band.

In my youth, I was obsessed with listening to the chart run down on a Sunday evening. This obsession lasted for over 10 years, and has proved useful when trying to guess 80s and 70s Heardle clips in two seconds.

I cannot imagine a world without music, be it listening or performing. I am, however, a lover of silence. There have been times when I have craved it so much I have been close to tears. Interruptions to my peace and quiet have felt like personal attacks, even though they were not intended to harm. Being audio-sensitive, I can find it difficult to concentrate with even low levels of noise if there is a “hook”, be it speech, a car driving past, a television in the next room.

In the last few years I have also started to experience tinnitus. It would appear that my hearing is still extremely good, so it might not be relate to hearing loss. But it is always there in some form. Usually a high pitched whine at a low volume which increases if I am tired, stressed or dehydrated.

It’s initial appearance was as a low rumbling. For several months I could swear that there was a local “hum” that was louder in some parts of the house. This has morphed into the whine which I hear. Now. As I type.

As such, I no longer experience silence. I would love to be able to stand outside and hear nothing for a short while, but I don’t think that I ever will. I can lose the tinnitus in other noises, and when I’m really concentrating on something else it usually doesn’t bother me.

But the privilege of pure silence is a long lost treasure.

More later,

Min.