This web site has been pretty quiet lately, mostly because life has been the opposite. I just spent an hour throwing out old clothes and “rationalizing” my closet after realizing this week that I just spent 6 weeks living out of this house (for renovations) and did not once open the closet. So why is all that stuff there? The quest for “stuff” is a soul-sucking abyss, and I’ve fallen right in. It helps to have the perspective of memory. Some of my most happy days were spent wandering aimlessly and alone with just one change of clothes and a notebook. That was 9 years and a lifetime ago now.
On Tuesday I go to Wales to visit the little mining town where my grandfather was born and where his father led a coal miner band and choir, “The Robert Weale Glee Group.” I’m recording the trip on assignment for CBC Radio. I’ll sit in on a miner’s band rehearsal, meet locals in the town, and go down the mine. CBC gave me the recording equipment yesterday with a 20-minute primer on how to record a radio documentary. I just hope I don’t screw up. And it will be a challenge to pack light. The trip’s just a week, but I’ll probably bring 10x as much as I had in the Middle East for nearly 4 months. It’s tough to rationalize.
