Day 58 - summer, shoes and a soundtrack

My last post informed you that I had finished my second year at university. Perhaps it should have read slightly differently. I had finished the work for my second year and, contrary to what the 29,000 words I wrote this term would have you believe, that isn't all there is to student life. Thankfully, although I must admit that it took a while for the geeky perfectionist in me to accept this fully, there's so much more - and I don't mean drinking. I mean the hairbrained idea of cobbling together a version of Puccini's La Boheme acceptable enough for an 'open rehearsal' performance in an untickected casual concert - in the space of a week. I was in the chorus so it was great fun and a fitting, fairly relaxed way to end what has been an academic year of ambition. My fellow chorus members have become very close friends over my time at Warwick (as have the whole cast, because we all come back together for each new opera) and it was particularly sad to bid farewell to Lara and Ingvild, who've both just finished Masters, and are heading off into the big wide world. Oli and Lizzie are off to Music College, too, so I'll have to hang on to the other second years (third now!) with all my might. You have been warned, Alice Ford and Charlotte Howes!

So I did that, and caught up with other awesome friends as well, because my social life had done a rather clever vanishing trick for most of term. Now I'm home for the summer - and it is summer. The only proof you ever need of the changing seasons can be found in my footwear - and I'm back to wearing (and walking in) trainers. This makes me incredibly happy because, whilst I'm grateful for the warmth and snuggles that my Uggs offer my poor circulation, I'm really more of a Converse or a DM kind of girl...and my feet need the sturdier soles for support, anyway. You shall have pictures tomorrow, as soon as they're uploaded, especially as today I've already walked six times. Woot. It's good to be home.

Also, I arrived to a very nice welcome - the EP of one of my new favourite singers, Natasha North, called Walking on Water. My Mama met her mum on holiday in Turkey a few weeks back (I don't think I've told her that, though we are tweeting...sorry, Tasha!) and I'm very glad they did, because otherwise I wouldn't have discovered her wonderful talent. Her songs deal with some heavy, but very pertinent issues, and it's nice to hear that someone, at least, isn't afraid to raise them...but I guess that's what folk-inspired music is for. That's why I write songs, at least. Her sister does the backing vocals, and I noticed her name is Jessica as well, which made me smile.

The EP comprises four tracks, which makes it the perfect length to accompany one of my walking sessions, and it's been my soundtrack since it arrived on Friday. I'm so happy I bought it, not only because Tasha has a brilliant voice and style, but because we need to give more support to independent musicians like her - and because I have yet more music to motivate me. Thanks so much.

Here's her youtube video of 'Sticks and Stones', which is heartbreakingly beautiful, as it deals with domestic violence:

Hope you like it, and that the resilience of the young woman whose story it tells motivates you as much as it has me. We all just have to keep plodding.