what has this blog achieved & a shocking admission about Bath

It’s now a significant anniversary of when I moved to Bath, and I’m looking back on how this blog (which I’ve kept for most of that time) has fitted in. Has it achieved what I hoped for, apart from the main purpose of recording musical events which I participate in or attend?

In the early days I hoped the blog might prod particular people into action. This worked in some cases, where Cathedrals had been slow in responding to requests to come as a visiting choir. It was a rather less successful with choir directors. One didn’t want me to blog about his choir at all, even neutral comments about repertoire. I think the reason was that he wanted ‘branding’ to come only from a select group of founder members. I was dropped abruptly from the choir soon afterwards without a reason. Another was cross that I’d written about the reason I’d left her choir, and disputed my account, although I was able to confirm my version (a number of other choir members were more understanding about why I had felt upset enough to leave). Another thought it was rude that I’d mentioned that I was still on a waiting list for auditions with him. My feeling is that if it’s all right to leave someone rotting on a waiting list, it’s also all right to say in public that this is happening to you. I think all three reactions show a lack of ‘people skills’ (a subject for another post?) but I’ve become more circumspect about what I say since then.

In any case, cyberspace is much more crowded now and I don’t expect that any given person is likely to read what I write. I don’t get many comments added to the blog, but I do know it gets read because people tell me. (For example, several people in Bristol Choral Society have discovered it, though I’ve never mentioned it to anyone.) The sort of feedback I get is that it’s better written than the average blog, and the posts which have generated most interest are those about the general local musical scene, such as those relating to the running of the Bath Festival.

So I’ve a request, really aimed at Bathonians who already know me. I have found Bath, as a place to live, distinctly lacking in hospitality. It is startling (and shocks people from elsewhere) that we, a professional couple, have lived here for two decades and never been invited to sit down and eat a meal in anyone else’s house here in all that time. If you find what I have to say interesting (and if you don’t, you wouldn’t have read this far), perhaps you would consider it also interesting across a dinner table or at a drinks party?