Reblogged from Tallis Steelyard: I realise that in the past I may have been a little scathing about musicians. Indeed I might even have hinted that you can spend more time keeping them sober than it’s worth. To be fair I’ve worked with more than my fair share of musicians whose sole aim appeared to be to debauch the host’s husband/wife (or in extreme cases both simultaneously.) Then there are the sad occasions when you neglect to keep the virtuoso away from the free wine. Then your main objective is to get them back out into the street before they are copiously ill in the presence of expensive soft furnishings.

Still I feel I ought to redress the balance somewhat by paying an unreserved compliment to Madame Narasha. I have worked with her for a number of years. Indeed we worked together when she was Mistress Narasha. In fact her connection with our family was established many years before this as she is a childhood friend of Shena, my lady wife.

She is very accomplished on the double flute, and combines this with a rare sensitivity so that she can not only accompany poetry, but can even provide a witty counterpoint to stories. Unfortunately for her; beautiful and languidly elegant single ladies tend to find work hard to come by. A hostess will look askance at a husband who claims to have developed a yearning to listen to flute music, however beautifully played. Even the transition from ‘Mistress’ to ‘Madame’ (made without any change in marital status) had no real impact on this lamentable phenomenon. Still when she arrived in my company these trivial worries could be brushed aside, occasionally to the secret sadness of the husband.

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