Had a lie in. Got up really late, about midday. My girlfriend phoned up to remind me to go to her place for dinner. At 1 pm. And it was 12 o’clock already! Quickly get dressed. Get out of house about 12:45. Arrived at her place 1:30. She was not pleased. She asked me where my tuba was. Forgot it. I was supposed to bring it perform for her other dinner guests. Dinner will be served at 3 pm. Still got time to go home and get it. Drove home, car broke down. Walked rest of way. Phoned AA. They came and fixed car. Now 2:50. Got tuba, put it in car. Car works and got half way, then broke down again. Took tuba on bus for last part of journey. Driver said I had to pay twice for bringing such a large item on board. Finally got to girlfriend’s at 4 pm. She was furious. Dinner all gone. Went hungry. Played tuba to her guests. They loved it. But they stayed until 10 pm, had to play so many times. Tired. Got taxi home.

Phoned AA again about car. Asked if they would fix it and give me some compensation for not fixing it properly first time. They said maybe. Got car fixed. Drove to work, the orchestra practice centre. Got there ½ hour late. Rehearsals for concert at Royal Albert Hall at weekend. Could not get it quite right. Missed my part on that other piece we had to practice. Keep forgetting what it’s called. Maybe I’ll get it right on the night. After work, go out with girlfriend to cinema. Saw Titanic. Brilliant film. Girlfriend cried through whole film. Laughed at bit where Rose’s make up is on perfectly even though she is getting drenched as the ship sinks. Girlfriend told me to keep quiet.

Back at work. Rehearsals still bad. Still can’t get that tricky bit at the beginning. Missed my cue again. Conductor told me I have one last chance or he finds another tuba player to replace me. I knuckled down and got on with it, this time I was better. Nearly got it right. Conductor praised me for at least getting first notes right. Tried harder in the afternoon. After work met girlfriend again. She suggested going to an Indian restaurant. Fine, I said. It was tacky though. Tacky tinny music on poor sound system. Cheap beers from a can. Food took ages to come out and then they got order wrong. They apologised and brought out correct order. Girlfriend said it looks like the first lot of food but dressed up. We ate the food. It was hot! Wow! Too hot for me. I burnt my mouth with the hot spices! Went home with dodgy belly.

Woke up early with diarrhoea. Went to lav 5 times. Used those anti-diarrhoea tablets I had left over from my last holiday. They worked. No more diarrhoea. Mouth felt funny though. Would I be able to blow okay? Went to work and we continued the rehearsals. Felt tired due to waking up early. Missed my part once more. Conductor was angry! Mouth hurt like hell. Could not play properly. Tried real hard and did not miss my part, but did not play very well though. After work I went home and had a rest. Could not practice any more because of mouth. Felt sick again. More diarrhoea. Girlfriend phoned. She was ill too. Must have been that curry last night, she said. I agreed. We decided not to see each other tonight, we both needed a rest.

Yippee! My day off. I love Thursdays because it’s a day off. Was nice and sunny today, so I went out with just a shirt and shorts on. Met girlfriend in the park. She asked me what those two pieces of string were hanging from my shorts. Still can’t see what she means! Forgot all about music for one day. Found a nice spot somewhere and settled down. Fell asleep sunbathing. Woke up with a wet face, it was raining! Spent evening with girlfriend. She wanted to know if I could give her a ring. I asked her why, she was with me, I did not need to phone her. Not that sort of ring, she said. I left it at that.

Still wondering what sort of ring she meant. Rubber ring? What? Why can’t women be more clever like me? She is so stupid for not explaining herself. Work was better, got my parts right for a change. All set for the concerts this weekend! Met girlfriend after work, told her how much I loved rubber rings but could not find one her size! She gave me a funny look. Women are so strange!

The day of the big concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Got ticket for my girlfriend. She got a seat in the Choir section, behind the orchestra looking down on us. I looked up, but she seemed to not notice me waving. Conductor gave me a dirty look. The concert started off okay, no problems there. However, in the second half I missed my part — AAAAAHHHH! Perhaps I should give this up. Hope the audience did not notice, they still applauded at the end of the piece. Conductor not pleased with me after the concert. He said if I did that again I would be out of the orchestra.These are serious times, I need to improve. Met girlfriend afterwards. Asked her waht she thought. She was not sure. Then I asked her if she would give me a ring. She said she was leaving me. Was it something I said?