Tune Up

Bee came yesterday morning. I was pleasantly surprised by his bubbly personality and youth. (Thanks, SC & RT!)

He was really nice - offered to come down to do a health check for Flora, so that I could make a better decision about the moving and tuning. And he cut his finger while checking on her and avoiding the rolling dustballs! :-(

Bee took a string out - to replace it (was broken and lying artistically across several strings inside Flora, resulting in a metallic tone on a few keys :-p). Asked him about the mould-like white patches on Flora; he said he's seen some year-olds that have the same problem because of poor quality lacquer. Told me not to worry - to have this happen only after 20+ years is really quite good. Flora is one tough cookie :-)

I've had Flora for as long as I can recall. Even before Karate Kid and I started having our own rooms, Flora was already with us. Her kind still costs a tidy sum today, so imagine what a figure it must have felt like back then! Flora is very much a symbol of sacrifice.

When Karate Kid moved out, we moved Flora in. So Flora has been a faithful companion through much - every long day preparing for school exams (and now late nights doing work!), each sleepful/sleepless hour, joys & tears expressed through music. I confess though, that I liked Flora much much more when I stopped taking lessons & practising for exams.

So it doesn't seem too bad after all. Worth the move. We'll hang on to Flora. Bee's offered to provide pedal mittens (I'm sure there's a proper name for these things, I just don't know it!), and get someone to check if it's necessary to relacquer. Else, we just need to move Flora over to the new place then tune her up there.