Having spent most of three months away from London, mainly in the south of France, it was good that in October there were no scheduled concerts, if only so that I could restore some order to my 'abandoned' house, re-pot a few orchids in need of attention or have fun completely changing the visual of the music-room or sitting-room. Something that in our early years together seemed to puzzle my husband, no end: he once even thought he had walked into the wrong house by mistake, everything looked so different!

Being happy about not playing Concerts for some time, must seem strange to young aspiring pianists, who desperately dream of a constantly busy career. That's honestly what it comes down to, when one's had such a long and rewarding career such as I, simply not having to travel becomes quite a luxury!

Also this free time gave me the chance to look into which car I should buy: I have been teased enough for getting so attached to my 20yr old Mercedes, both by my many brothers (see Picture Gallery) and in particular by one Italian student of mine who even had 'the cheek' of calling it … "a bit of history"! Honestly, Marco!

More about cars, anon!

But even more rewarding the fact that I managed to finalize a pending wish of mine: the acquisition and subsequent transport overseas, of an instrument I had tried in Madison, Wisconsin, more than 25 years ago. Then that was the first time I'd ever come across one; not a piano but … a clavichord! And staying at Bill and Helen Hay's, I remember to this day, how instead of practicing Bartok #3 on the piano for the concert with the local Symphony, the moment I realized I was able to get a vibrato effect by slightly moving a key - bliss, for a pianist - I spent hours on the clavichord going through all of the Bach and Haydn scores I could get my hands on … I had never forgotten those moments. I made my decision to keep it in my Parisian flat so that no longer will I have trouble with neighbours, if I feel like playing some music in the evening! Or at anytime, really: it's so gentle!

Hey Mei-Yi, it's waiting for you, OK?

In time / wonderful news: I have just been told that Cancerkin raised a total of … L43,000.00 for that effort! How about that?! I am so happy. Thank you all, for your generosity!