Through an open window, I can hear the sound of a flute .. →[More:]

I'm sitting here with the patio door open and I can hear a lovely sound, my neighbour Kate practising her flute. The song is one that's more familiar to me as a clarinet piece but it sounds beautiful played on a flute.

It brought back to me a memory from about 7 years ago.

My then-husband and I went with some friends to an open-air concert at Audley End, a stately home not far from here. They have summer concerts and people take picnics and make an evening of it. It was a 'Trad Jazz' night, with Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen and Acker Bilk as the headliner.

I remember my husband got very, very drunk and before he passed out he made a complete arse of himself.

The last song of the night was 'Stranger on the Shore', and (I can still remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday) about 50 yards away a couple, probably 60-ish, stood up and started dancing, a lovely slow dance, each of them totally familiar with the other's movements. I guessed that the song was from their courtship days, and it was a very romantic moment, made even more poignant for me by the growing realisation that my marriage was by that point dead beyond the point of survival.

So, here it is.

Acker Bilk : Stranger on the Shore