Personal update. Locked. FFO.

So...

My tenant has moved out of the flat. I shall go round with a tape measure to see what I can fit into it. One room will have to be the kids' bedroom for the alternate weekend's stay. I shall have to shelve the entirety of the front room for those books which I am taking. I shall be leaving many behind: I will not have my children growing up in a house with no books.
I shall take about half my library with me, which will still leave them in a house of some two thousand books.

I shall also leave some of the furniture I inherited, and some of the art works too. Those in which Madame has expressed an interest I shall allow her to keep in the house. Thus far it's a few pictures, some statuettes and a few Georgian bits of furniture.

I shall miss living in this street. I shall do my best to ensure that my children do not miss me, and that I am available to them at all times. But as for the rest of it, it is better this way.

I will always wish Madame well, but to be candid, living with her can require armour of the kind I no longer wear, or maybe can no longer bear.

I shall be in Dulwich on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I shall have the kids on alternate weekends, and the rest of the time I will concentrate on trying to put my playing back together in my flat some 6 miles away. That and the dating apps, obvs.

Dammit, I have to learn the words...

Freude, freude


Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Wem der große Wurf gelungen,
Eines Freundes Freund zu sein;
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,
Mische seinen Jubel ein!
Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele
Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!
Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle
Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!


Freude trinken alle Wesen
An den Brüsten der Natur;
Alle Guten, alle Bösen
Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.
Küsse gab sie uns und Reben,
Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod;
Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,
Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.

Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen
Durch des Himmels prächt'gen Plan,
Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,
Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.
Gladly, just as His suns hurtle
through the glorious universe,
So you, brothers, should run your course,
joyfully, like a conquering hero.
Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!
Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt
Muß ein lieber Vater wohnen.
Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?
Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?
Such' ihn über'm Sternenzelt!
Über Sternen muß er wohnen.