Did you busk at the Royal Welsh Show?

Unfortunately not.

I made a strategic error.

When I was in Paris, I used to conduct a little choir and we wanted to sing outside a metro station. I suggested we contact the town hall or the police and ask permission but was told if we asked we'd be refused so just carry on anyway. You spend a lot of your time in France being ignored by the authorities so it's good to return the compliment. I remember writing assiduously month after month to the Mayor of Villejuif asking for a community hall to show a film and I never got a reply.

Anyway, I wrote to the organisers of the show talking about the parable of the talents project and the busking part of it and they somehow got the impression in spite of my lucid exposition of my request to busk around the site that I was offering to come and entertain the crowds. I think if I'd just slipped in with my guitar and sign everything would have been fine.

Had a nice day at Builth, as usual. Came back with a free energy saving device for the telly, a badge saying "I heart wind power" and the autograph of the actor who plays Hywel Llewelyn in Pobol y Cwm dedicated to the family. I shall prop it up by the TV each time the show comes on.

It's all gone quiet again, hasn't it?

Yes, but I've been busy.

I've been working out my audition for Music in Hospitals.

Also. on Saturday, my usual busking day, I had to go to a funeral. I was glad to do that, of course.

I've also been writing a talk for the Roy Noble show on Wednesday from the Royal Welsh Show. Guess what it's about? Auditioning for Music in Hospitals, of course.

I did write to them asking if I could busk on the field but they somehow got the impression I was offering to provide entertainment and they declined my kind offer.

Oh well, must get used to being misunderstood when writing simple prose, I suppose.

So you're a professional musician now?

I think that's a very interesting question.

Certainly, I could easily live on this kind of busking money if it wasn't going to the church. Then there's all the piano teaching and sundries.

But something has just happened to me that only happens to professional musicians and it's made me think.

There's a charity called "Music in Hospitals" that does what it says on the tin except it also works in care homes and so on. It exists to bring music of the highest quality into those settings. That's very creditable, I think.

A couple of friends, Catherine Handley and Huw Chidgey have been doing gigs for Music in Hospitals for some time so when Catherine put something about it on Facebook I thought I'd look into it and sent off for a form.

I filled it in thinking it was wasted effort because it says you need to be a professional musician and asks you to put down your qualifications and experience.

So, I put down that I could play grade 8 piano stuff and I mentioned about Frost at Midnight - www.myspace.com/frostatmidnight and the songs on the radio and the busking tour and thought nothing of it.

And now I've got an audition. Now, by talking to Catherine Handley I've found out that it's entertainment first in this world and not by any means all classical although that's included. So I'm thinking at the moment about playing the Scott Joplin rag, The Entertainer and a couple of songs people can join in with like Blowin in the Wind and You've got a Friend.

Whether I get the gig or not, I'm quite chuffed to have been asked. In any case, I'm giving a talk on the Roy Noble programme from the Royal Welsh Show next week the day after the audition so I intend to use the experience to talk about how we need to find ways to make our faith and experience work together.

I'll let you know how I get on.