Our piano tuned

Our piano, an Eavestaff Miniroyal (as played by H.M Queen Ingrid of Denmark), has led a colourful life. Bought second-hand by my parents-in-law around the time Moni was born, it has been moved from Manchester to Perivale, from Perivale to ul. Gajdy in Pyry, and from there to the place it has stood these last seven years here in Jeziorki. In all that time - during all those moves, not once has it been tuned. It has been subject to the ravages of children, with little fists banging on it and sharp metallic items shoved under the keys. And as such, the piano had gotten not a little out of tune.

It has for some time reminded me of the skool piano from St Custards that Molesworth used to pla. "The skool piano you kno the one which go WAM PLUNK BISH BASH ZUNK. Here is the guide -
C - this one go plunk
D - the top hav come off the note and you strike melody from something like a cheese finger.
E - sticks down when you hit it. Bring yore screwdriver to lever it up.
F - have never been the same since molesworth 2 put his chewing gum underneath it.
G - nothing hapen when you hit this note at all.
The loud pedal droped off when molesworth 2 pla 'fairy bells' and have never been seen agane. Inside there are lots of old marbles, cig cards, toy soldiers and dead goldfish.*"

To put things right, expert piano tuner and master craftsman, Bogdan Bąberski (below) arrived first thing this morning. After a lot of work, the old Miniroyal was playing as if H.M. Queen Ingrid herself were tickling the ivories. My wife spent a full hour and half of her day off work playing away merrily, and when Moni came home and ran her fingers over the keyboard, she laughed out loud in delight.

Mr Bąberski left us with a charming book that he'd written for children of all ages, appropriately called Curious Eddie, about how a piano works. It's in Polish and English.

Should any of my Warsaw-based readers need a piano tuner, we can thoroughly recommend Mr Bąberski - send me an email for his contact details.

* words and drawing from The Compleet Molesworth by Geoffrey Willans, illustrated by Ronald Searle. A classic beloved from both my and Moni's childhoods.

This time last year:
Four weeks into Lent