Egypt dominated the first half of this Pre World Cup friendly. England looked confused during a first half where they simply needed time to play as a unit and figure out the best way to play.

The low point was the 23rd minute goal from Mohamed Zidan, who did his chances of playing in England no harm at all.

Things got better in the second half, mainly due to the arrival of Peter Crouch. His 2 goals take his International tally to 20 goals, from only 37 caps.

Today’s Daily Graph shows my expectation of England’s chances in the 2010 World Cup as tonight’s match progressed. My expectation of England’s chances in the World Cup campaign is higher at the end of this match, but, not by much.

England still have a lot of work to do if they are to be confident of a good result in South Africa in June. That said, half way through the game, things could have been much worse for Capello’s men. At least with a win in this game, England haven’t slipped up at a time when they can ill afford to.

Irrespective of how good England actually are, the expectation which surrounds the World Cup campaign will surely be short lived unless Rooney et al can produce something very special.

The win against Egypt was the 500th for the 3 Lions. Their first win came in 1873 in their 2nd game, which was played at the Kennington Oval, where they beat Scotland 4-2. With their 245th victory, the 3 Lions sealed the 1966 World Cup with a win over Germany. Will their 508th victory be in the World Cup Final on 11 July?

It’s snowed again today. That made me think about how my views on snow have changed over the last few years. After all the snow we’ve had over the winter of 2009-2010, I’ve decided I now officially hate snow.

I gave up pastries for lent. Well, when I say that, I mean I’ve given up sausages rolls, pasties of any description and sugary buns. I toyed with the idea of banning all kinds of pies too, but I thought that might be a step to far. As it is, steering clear of sausage rolls is proving a real test of my will power.

Today’s graph shows my progress on this difficult task. I’m particularly pleased with my progress.

I’ve decided to give up pastries for Lent. This may be an impossible task, but i’ll give it a try….

There are times when you need to deliver a stunning performance. There are some times when mediocrity is enough to keep people happy. There are other times when you hope basic muscle control doesn’t desert you during a particularly important passage of music.

I’ve had cramps in my left leg and ankle for a few days now. They had settled but, just as I needed my leg to be in full working order, it cramped. There isn’t much difference between a D and an E flat in terms of the alphabet, or the space between them on the pedal board, but, when you’re playing in D major, you don’t suddenly want to throw in an E flat as the root of a chord in the bass part. Especially not with the great coupled to 16′ stops in the pedal.

With much pain, and a little embarrassment, I limped away to reflect on the fact that everyone makes mistakes with everything they do. It’s how they handle them that’s important. I’m getting better with every performance and, soon, I might even enjoy them. Eventually, I may even be able to deliver when people expect brilliance, rather than mediocrity.

I think the lesson from today is that I should practice registration changes before the performance, not during! What I did today was ok though, but, it was only just about ok.

OK, all the notes were there and they were in the right order and at the right tempo. Somehow though, I just wanted it to be a bit better and sound a bit “bigger”.

I had wanted today’s performance to be brilliant, but, somewhere between reading the notes and my fingers and feet playing them, a little bit of sparkle was lost. There has to be more to music that a collection of notes in the right order. Where was the emotion and the musical journey?

I think the emotion got lost, somewhere around the point I selected the wrong registration. I wanted an a couple of 8′ Diapasons, a Mixture and a 2′ Fifteenth on the Great coupled to 2 16′ stops and a couple of 8′ stops in the pedal. Instead, all I got was an 8′ Flute on the Great. It wasn’t quite enough to give the kind of sound I wanted. It was like dipping your hand into a bag of pick and mix and getting a squashed fruit pastille when your heart is set on the cola bottle.

Still, we all have to learn somewhere and my lesson today is to practice hitting the right piston, days before trying to perform it to anyone.

I’ve just played an Organ Transcription of Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie no. 1 during Holy Communion.

Most people knew the tune; hardly any knew the name of the piece. The melody is strangely hypnotic and provided a suitable backdrop for reflection and contemplation.

Satie was famous for composing music which he described as “musique d’ameublement” – or, to translate, “Furniture Music”. His aim was to create music which provided a backdrop to other things; music which set the scene.

Ironically, perhaps, the 3 Gymnopedie’s were never considered by Satie as part of his musique d’ameublement. However, for today, and hopefully with no disrespect, I beg to differ.

In 1887, just before he wrote Gymnopedie no 1., Satie described himself as a “gymnopedist”. I’m not really sure I understand what he meant by this, but it’s possible that it was a witty cultural reference, designed to deflect attention away from the Frenchman. Was he saying that he saw his role in life as creating the backdrop by which others could perform?

I like Satie’s work. I studied it in some detail for A-Level, where I found myself impressed and moved by the work of a man who was considered part of the French avant-garde at the beginning of the 20th century. His work was different and successfully experimental.

His work has influenced many musicians, across many genres. It’s probably true that his work inspired me to aim to be different and experimental.

After 4 and a half months of learning to play again, I feel I’m ready to play something for people to listen to. Next Sunday is the day I start performing again. I’m nervous but also really excited. Bring it on!

I’ve not played a keyboard properly since I left University. I’ve often wondered about starting again, particularly as I was actually quite good when I tried to be.

My problem was always a touch of laziness. I would play a piece and it would be ok. I’d get bored and never make it perfect. There were only a few pieces I completely mastered to perfection and, thankfully, my A Level music is testament to that.

I’ve made the decision today to return to the keyboard and, somewhat scarily, return to the Organ. I haven’t played in a long time and I’m frightened that my talent may not resurface. However, if I don’t try, I’ll never know and so I’ll give it a go and see where I get to. I’m wishing myself good luck.