Katherine Dixson
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Yesterday was my (singing and) dancing day

21/12/2014

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While much of the nation was glued to the Strictly Come Dancing final last night, Kidderminster was celebrating Christmas in song.  It was my first term as a fully-fledged member of the Choral Society and my first experience of the famous Gala Christmas Concert.  By all accounts, it varies little year on year, but the familiarity didn’t dull the atmosphere in the slightest; on the contrary, the anticipation of welcoming back old friends – literally and in terms of format – seemed to heighten the sense of excitement.

Hard on the heels of our Opera Gala evening, we’d had only a few weeks to rehearse the Christmas repertoire, and several of the pieces were brand new to me, so I wasn’t without trepidation.  But as soon as the concert was launched, with the entire packed-to-the-rafters Town Hall bursting into Hark the herald angels sing, the thrill of creating wonderful music kicked in and I simply enjoyed it from beginning to end.  Not that my contribution was flawless, and many thanks to my colleague Sue on the back row of the second sopranos for the surreptitious dig in the ribs when (in my enthusiasm) I launched into A child is born four bars prematurely.  

The concert may have followed a tried and tested formula, but the performance direction for Tomorrow shall be my dancing day summed up the evening’s entertainment: ‘Fresh and lively’.  With its catchy syncopated rhythms and variable time signatures, that carol wasn’t easy but it was one of my favourites, and our conductor Geoffrey Weaver’s own arrangement of White Christmas was also a wonderful sing.  But top of the tree for me was Will Todd’s contemporary carol My Lord has come, three pages of deliciousness.

The audience gave us a lovely warm reception but were equally – if not more – bowled over by the young performers who give this sort of concert such a family feel.  Wyre Forest Young Voices, the richness of their purple outfits matching secure harmonies and musicianship potential aplenty, and the diminutive Primary Chords, enchanting in primary colours, creating fun, exciting music that had us itching to join in.  And join in everyone did ... the entire Hall mastering the rollicking Hey Father Christmas as a three-part round, with more than a little dancing in the seats.  He must have heard.  After a little calm was restored with a charming rendition of Away in a Manger from all the children – including small audience members invited to the stage – suddenly there was the man in red with a sack full of sweets ...

Much of the evening’s shenanigans – choral and congregational –  was accompanied by the brilliant Holborne Brass Ensemble, who also presented a couple of sets of Christmas music that ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime and back again, culminating in possibly the fastest strictly Russian Trepak in the history of The Nutcracker.  They played a starring role too in the fully-participative Twelve days of Christmas; as the verses rolled out and the various sections of the Hall had their progressive moments of fame, we never knew quite what HBE’s collective Partridge would do next!

On the first day after the concert, I expect there are more than a few tired singers of all ages, but no doubt plenty of extra festive spirit too.  Merry Christmas!


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Christmas time

16/12/2014

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This year I started writing my blog.  More by chance than design, most of the post titles have featured the word ‘time’, which has satisfied my sense of symmetry and consistency.  A blog – dreadful word, symptomatic of the digital age’s compulsion to fabricate new expressions, often by sticking words together, as in ‘web log’, then shortening them – is after all in essence an electronic journal, a snapshot in time.  So capturing the variety of times – a time to sing, a time to get creative, a time to speed up, coffee time in Vienna, home time – seems entirely logical, and has proved a pleasant means of reminiscence for me, regardless of whether I have any readers!

Clichés are of course forbidden to creative writers, but there are plenty of time-themed ones out there, given our collective consciousness of its passing.  Heading towards the end of one year and starting the next, with all the new challenges and opportunities it may bring, seems a suitable time to reflect on our motivations and what’s really important to us.  A time to regroup, consider the experiences that have gone before and plan for whatever lies in store.  Christmas time for some can be busier than ever, but I hope it gives you and your family the space to press pause and appreciate each other’s company.  That’s all from me for now, time’s up.

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Time to network

7/12/2014

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What a difference a couple of months makes.  If someone had told me then that I'd be earning money from writing about pension plans, I would have looked around to see who they were talking to.  Hardly my original intention, nor, let's face it, my area of expertise, but what a confidence-boost to find that my writing's been recognised as something worth paying for.  I haven't even had to go looking for this, but realise that the dream music and travel writing jobs  will require some effort to secure!  Probably involving getting to know the right people.  Early in October at our SPEED Plus conference I enjoyed the inspirational input of Judith Gilmore, who helped us in a very practical way to appreciate the importance, art and skill of networking.  This week I had back-to-back opportunities to put to the test firm handshakes, broad smiles and open body language, as well as take my well-rehearsed 'Value Proposition' for a spin. 

Not exactly geographically handy for me, but jumping on the back of an event my daughter was going to in a business capacity, I signed up for an Enterprising Women lunch hosted by the Solihull Chamber of Commerce.  At Hogarth's Hotel, we had a lovely Christmassy meal in beautiful surroundings, and the chance to meet ladies in many lines of business - I found myself sandwiched between a manager in an engineering firm and a hotel spa manager.  We had a motivational talk from award-winning Julie Summerell about her route to managing her own independent fleet services company, TR Fleet.  A very likeable mixture of humility and success, she admitted ruing the day she turned down the opportunity to support a greetings card venture with a chap who had previously had several false starts.  'Can you guess the name of the company? ... FunkyPigeon.com!'

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Maybe one or two of the connections I made that day will prove fruitful in due course, but this week's other event already has!  By chance I spotted that the University was hosting an Institute of Travel and Tourism roadshow, showcasing many areas within the sector for the benefit of students considering entering the industry.  Hardly your average delegate, then, but it seemed a good chance to hear about current trends, with the potential for networking with professionals in respected companies who maybe, just maybe, would be looking for a writer? 

It was an extremely interesting day, with conference-style inputs from a wide range of operators (some featuring barely-disguised shameless sales pitches) and hotels (did you know Premier Inn is opening a new property every 7 days?) followed by the actual networking.  I must have said something right to a gentleman from a certain wedding and honeymoon travel company. Back home, barely had I had time to think about writing him a 'nice to meet you' email, than he phoned up to say he was about to email me with a proposal (no, not that sort).  We haven't tied the knot yet, but suffice to say this could turn into a very big deal ... involving writing about travel destinations for their honeymoons website!  This all seems so bizarre and too good to be true that my current thoughts are: Perfect Surrealism.  Back down to earth for some more mundane crossing of fingers.    


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Lighting up time

29/11/2014

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We creative writers love an event with plenty of fragrance, as there’s nothing quite like conjuring up a sense of smell to breathe life into a written piece.  Kinver Village was full of distinctive odours last night for the Big Tree Switch On, and I’m not talking candle wax and reindeer droppings. 

Small Business Saturday (https://smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com/) may not be until 6th December, but lots of the local traders spilled out onto the High Street yesterday evening to tempt the gathering crowds with their wares – with mouth-watering results.  Would it be home-made soup from Village Greens or sizzling burgers from The Butchery?  We wavered, but instead headed to the hog roast, where a multitude was salivating nicely for hot pork rolls.  The queue had grown considerably by the time it was our turn as it wasn’t what you could call fast food.  My daughter began wondering whether to offer her services behind the counter.  Worth waiting for, however: melt-in-the-mouth and flavour-packed, with a special mention for the crackling.

The overhead lights were already lit, as were the individual Christmas trees jutting out unicorn fashion at regular intervals above the shop fronts.  The minute we were served, the countdown was on for the lighting of the big tree in its customary place between the modern clock tower and the ancient library.  Very stylish.

Nor was it all food and drink, of course.  There was a visit from Father Christmas, thanks to Rotary.  There was a spinning demonstration outside the craft shop (any connection with the yarn-bombed trees, I wonder?), a no-lose tombola, the hammer thump and occasional winning bell of ‘splat the rat’.  There were gift stalls and Christmas decorations, and lots of neighbours and old friends to bump into.  There was still more food, though: we were beckoned into the friendly new dentist’s surgery for – I kid you not – iced cakes and bucks fizz, and left with goody bags of toothpaste and a lucky dip prize of a scale and polish for my husband, which seemed to redress the balance.

Last aroma of the night: our meal on the move was rounded off with a squeeze down bustling Chenevare Mews for a cream-topped hot chocolate from Kinfayre Coffee House.  Verdict: Kinver really is very good not only for community spirit but a feast for the nostrils too.

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Time flies ... and so might rhinos

24/11/2014

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Unbelievably, the formal part of SPEED Plus has come to an end already.  No more Wednesday afternoons and Friday lunchtimes at our second home, Molineux Football Stadium, learning about goals (of the business variety).  It seems light-years since that initial pitch (sorry) to gain a place on the programme.  There’s been plenty of food to fuel our mental exercise, but thankfully no dribbling.  No shortage of set pieces either – the buffet lunch was steadfastly identical for each of the twelve fixtures, displaying something of a lack of culinary imagination to a bunch of creative entrepreneurs.  The curly fries went down well, however, and the puddings did vary – but with the emphasis always on cream, sugar and calories.

We didn’t sign up for this with the sole purpose of putting on weight, of course (notice I carefully avoided any clever puns about gaining pounds), but prefacing the workshops with lunch was a useful opportunity to catch up with the other beneficiaries and swap stories of progress, lessons learned and challenges faced.  What classes of trademark are you applying for? ... how are you getting on with renovating your premises? ... here’s a good printer for business cards ... have you joined Twitter yet? ... which is the preferred blood type for signing a Funding Application Form?  And apart from all the encouragement, shared knowledge and cross-fertilisation of ideas, it’s been a thorough pleasure simply getting to know such a lovely bunch of enthusiastic and talented people.  Long may the associations continue, even though the scheduled group efforts have finished.

What can I say about the compulsory workshops ... times to learn, with varying degrees of interactivity, about finance, branding, value propositions, more finance, marketing, social media, even more finance, intellectual property and, erm, animals.  The presenters displayed a range of styles, usually engaging, stimulating and relevantly informative, but as for the gentleman who chose to address us with his shoes off, what was that all about?  Some sessions left us a bit flummoxed, I think it’s fair to say. 

But for keeping us transfixed for three and a half hours and unleashing a massive burst of focused activity ever since, the prize has to go to David Hyner, the rhino man.  Without revealing too much (I know a thing or two about copyright, after all), his spectacle (no other word for it) on setting massive goals not only inspired us to believe that we can really set our sights on achieving something magnificent but also equipped us with practical tools for the quest.  Cows got a bit of a bad press, but I notice David had no qualms about giving away milk chocolate for intelligent questions, singing in public and other rhino-like behaviour.  You had to be there.

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It doesn’t all stop because the workshops have come to an end.  It’s really just the beginning, with the business proper starting and consultations with our mentors continuing for another few months.  Meanwhile, I’ve been beavering away (in a rhino-like fashion) at my branding – a local design company has weaved its magic on my original concept and I have a logo of which to be proud.  A website to match is just around the corner, then there’ll be some proactive promotional work ahead ... exciting times.

Even without actively marketing myself I seem to have generated business by osmosis.  I have a couple of commissioned pieces to write today, so time for this rhino to fly.

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A time to get creative

26/10/2014

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I've been taking time out from writing, switching creative pursuits to make a quilt/playmat for my friend's beautiful daughter who was born on Wednesday. There seems to be a bit of an Easter theme going on, what with baskets of chicks and all, a bit unseasonal but hopefully it'll be considered appropriate for a newborn.  I've been humming the Easter Hymn from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana over the drone of the sewing machine - not only a tidy connection but also useful practice as it's one of the pieces in my choir's Opera Gala concert in a few weeks' time.  Going back 25 years, it also featured as register-signing music at our wedding service the day before Easter Sunday (on organ rather than a hundred-voice chorus and symphony orchestra)! Beautiful uplifting melodies.

The writing industry's coming on apace, though, with a few invoices already raised and a meeting with another client in the week ahead.  I've had funding approved for a whole suite of business branding so I'll be meeting my local designer tomorrow to take forward my logo ideas and develop a house style.  Exciting times.  Next stop after that: a shiny new website that will give me the wherewithal to go in for some serious promotional work.

I keep coming back to the question 'why didn't I take the plunge into self-employment sooner?' as the scope for plundering my creativity is really stimulating, but I guess it's better late than never!
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Time to speed up

6/10/2014

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Up ‘nice’ and early at the weekend, determined not to be late for my SPEED Plus residential.  Best avoid those dreaded yellow cards.  For a keen traveller, I’m not the world’s best at finding my way to unfamiliar places by car on today’s busy roads, although perversely I pride myself on being able to read a map and therefore won’t entertain the idea of a SatNav.  As it happened, Scarman House at Warwick Conferences was an easy (if soggy) drive and I was soon catching up with fellow-beneficiaries from Wolverhampton over coffee – the prelude to mega-amounts of food and drink over the course of the next 30 hours.

This was a chance to mix with delegates from the other four Unis on the project: Coventry, Birmingham City, Keele and Staffordshire, representing between us around 50 fledgling businesses.  And mix we did.  By a stroke of genius the conference was front-loaded with a brilliant and intensely interactive session on networking, led by Judith Gilmore of Effective Communications.  Learning through doing, with a vengeance, and charmingly entertaining too – if a little loud, but sensibly Judith had brought along a whistle for crowd control.  Being given permission to act as ‘lurker’ was a new one on me, but there was a serious point in terms of exploring how best to engage with groups.  Quite honestly, for lessons in conducting yourself at a human level, amidst an era of digital communication, this opener will have been worthwhile beyond the purely business-networking domain. 

To follow that was no easy task, but over the two days we were presented with a range of informative and thought-provoking talks, interspersed with never-ending platefuls of hotel-standard food, in an environment to match.  We covered legal aspects, sales and marketing, finance; hopefully it’ll all be second nature by the time the lovely self-assessment tax return is due (red-letter day on the planner: 31st January 2016.) 

The parting shot in the so-called ‘graveyard shift’ on Sunday afternoon – after I’d put away what could only be described as Christmas lunch with all the trimmings – was a surf around social media.  Although I’ve faced Facebook and linked to Linkedin, any thoughts of Twitter have yet to take flight, so this was going to be challenging territory for me.  But Phil Oakley’s demonstration of the power and potential of social media as a business tool, and useful pointers on harnessing and analysing it left me intrigued (as well as much more knowledgeable about Staffordshire oatcakes, into the bargain).  So all going well I’ll be investigating the sphere of virtual communities faster than you can say hashtracking.com.

Back in the real world of flesh and blood, measured by firm handshakes, smiles, eye contact, a listening ear and lots of laughter, it was a real pleasure experiencing so much enthusiasm, innovation and high hopes.  Good luck to all the young entrepreneurs, and well done for having the confidence to take the plunge when you have your whole lives ahead of you.  Oh, and thanks for all the encouragement that came the way of the elder stateswoman in your midst!

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Time and motion

28/9/2014

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I may be an aspiring travel writer, and far-flung jaunts are of course highly desirable, but when there’s delightful South Staffordshire countryside right on the doorstep, the oyster may sometimes be closer to home.  What do people look for in travel?  Beautiful scenery or architecture?  Excitement?  Exotic cultures?  Escaping the familiar, or seeking the familiar but with added sunshine?  I can identify with all of those, though the last one in my case wouldn’t be full English breakfast in Costa del Brit but choral singing in some fabulous European city – not that the sunshine always materialises on cue.

A change of tempo may be just as important as all the other aspects put together.  Let’s face it, with ease of communications nowadays everything’s so fast-paced that it’s therapeutic to take time out and slow down.  Taking a Sunday afternoon stroll along our local canal towpaths gives a refreshing perspective on life.  Clean air, exercise, birdsong, scampering squirrels and a speed limit of 4 miles per hour restore a sense of proportion.  A chance to notice the trees turning, a heron patiently poised for fishing, a family of mallards maturing from the fluffy ducklings of a few weeks earlier.  Exchanging pleasantries with narrowboaters, relaxing aboard or touching up their paintwork, or hearing travellers’ tales during the slow process of navigating the locks.

It’s good to gather my breath before launching into a milestone week for my new venture.  This is when things really get underway for my business start-up.  Under the banner of the SPEED Plus project, there’s clearly going to be no hanging around – and at my time of life I’d better crack on if I’m going to make a success of this freelance writing lark.  Way Beyond Words is duly registered with the taxman, the domain name’s bought, the email address is active, the logo’s in my mind’s eye, and in the space of the next week I will have had two meetings with my business consultant, a workshop on business plans and an intensive weekend residential.  With a bit of luck the writing itself will get a look-in too.  Speed-writing, perhaps.

After that, I reckon I’ll be needing another canal walk.
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New beginnings

7/9/2014

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New to this blogging lark, I hope an account of a whole week in one post is acceptable.  1st September doesn’t just bring a new month, but a host of new beginnings.  Now is the time the academics will return to work so my new role at the Uni can hopefully start in earnest, as opposed to the hit-and-miss vacuum of its first few weeks.  The new school year will see the roads busier for the morning commute, so time to factor in a prompt departure.  First, though, I have the luxury of my Mondays and Tuesdays to myself, and Monday sees me out in the garden tidying and cutting back ready for the new season.  Aside from the horticultural improvements, the spin-offs are many: a chance to appreciate what I have, get some much-needed physical exercise and feel closer to nature’s wealth of sounds, smells and textures.  How many more chances will there be this year to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air?  Carpe diem, and all that.

Future Mondays and Tuesdays will need to have an element of discipline and routine, whatever the weather, as next week I launch myself into SPEED Plus, the business start-up programme which I hope will turn my writing habit into a gainful freelance activity, even if it doesn’t propel me into fame and fortune.  Despite frequent moments of self-doubt it’s an exciting prospect, knowing that I’ve chosen this for myself (and they’ve chosen me, let’s not forget) in contrast to the lack of real options offered by the restructure in the formal workplace.

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Tuesday has its own built-in writing fix already, in the edifying and entertaining company of fellow scribblers at the Coachhouse.  Today’s session is a workshop on humour writing.  A general discussion exploring who or what tickles each of us is designed to get our creative juices flowing, but when the inevitable happens and we’re set a task by presenter Jane, the prevarication and procrastination are enough for her to pen her own comical poem ... observations on the making of coffee, the careful peeling and consumption of satsumas, the search for a functioning pen (at a writers’ group?!), the pleading inability to compose in anything other than complete silence.  Basically the pussy-footing around the matter in hand.  Jane’s masterstroke captures our essence to perfection but it’s saved for delivery until we’ve all had a chance to offer our own.  And despite the protestations that we couldn’t do it, safe to say we’ve cracked it and cracked each other up in the telling.  Note to self: if you think you can’t write something useful in half an hour, think again!  And if nothing else, don’t spend so much time reading the online plethora of other people’s hints and tips about how to get on with it that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that you’re never going to get on with it.  Just get on with it!

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Wednesday, and back to the ‘real’ workplace, although I notice the permanent desk hasn’t yet materialised, pending office reorganisation.  Maybe I’ll feel more at home when I can unpack properly.  Back to a welcome routine, though, as the Uni Choir resumes after a month’s break.  What a lovely way to get away from (whichever) desk for an hour in the middle of the day.  I’ll have to skip it during October and November when Wednesday afternoon SPEED sessions kick in, but for now I’m back.

Thursday ... an evening out after a day at work may yet prove an unsustainable new routine, but I’m taking my chances with another choir, more local than my previous Monday one.  Arrive home hoarse but happy.

Friday, and my new office colleagues are looking forward to the weekend.  A meeting brings greater focus and direction, and I willingly succumb to repetitive strain injury, knowing the damage the computer mouse is inflecting on my shoulder is at least – at last – a sign that we’re underway.

Saturday, my youngest is on his way back for his final year at university.  Could somebody please tell me where that time went?  He never entirely unpacked over the summer, just sort of picked his way through the clutter, and now that clear space is revealed in his bedroom I have a brainwave about capitalising on this temporarily vacant territory.  No, not lodging a few Albanian migrants but claiming a personal domain for all this writing business.  A quick message to check he doesn’t mind (‘Go for it’), and I’m working on kitting out the space for maximum productivity, including some brighter curtains.  To be honest, spacemen on a glow-in-the-dark night sky were a bit past it for a 20-year-old anyway.

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Sunday is such a glorious day that cooking the roast might as well wait until tomorrow; we want to get out and about.  We walk up the hill, take several country tracks though England’s green and pleasant land, and arrive at the Cat Inn in Enville before it’s even open.  The beef dinner is worth waiting for, not to mention a generous slab of chocolate fudge cake ... well, we still have a lengthy hike ahead of us, enough to walk off at least a few of the calories.  Forging a circular route, we head home via the pastoral setting of the Sheepwalks and a busy Kinver Edge, taking a pit stop at the historic Rock Houses.  At the National Trust Tea Room we’re ready for a cuppa and, appropriately, a rock cake.

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Home time

13/8/2014

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We awoke to rain, which made us realise how lucky we’d been to enjoy the brilliant views in previous days.  It had cleared by the time we were expecting the shuttle bus to Franz Liszt Airport.  It was slightly worryingly late but the journey was quick, so plenty of time for the airport formalities … just as well, since check-in didn’t seem particularly well organised.

Thankfully the plane to Munich was on time, and by now we were ready for our on-board snack, the same mozzarella and veggie sandwich as we’d had on the way from Birmingham to Munich.  Making the speedy transfer at Munich, we hoped the cases had also made it on board the flight to Birmingham (they had!)  Glorying in the rare luxury of non-low-cost air travel, we were given yet another snack … thankfully not yet another mozzarella sarnie but a substantial slab of Lufthansa's delectable cherry cake. 

It would be appropriate enough to conclude the holiday blog with a mention of food, but perhaps I’ll finish off with a list, in no particular order, of some of the lasting impressions:
  
Our room at the Laimer Hof
Cycling in Munich
Visiting lots of places in comfort and luxury without the need to constantly pack and unpack
Organ concert in Passau
Waitress aboard calling me 'My Lady'
Mozart concert in Salzburg
Cruising Wachau Valley
Wandering at leisure through Durnstein
Schönbrunn gardens
Budapest by night, especially our arrival
St Matthias interior decoration
Meals in Munich, especially at La Brasserie ... beer garden will have to be next time
Tea and cookies on the ship
Winning the music quiz
Some of the guests … some best forgotten!
Vienna Opera tour
No 16 bus in Budapest
Spending time with my lovely husband of 25 years

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    Here are a few of my favourite things: writing, music, travel ... and if I can combine all three, I'm a very happy wordsmith."

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