I have retired. After 12 years and about 15,000 hours of effort on behalf of Exiv2, I can make no further contributions.
It’s been quite a ride, and like the roller-coaster at the theme park it has been a mix of many things. At the theme park, you experience boredom while waiting in line, nervous when strapped in, terrified on the ride and relief when it’s all over. It’s much the same with an open-source project.
I’d like to thank several of my companions on the roller-coaster. Andreas (both of them), Neils, Gilles, Dan, Luis, Alan, Thomas, Tuan, Kevin, Pat, Phil, Mahesh, Abhinav, Nehal and I apologise for having forgotten to mention somebody important. And my family - especially my wife Alison and Lizzie the cat.
What will become of Exiv2 in the future? I don’t know.
thanks for all your time, efforts, diligence, and professional guidance spent on exiv2!
enjoy your retirement and i hope you are leaving with the certainty that you have done important work for the community and for so many software packages building on this library.
Yes. Andreas (@asn) has said “Come to LGM in Rennes in May 2020” and I think I will.
Remarkably, LGM is the same weekend as my son’s Wedding Reception. The wedding will be in Thailand in December and the reception will be in England on Friday 29 May. The family have said “OK” to me going to Rennes and I think that’s what I will do. However I’ll decide for sure nearer the time.
Dan and Luis are outstanding engineers. I have every confidence in them.
I started my next project on 29 September 2018. I bought a Euphonium!
Very pleased to have reached Grade 5 standard after 1 year and hope to reach Grade 7 or 8 in another year. Practice about 2 hours most days. Lizzie (the cat) goes outside when I play.
I played trumpet in the school orchestra. After a 50 year break, I’ve moved down an octave and loving it. The instrument looks beautiful in our music room. I’ve played the piano all my life. Both the digital piano and euphonium are Yamaha instruments.
I am preparing for ABRSM Grade 7 on the Euphonium in November and aiming to achieve Grade 8 (college entrance standard) in another two years. We upgraded the Euphonium and Piano when President Trump and President Biden gave us thousands of “economic stimulus” dollar$.
That is outstanding. What Euphonium did you get? In college, I was a low brass guy. Played a King 4B trombone with a Bach 5G mouthpiece. Think Wagner and Ride of the Valkyries. Good times.
I started on a Yamaha YEP201. It’s a 3-valve student instrument. I upgraded to a Sterling JP374TS 4-valve compensating instrument with a trigger. When I pass Grade 8, I’d like a Besson Prestige as played by my heroes David Childs and Steven Mead.
I’m just back from Brass Band Summer School, where my tutor was David. When I retired from Exiv2, the guys passed the hat and bought me six lessons with Steven Mead. A very generous, thoughtful and unexpected gift.
At Band School, Dr Brett Baker (Principal Trombone at Black Dyke) was sitting behind me in the band. I needed a seat belt to prevent me from being blown away.
One year only, 7th grade band (1971- 1972) I was first chair baritone (i.e., the only chair!) and I played whatever the school had. We moved the next year and that was that. As an early teenager I was primarily concerned with which instrument was cool in the girls’ eyes, which was either trumpet or snare drum. The band teacher said my teeth (?) fit a larger mouthpiece better, so baritone it was. At least the girl playing trombone next to me was cute…
@hiram@martin.scharnke@lphilpot Thank You for your interest in my musical career. I had two weeks at Brass Band Summer School. One week in Swansea, where the Director was Professor Nick Childs, MD of Black Dyke. One week in Harrogate where the Director was Professor Bob Childs (Nick and Bob are brothers).
The concert in Harrogate was in St Wilfrid’s Church. It’s a beautiful building built around 1910. The acoustics are challenging to say the least. Massive echo. 150 musicians in the massed band. https://clanmills.com/2023/Band/BBSS/Homepage/
@lphilpot My identical twin brother played trombone in the School Orchestra. I don’t remember him being cute, although I can think of a few other adjectives.
@HIRAM It’s good to hear from you, Richard and great to see photos of you and your daughter on Facebook. I hope everything is OK with you.
Well, Sharon – if I recall her name* – wasn’t my twin nor my brother but she was definitely waaaaaaayyyy cuter than me (it wouldn’t take much, in all fairness).
That church, having been completed in 1910, is still brand-new by British standards, eh?
* Which is scary because typically these days I can’t remember why I walked from one end of the house to the other…
The style of St Wifrid’s is Mediaeval. Most Modern 20th Century Churches are a pile of bricks, and I will welcome their demolition. Last Saturday, we attended a recital at the Salvation Army Citadel in Staines. We were impressed by the building. https://www.stainessalvationarmy.org.uk
The UK has a rich legacy of Churches going back 1000 years to the Normans. As congregations have dwindled, the Church has faced economic realities and many have been sold. Some churches have changed denominations to reflect changing ethnic demographics. Many continue to serve their communities as museums, or art centres. Most have been converted into beautiful homes, while others are restaurants, pubs, climbing centres or used for furniture retailing.
I was born in Largs, Ayrshire. The Church of Scotland has three beautiful churches. I believe the congregations are to merge. I hope the redundant buildings will be protected from demolition and continue to grace the seafront.
and i hope you are leaving with the certainty that you have done important work for the community and for so many software packages building on this library.
