It's now over two years since I started playing at the Warehouse Cafe at Anglicare in Mt Druitt. Once a week on a Friday morning. I took it up initially as a challenge, for while I could easily put together a few songs for an intimate music group every so often, having a full repertoire and performing before an audience of strangers was another thing altogether.

Getting over my fear of making, and then showing, my mistakes was a critical part of the journey. In the past I have always winced at missed chords or vocals, feeling that somehow I should be somewhere closer to perfect every time. This is not a standard I recommend to anyone. Better to learn, as I think I have, to relax a little and have a small, inner, undetectable laugh at myself for these musical blemishes.

So now I seem to have become part of the furniture at the cafe. It is taken for granted that I'll be there, in my spot, an ambient part of the background. I am happy with that. For how much longer, I can't say. The gigs have lost the sense of challenge, though I still enjoy myself, for the most part.

As for the repertoire - it has developed over time. I play more songs that I like, though I still have to be mindful that most of the material needs to be familiar. So, cue Elvis and Crowded House.

I am lucky to have this chance. It's unlikely to come again and what is very real at one moment in time, is gone the next. Most often, forever.