Bratsche (Ger.) = Viola (Eng.) I'm the one at the top of the list. Are you local?

I remember fondly the days when she used to invite me and Steve Irwin to her private estate in back-country Australia. How she used to enjoy having me deep in her bush as we both watched Steve playing with his snake.

Ooh my friend plays the viola!

[HB]You're principal viola then? Oh I say. I'm about a hundred miles south, but I occasionally work in Brum and have friends there.

ZK] Maybe Herr Bratsche is your friend ? Had you considered that ? How spooky would that be ? I am a 94 year old woman.

[st d] Well, I had my suspicions...

ZK] that I was 94 ?

Yes.

I have a very good friend who is a viola player. For years she did quite literally nothing else, but now she diversifies by also playing jazz double bass, which I consider to be a step in the right direction.

Did you hear about the gangster string quartet? They were charged with extracting money with violins.

[ZK] I think I'll be 27 by the time of the Pilg (based on a gnawing suspicion that I'm 26 at the moment).
Should Lib end up being unavailable (and public transport ends up being undesirable), I'd be happy enough to drive Northern types down. My car fits 4 passengers, in theory, and I have no reason to doubt it. As for playing a part, I think I'm best suited to propping up the bar and providing a laugh-track. And some vulgarity, if you're all unlucky.
[rab] The parser is getting HTML wrong, if I'm not mistaken - or is it deliberately replacing < with &lt;?