For the past few months I’ve been choosing songs that I want to sing.  I’m up to 68 of them.  I’ve made a little progress in the learning … and that’s okay.  Just having the titles on a list, nestled close to me, means a lot.  I don’t know how many I’ll end up learning, to whom I’ll sing them, or where, but I’m happy within the melodies and lyrics.

I’ve searched my memories for favourite songs.  One has haunted me.  A trio of Canadian singers created a marvel of love, one that touched me ten or twenty years ago.  I couldn’t remember the name of the group, the name of the song, or any of the lyrics – except for “red hair” turning to “silver”.  Makes it hard to track down on YouTube Music!

At one point the names of the group and the song returned: Tranby Croft and Old French Lane.  But the lyrics were still lost to me.

Eventually, after surfing the far corners of the internet for my beloved, I let the song go.  The sighings of life unrequited continued.

***

Ever since I arrived in Belgium, I’ve been struggling to get an HD screen resolution on my TV in the evenings.  So many phone calls and technician visits.  So many people not knowing the solution to my problem.

Last week’s technician suggested that I find an internet video on my laptop, download it onto a USB stick, and insert the stick into a slot on the TV.  He said that I should watch the video during the day (when the screen resolution is excellent) and then in the evening (when it’s not).  If there’s a difference in the sharpness, the problem is the TV, not the internet.

I knew I had an old USB stick somewhere, and I finally found it in a plastic bag with other electronics stuff.  Then I did as asked.

When I opened the flash drive on my TV, I saw that there was a folder named “My Music”.  I opened it.  “What to my wondering eyes should appear” but a long list of audio files, alphabetically by artist.

My heart jumped.  Could it be … ?  I had inconveniently forgotten the name of the group but I knew I’d recognize it if the band showed up onscreen.

Scrolling, scrolling …  So many names.  And the alphabet told me I was nearing the end.

One more turn of the thumb wheel and there it was: “Tranby Croft”.  My heart was now well and truly residing in my mouth.

I clicked.  It said “Old French Lane”!

The audio began.  My mouth opened and my eyes moistened.  Home had returned.

Seven jewels lie in the channel
South of England's shores
Where you and I once walked together
Where I walk no more

Hand-in-hand we would go
In the sun and in the rain
Through the streets of St. Helier
Down the Old French Lane

With Jersey sunshine
Falling on your hair
Shines in strands of red and gold
And eyes of green
Like the emerald sheens
Of your ancestral home

That was so long ago
Red and gold turn silver now
But eyes of green 
Will never change
In my memory somehow

***

At the beginning I said 68 songs

Make that 69