The Choir Concert

I needed the Choir concert tonight 

It was the perfect and what’s more importantly local, home grown quality concert that reminded me that not everything nice can be found over the border.

The Trelawnyd Male Voice Choir (https://trelawnydmalevoicechoir.com/index.php?id=4)

peformed a set of three quarter Welsh Songs supported by a quartet of teenage singers from Ruthin School who were an absolute revelation and delight 

It’s was a lovely night

Made better by the above impromptu moment in the interval when half the choir sang happy birthday to 8 year old villager Sophia who is the delightfully polite daughter of Polish Monika, the hall’s caretaker.

Lots of the village turned out, Village Elders Ian and Helen , The velvet voiced Linda, Bridget and Andrew, Mrs Trellis ( looking lovely in pearls) Pippa, TCA Dave and Jean ,Mr Poznan in a bow tie, Gill and Gentleman farmer Peter from my Choir, et al

Ps they sang Gwahoddiad perfectly

Just like this

Spitalfield’s Vase

 

The dogs have been spoilt rotten by Trendy Carol and her hubby, but were still happy to see me. We’ve had a long walk this morning in the showers and they 

are now steaming quietly in the kitchen reading chair and are asleep.

It’s the charity concert by the village MaleVoice Choir in aid of the TCA tonight, but in the meantime I’m doing chores

I bought this vase at Spitalfields Market and filled it with garden flowers

Drying Your Bra

 Small disasters often make a few days away, funny and memorable.

I thought our train cancellation was unfortunate and symbolic of the bad luck I’ve had all this year with travel plans but after some judicious train swaps we made our superb supper reservation at the Opera House with two minutes to spare.   

Our hotel was the bijou hotel Mimi’s in soho. 

It’s central, and much cheaper than even the basic travelogues, but the rooms are comfortable ( if small) and the coffee good.

My room resembled a small, very smart one berth caravan 

Janet’s room sprang a leak through the ceiling at 4 am and the leak soaked her suitcase .

Unbeknown to me she had organised a change of rooms and had spent a merry few hours drying her bra and knickers with a hairdryer ( a video I thankfully missed because I was fast asleep)

Janet’s not a complainer but I am and I managed to get back a hefty rebate on the room by an unsmiling manager who found Janet’s wet bra tales somewhat beneath him.

The restaurant I picked on speck last night was an Italian meat place called Macellaoi and that was made special by the off duty manager who sat next to us at the bar where we managed to wangle a pre show supper. He was working on his laptop but I think noticed that the waiter was more attentive over an Á La carte group of diners than us. He took our orders then substituted bits on the menu for more expensive articles even giving us a bottle of Italian wine cheaper because the one I ordered was out of stock.

Being looked after at a restaurant is a lovely treat, and I twittered my thanks to him this morning .

It’s been a lovely few days, made better, in some ways by the bra incident which was something to laugh about.

Laughter is something I don’t find hard with my sisters 

Even though their bras may be sodden

Revisiting Les Miserables

 Les Miserables was a class act, and believe me, I’m an expert on the show having seen it a score of times in the 1980s and early 1990s

Ok there are a few changes from the original. There is no revolving stage, there is no dramatic reconstruction of the barricades and the whole thing seems paced quicker than what I remember . Interestingly there is also some omissions of language including some anti Semitic references spoken by the nasty Thenardiers in the wedding scene .but the new version is a quality piece with some beautifully performed set pieces with universally beautiful singing

We had a fantastic meal at Soho Italian Meat Restaurant Macellaio beforehand and received some lovely treats from the delightfully attractive manager there who seemed to suddenly take a liking to us. 

He was very sweet and made a lovely evening even more lovely.

Buggered

 Exhausted.

Janet’s leading the adventure as it’s her birthday treat

Spitalfields market this morning was lovely and she’s never been on the Thames , so we caught the London Clippers through London’s central zone.

It of shopping on Oxford Street then back to the hotel .

Les Miserables tonight

Don Quixote

 

I have a new favourite ballet.

The joyous, warm, beautifully danced Don Quixote at the Royal Opera House

It’s a pure delight..and the leads Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov were adorable

And I was in tears when the old knight rode off into the Spanish sunset on his donkey waved away by a score of cheerful villagers

Of course , my run of bad travel look couldn’t continue , and Janet and I arrived for supper at the Opera house dead on time. 

I adored booking the balcony restaurant as we had a place to go back to during intervals to sip a cocktail and to drink coffee.

It was lovely and the perfect backdrop, dinner and ballet for Janet to experience on her first visit.

Sod’s Law

 

The only straight through train to London was cancelled at the last minute.

Fuck

We were on it. 

Managed to get to Crewe where we didn’t follow the crowds battling for the Euston trains and jumped on an empty delayed train which means we should get to the Opera house in time for supper

Hey fucking ho

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