Cathedrals

Today (Sun 28 Oct) we split up. I went on a Cathedral crawl, while the others stayed at home in the 'orrible weather (wind and drizzle), before going to the Malvern Museum and the plague round. Eucharist and Matins were at Hereford. The regular choir was on its half-term holiday, but Laus Deo (a visiting choir) rendered Scarlatti Mass for 4 voices, plus Vierne Tantum Ergo for the Communion, and then Wood Te Deum and Benedicamus for Matins. It was quite nice to get a double-dose of choralisms. After a little walk around Hereford, although not going to see the Mappa Mundi and chained library (until the rest can join in), it was time to drive to Gloucester. Not before I bought a box of fireworks, though! It seems it's legal for an adult to let them off at any time of year, although not after 11pm, and at least 5m (25m for the bigger ones) from the audience. We'll save them for Saturday night, when every man and his dog is putting on a Guy Fawkes show.


I didn't have a map of Gloucester itself, but managed to find somewhere to park within walking distance of the Cathedral. I'm learning that parking on Sundays isn't too much of a problem. The evensong was Tallis and Victoria, by the Gentlemen of the choir. The performance was mostly very good, but two verses of the Nunc Dimittis were surprisingly 20th century - in two keys at once. I guess it happens to the best of them, and they'd just put on an a capella concert the previous evening, so perhaps it was under-rehearsed.

Navigation out of Gloucester was rather sub-optimal, but I did end up at home within 4 minutes of the promised time. If I'd been keen enough, I could have made evensong at the Priory as well. We cooked steak tonight - probably won't happen too often, given the price, but we have to try it occasionally!

I've managed to import email from my old computer's Thunderbird to the same program on the new computer. That sounds like it should be very simple, doesn't it. But the directory structures appeared to have absolutely nothing in common. One had a hierarchy of folders, and the other only had two files, neither of which existed on the first. But MozBackup saved me.

The girls start school tomorrow after their half-term break. I'm not sure how long they're going to stay in years 2 and 4. The kids only start "hobbies" (on Saturday mornings) once they're in year 3, so Helen is keen to be moved up a.s.a.p. Although they've both been making friends, so it's probably not a trivial decision. Speaking of making friends, they discovered Izzy at the plague round this afternoon, and have arranged to meet up again same time next week - so that's a good sign.

The work people are all away Monday-Wednesday, and they're not going to be ready for me to start until Thursday. So that gives me time to make a few more admin arrangements for furniture delivery, but also to spend some time going through emails (including CryptoGram) and work wikis. I'll also try to get myself acquainted with organisational structures as much as I can from the web.

Daylight saving ("Summer Time") finished here early this morning, so we had an extra hour available for sleep. I tried not to use it all up in one go, hoping that we could use some of it to be ready to get the kids to school on time tomorrow. Who knows how it will turn out.