I've spent a few sessions at the gym, which are rather overdue. On Saturday morning, I left home in the foggy seven o'clock darkness and cycled to the top of the Worcestershire Beacon - the highest of the Malvern Hills. It was odd to see the main beam and several side beams of my headlight stabbing through the fog, especially on our road where the streetlights aren't very bright. Even on top of the hill, where the potential visibility is over 20km and perhaps the wind might have helped dispel the mist, I could still only see about 10-20m. I called in at a couple of service stations on the way home, to see if I could top up the tyre pressure - but coins/tokens were required for the air at both places, and they both prohibited use on bicycles. Back to the home pump. There wasn't too much traffic at that time of day.
A little later in the morning, we went to explore the tower at Malvern Priory. As it turned out, this was mostly an opportunity to see the inside of the tower - the bellfry and the ringing room. But that was very interesting, and revived some latent curiosity about campanology, change ringing, and bell acoustics. It wasn't until we heard the 11 o'clock chime that we realised we were late for a girls' play-appointment in the park with Isabel. Although the atmosphere was still a little damp, the girls (and Christopher) had a good time, and we finished off with a hot chocolate at a local café.
Once home, there wasn't much time to fill in before departing for Coventry Cathedral for a performance of Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur. A spur of the moment decision led to travel by train rather than by car. I guessed that I could get from the station to Cathedral in 5 minutes, based on a quick Google Maps check. As it turned out, that wasn't to be: the Birmingham New St - Coventry train was 17 minutes late, so I was about 25 minutes late, and missed the first four méditations. I enjoyed the rest of it though, and have a new goal for next year! I got caught up in a little shopping frenzy of the high street area, before training back to Malvern Link. I enjoy the train experience - it seems very civilised, even if they're sometimes late. So different from Australia, where there's essentially one train a day between Brisbane and Sydney.We decided that Sunday would be a good day to visit 
Leicester. The Cathedral had some nice music programmed (Sumsion in F, Vaughan Williams This is the truth sent from above, Palestrina I look from afar), and we enjoyed meeting Dean Vivienne. After a brief exploration of the city centre, we headed off to the National Space Centre for the afternoon. It was quite interesting, with the simulator ride being the highlight. And we nearly missed it! We would like to have visited Taylor's Bell Foundry museum which was nearby, but it was closed for the Christmas break.On the way home, during some accident-induced motorway congestion, we decided that I should be dropped off at Worcester for the Carol Service, as it would be too late for the others after a long day. I should mention that we heard the Leighton Responses on the radio - they're everywhere! Worcester's choir performed superlatively, with a nice range of newish music: Grieg's Ave Maris Stella, and new arrangements of Adam Lay Ybounden, Past Three O'Clock (Carter), Coventry Carol (Lucas), and Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Oxley). There was an arrangement of one of Warlock's Capriol Suite movements was sung to Come to Bethlehem, and a section of Bach's Weinachts-Oratorium. The Jacques tune for Away in a Manger was the last piece from the choir. O Come all ye Faithful was, as usual, the last of the congregational carols, and this was exploited with an impressive double-organ rendition of Naji Hakim's Fantasie sur Adeste Fideles. It was a little odd to be at a carol service where people didn't need to fan themselves with their programmes to cope with the heat.
I've missed most of the festivities for Berenice's birthday today. I'll have to have my McDonalds another time. I bought some croissants and jelly babies in preparation for my boss's visit today. He wasn't hungry, so the croissants were a nice lunch just for me. That's the end of my lunch hour, but the office is Marie Celeste, so I'll probably head gymwards shortly. And now it's just ticked over to "Merry Christmas" for those in Australia! The lasses and Christopher went to a Christingle family service at the Priory, and we lit them with the birthday cake for dinner.
Two wines to report. The best French red I've tasted so far has been a Bordeau 2002 Les Abeilles from Saint-Émilion. It was wonderfully rich and complex, with a decent length. That was on Friday night, after I'd visited the Wine Rack to restock. Tonight for the birthday party, we tried a 2005 Alsacian (Alsatian?) Gewurztraminer from Cave de Turckheim with our vaguely oriental/Indian dish (in accordance with the label). We could, as directed, taste the lychees and honeyed ginger, even if it took a small pinch of imagination. There are probably others to try before getting that one again, but I'm keen to get some more bottles of Les Abeilles, unless I can find something in the same family. I'd like to know more about whether the 1855 classification (which divided vineyards & wineries into different classés) is still a reliable indicator, or just a guide about how well things were going back then. Another lesson we'll seek from Géraldine next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment