Don Giovanni

Last evening I settled down in front of the TV prepared to enjoy an operatic feast, Easter Egg to hand saved up for just such a treat.  The singers were good, the acting was good, the music superb.  The production, however, was too gimicky for my taste.  
The action took place on or in front of what appeared to be a revolving cube.   It reminded me of a Rubik Cube and like that cube was a puzzle.  There was a ground floor and a first floor, the upper floor reached by ladders or a staircase.   The Director didn't seem to me to be able to make up his mind where exactly the drama should unfold.  The actors were running up and down stairs before each aria.  I'm sure they must have been as confused as I was.
I know my eyesight is bad and I have to sit close to the TV to peer at the screen but did I see graffiti all over the cube at times?  What was that for?  I think the Don could have taken lessons from Bryn Terfel and the Korean Soprano, Hei-Kyung Hong, in the seduction scene. ( This is one of my favourite pieces on YouTube.)   All in all not a  very successful evening.  The Easter Egg was nice.

A Kentish Farewell

This month is going by so fast.  Easter has come and gone.  On Maundy Thursday we went to a funeral in the depths of the Kentish countryside.  Tom's other grandmother had recently died after a long illness. The little village church was full of her extended family and many friends.  She was a much-loved lady. This was the church she had attended for many years before she moved to Hythe.

After the committal, the strains of bagpipes were heard, played by her son-in-law who is a world-class piper of Scottish descent. He played Lady MacRobert's Lament.  This tune was composed to commemorate the loss of Lady MacRobert's three sons - one of whom was killed in a flying accident, and the other two were killed while serving with the RAF in World War II.  They were all in their early twenties.  She promptly gave funds for a new bomber, called MacRobert's Reply. What an amazing woman.

Birthday

My 91st birthday on Saturday was a lovely day.  After last year's grand celebration I was told I had to wait till I was a hundred for the next big do.  However I managed pretty well with many nice cards and e mails, chocolates, two lovely CDs of operatic favourites and lots of beautiful spring flowers.Amanda cooked a splendid meal and Tom, Lan and Martin came .  With such good company time flew and it was nearly midnight before we finally said goodnight.  I count my blessings as my mother taught me.

Signs of Spring

I noticed on my return from Seaford this morning that within the last couple of days the trees are showing signs of green.  Such a welcome sight.  In my conservatory the winter jasmine which is normally a fairly small shrub has exploded into a veritable sea of white sweet smelling blossom.   I have never seen it like this before.  It is like a great white fountain.  I am told it is the result of the mild winter.  We have not had any really cold weather this year.  The daffodils  in the big pot that was a birthday present from John and Ian have just finished blooming for the second year.

It is great to have the extra hours of daylight and not to have to draw the curtains so early   I can remember protesting loudly when I was small that it couldn't possibly be bedtime because it wasn't dark.  How do mothers get on in the northern lands where it hardly gets dark at all in summer?

Letter from Hove

Someone has just found some old recordings of Alistair Cooke's "Letter from America".  I listened to him for years and always wondered how he managed to find something interesting to say each week.  I was engrossed with whatever the subject was even when it was his beloved golf.  He had a great way with words , almost like painting a picture.   It has been said that radio is better than TV because the pictures are better.  That was certainly so with his letters.

Now to the trivia of ny week.  On Tuesday Mike took me to my friends at Seaford for coffee, home made cake and lots of chat.  My nice girl came on Thursday to hoover and smarten me up.  A little more smartening up on Friday when my hairdresser came so I was all ready for the weekend.  I had a nice long letter from my daughter-in-law and Tom and Lan came on Saturday full of plans for their move into a house.

Today is Mothering Sunday.  My dear daughter has just brought me a lovely bunch of daffodils which makes a splendid splash of colour on my kitchen table.  I think fondly of my own mother and how she loved Mothering Sunday and how she enjoyed any sort of celebration.She loved receiving presents but she delighted even more in giving them.  Considering how little she had for most of her life I think she was the most generous of persons.

I look forward this Tuesday to the visit of my nephew who is coming over from Belfast.  I last saw him in Denmark last September so we shall have lots to talk about.
I have an appointment at the Eye Hospital on Friday for a scan.  I had my last injection in October, my 15th,  When the doctor said he was giving me a new stronger drug.  It seems to have worked as I haven't so far needed another injection.  Fingers crossed!!  

Since Christmas many people of my acquaintance have had a cold followed by a persistent cough.  I conclude that although we have had an extremely wet winter in the south we have not had the intense cold which would kill off all our germs.  My mother would say "You've been sleeping in a field with the gate open".
Talking of coughs I was walking home late one night in the war in the blackout when ,as I was passing a large school playing field, I heard what I thought was a poor old man loudly coughing.  I leaned over the wall to see what was happening and found myself staring into the white face of a sheep1  It appeared to have a bad attack of bronchitis.  At that time we were all being exhorted to produce more food hence a flock of sheep on the luscious grass of the school playing field.

Vienna 1952

We left checkpoint and drove along the British Corridor but soon came across a deviation sign.  We followed the arrows for a few miles until we were suddenly confronted by two soldiers bristling with guns who signalled us to pull in to the side of the road.  they told Arthur to get out.  After a while he returned to the car and we turned round and started back the way we came.  Apparently we had missed the sign directing us back on to the main road.  The soldiers seemed satisfied with Arthur's explanation thank goodness.  The week before some British soldiers returning from a football match in Vienna had been detained overnight.
We arrived in Vienna and parted from our friends.  We would meet again the next day.   We had a rather frugal meal and walked down to the river.  Vienna  too, was divided into four zones.  We saw a jeep with four uniformed soldiers, one British, one French, one American and one Russian. The Red Army Bridge was the limit of the Russian Zone and had an enormous red star hanging over it.  The Danube was not blue but a murky greyish green!

The next morning, a Sunday, we visited St. Stephen's Cathedral with its roof of molti-coloured tiles.  We admired some very fine buildings in the Ringstrasse.  The Opera House looked in ruins.  There were some very fine but expensive shops.  We went to the Prata, a large Park.  There we saw the Big Wheel which featured prominently in the film The Third Man.  In the Prata were many family groups taking photos.  It was Whitsun and children had taken their first communion.  They looked so pretty, girls in white dresses and boys self conscious in their smart suits.

We met our friends in the early afternoon.  We had an uneventful journey home.  We negotiated the checkpoints successfully and were thankful to leave behind the Russian soldiers and their enormous portraits of Josef Stalin.