Wednesday 17 May 2006

Stansted airport
I'm very sleepy, my plane's two hours late. Wonder if I can type coherent sentences. I think Stansted is the least offensive of the London airports to be stuck in for any length of time, especially as I don't have enough points any more to get into a grown-up airline's business lounge.

I've been in London for a gig last night playing in the English Concert with the choir Tenebrae. The Handel Coronation Anthems aren't really my cup of tea, as I can't get over the inherent ridiculousness of a choir and orchestra repeating a pompous 'God Save the King'. The only option is to play the notes with musical rather than physical commitment, and to adopt a bemused, slightly cynical facial expression. It still feels like I should wash my hands afterwards. 'My heart is inditing' is a nice piece though: it rises well above the bombastic, Handel working wonders with a very silly text.

I didn't find out until the end of the last rehearsal that there was no interval, which meant going from 3 big anthems straight into Dixit Dominus. I'd like to have been able to mentally prepare for that, and the end result was a frustratingly high bum note average in the exposed bits. Hmm.

Still, I made good use of the time in London, catching up with Lucy over a curry on Monday night, and Alison taking me one of London's Pierre Marcolini outlets to buy chocolate before the concert. Great sushi in Liverpool St station too. I had my first Staffordshire oatcake ('it's a culinary adventure') courtesy of the Neal's Yard cheese shop. And we saw the Daubenton's bats flying low over the pond in Snaresbrook. Alison has lent me her copy of How to be a bad birdwatcher, as any birdwatching book that quotes Trout Mask Replica has to be worth a look at least. Now listening to Michael Marra's 'Posted Sober' album: the man writes great songs.