Tag Archives: musings
Evening Prayer Before Lockdown
I went to evening prayer the night before this second lockdown began. I’ve always loved choral evensong. The first one I ever heard, in the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, in early Michaelmas Term 1984, made such a life-changing impression … Continue reading
Should these Connotations Always Apply?
Dark Just read any book or film review. Dark implies deep, complex, fascinating, intelligent, and, therefore, somehow worthy. I tend to think that dark is just dark. It’s not good, it’s not bad. It’s just dark. But, since we’re on … Continue reading
Wine and Politics
We were in something of a celebratory mood, so, being in London for the day, went for lunch at one of our favourite Italian restaurants, in Bloomsbury. “Let’s go there,” I said to H. “Last time we were there, the … Continue reading
What Exactly is Your Job?
Last weekend, I had the joy of seeing members of the Norwich Stonemasons‘ Guild perform a Mystery Play outside the doors of the Cathedral. It was a warm, sunny afternoon, a brief summer interlude before putting our coats, scarves and … Continue reading
Luxembourg Wine
In Anglo-Viking-Flemish Norwich, a Londoner and a Roman invited a Venetian for dinner at their home. The Venetian had some Austrian, Spanish, and Moroccan blood, the Londoner originally came from a Polish-Jewish family, and the Roman was of Armenian-Welsh-Cornish descent. … Continue reading
Just a Bit of Fun at the Expense of One English Social Stereotype*
We went to London last week, and stayed in Fulham, where I lived for several very happy years. For the information of non-Londoners, it’s an area in the South-West of the capital, a twenty-minute Tube ride from the West End … Continue reading
Books: Challenges, Traumas and Pure Pleasure
I remember a stormy night when I was about eleven. We were living in Nice. I don’t remember what prompted me. I stood on a chair to reach the top shelf of my mother’s bookcase where she kept – along with … Continue reading
London Night Sounds
The rumbling of the occasional car, speeding past our house. A murky grey sound. Snippets of human voices. A woman’s giggle. A crimson sound. The arrhythmic clicking of stiletto heels on the pavement. A copper sound. The roar of the … Continue reading
Voice, Stone, Wood and Air as One
I love Early music. I love its level-headedness, its lack of mood swings. It’s everlasting YES. Part of the reason I listen mostly to Mediaeval, Renaissance and Baroque music throughout the day is because, besides its being soothing and immensely … Continue reading
Zebras at the Opera House
Last night, I eagerly tuned in to the BBC Radio 3 live broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, of Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot. It’s one of my favourite operas. I didn’t listen to it till the very end, though, because … Continue reading