under another sun

Up early, and working on the Kenniad this morning, it is going well. Lorraine round to help Pat and Maureen sort out some legal stuff on the flat purchase, and also cook for them as Maureen has picked up a cold. Had strangely stiff buns today, whatever I was doing in the garden yesterday made my bum quite sore. To Gyndebourne this afternoon, a rather grand and marvellous thing to be doing on a Monday afternoon.  We were supposed to go with Yvonne and Brian, who had bought me my ticket as a birthday present, but Yvonne had a vomiting bug caught from her grandchildren, so we were collected by Guy and Barbara who used their tickets instead. Guy and Barbara collected us, and drove us there, which is only about fifteen minutes or so from here. Lorraine and I were convinced we had not seen La Traviata before, but as soon as I saw the set, I recognised it from the last opera we had seen, La Traviata, here, in October 2018. The set, costumes and so on pretty minimal and underwhelming. But ...

Up and a bit of my work, and a bit of tidying, before zooming off to my glass class. Another enjoyable session, where I did lots of soldering. Coffee afterwards with most of the class, and hung about chatting with Chris at the end. This done, I simply slipped around the corner to call in on Helen, and we listened to the entirety of act two of the Centaur opera, to which she had done lots of work, really sounding convincing now. Perhaps it was having been to Glyndebourne recently, but it helped me imagine it being sung on stage more easily too. Good to see her for a while, and escape into a world of music. Then I walked home. Lorraine having a bit of a wretched week at school for various reasons I won't go into here. Home, however, and we caught a cab and zoomed off down past Preston Park where a big fireworks display was going to happen, down to the Station pub in Hove again, where John's band Body Talk was playing again. Always nice to see Betty and John, and I enjoyed cha...

Lorraine to the gym today, and I did bits and pieces in the morning. This afternoon off to Glyndebourne . Travelled by train to Lewes in the afternoon, and then caught a special bus to Glyndebourne. The first time I'd been there since my trip to interview the likeable Gus Christie ten years ago about his controversial windmill. We had dressed up fairly smartly for the occasion and it was full of sixty and seventy somethings ostentatiously swigging bubbly from flutes, and swanking about self-consciously in good clothes. When it was time to go into the auditorium Lorraine was prevented from entering by an officious woman who told Lorraine she could not take a 'rucksack', her little floral rucksack, in. The woman said the word rucksack as if Lorraine had been trying to make her way in carrying a cowpat. We didn't like this much. And Lorraine gave the bag to a sympathetic cloakroom woman, who said later she knew who the woman was and she was a bit scary. Jo Green'...

A private triumph, and a trip to Glyndebourne Had an interesting day today. In the morning reworking a poem about Paul Klee which I am herding like an independently-minded cat into the collection. A eureka moment, and it finally fell into place after fiddling with it off and on for several years. A private moment of triumph that would mean absolutely nothing to anyone else, but YAY! anyway. In the afternoon off to Glyndebourne for an very interesting interview with Gus Christie who is the executive chairman of Glyndebourne, and grandson of its founders. I really liked him. Turns out he was passionate about the environment as well as opera, and had studied zoology, and made wildlife films before returning to the family business. We talked a lot about the new wind turbine that is going to be erected nearby to power the opera. It has created a lot of controversy, but he seemed to me to be very sincere about trying to do the right thing. Even the cab driver who took me back to Lewes statio...