St. Martin in the Fields

May 8, 2010

I had every intention of going running this morning when my alarm went off at 7:00 am. Somehow that didn’t happen. Michelle wasn’t very surprised. Oh well. Instead of waking up early, I slept in until almost 9:00. Whoops. We had a meeting scheduled for 9:30, so I hopped quickly into the shower to get ready. The meeting was all about policy here at the flats; the do’ and don’ts. We also talked about our schedule for the next few days. It ended up being quite a bit longer than really was necessary. Several people were absent though because Monica Hymas had some kind of attack during the night in connection with her diabetes. We prayed for her and learned later today that she is stabilizing. After everyone’s questions were answered, I took off with Michelle and Logan Bradford for Portabello Road while everyone else went on a walk along the South Bank and through Central London. Since we are already very familiar with the area, we decided not to go along. Portabello Road was much more interesting. We went there sometime last week, but Saturday’s are really the time to go. There were vendors and people all over the place! So many vintage clothes places, antiques, produce, etc. We got some of our produce there because the prices are so much better at the markets than in the grocery stores and much better quality too. We went up and down the market and really enjoyed it. We went back to the really awesome vintage store where Michelle found that killer blue dress for 500 pounds. We were well received by the people who work there who totally remembered us. It was pretty fun. I’ve become so used to traveling around with just Michelle that it’s been an adjustment going along with other people, but it was great to have Logan along. He just has so much energy all the time. When we got back, we made some dinner. I made rice with mushrooms and Tikki Masala sauce and washed it down with tea and biscuits. I like the Tikki Masala a lot. There is a lot of Indians in the UK and they’ve brought their food with them. After dinner, Michelle and I changed clothes and went off together to explore before the concert we had tickets for. We walked along Kensington Street that runs along Hyde Park all the way to Buckingham Palace, down the Mall, across Trafalgar Square and arrived at St. Martin in the Fields Church. The walk took about an hour. As we were walking along the grounds to Buckingham Palace we talked about the many ways that one could scale the wall that was covered in spikes and barbed wire. It was pretty fun. Michelle’s feet really got hurting her, so I carried her part of the way (which was really only about a block). The concert tonight was a performance of music by Handel, Purcell and Mozart. We heard first Zadok the Priest by Handel which was the coronation anthem for King George II. Next we heard a Gloria by Handel with orchestra and a mezzo-soprano. Next we heard the final scenes of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. After the interval (not the intermission) we heard Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus followed by the Mozart Requiem. The atmosphere of the concert was wonderful. The church was lit by candlelight. The orchestra was small (5-6 violins, 3-4 violas, 2 cellos, 1 string bass, 2 clarinets, 1 oboe, 2 bassoons, trumpet, piccolo trumpet, 2 trombones and a percussionist) as was the choir which consisted of 13 women and 8 men. The sound of the choir was, I think, a good example of the British “sound” in terms of the sound made by each singer. The blend was not, however, a good example of what I would characterize the British blend. The conducting in England has some interesting idiosyncrasies. The sound has become so far behind the ictus that the downbeat is really what we would call the upbeat, at least in most cases. It is rather ambiguous in my opinion. The ambiguity caused some real problems at the beginnings of pieces or movements. It seemed to take a few bars before the ensemble could unify itself rhythmically. The soloists were all singers who had been trained at the Royal College of Music. I was most impressed by the soprano, who was actually from California originally. Her sound had so much more clarity than most sopranos. It was so light and free. It was a real joy to listen to. The mezzo-soprano and bass were also very good singers and expressive. I was not a fan of the tenor. You could visually follow what pitch level he was singing at by observing how hard he seemed to shove his musical score into his lower abdomen as well as the height of his posture. He seemed to stand taller the higher he sang. It seemed a little bit like gut busting. Despite my criticisms, I really enjoyed the concert. With the exceptions of the Purcell, I’d never heard any of these works performed live. It was a real treat, especially in the acoustic of the church. We were seated near the front of the church facing across it directly behind the front of the orchestra. There was another group of students from our study abroad who were sitting directly across from us. It was funny and a bit pitiable to watch how many across the way were nodding off, victims of jet lag. After the concert, most of our group took the bus that goes directly back to our flats, but Michelle’s current pass doesn’t allow her to take the bus (don’t ask why because it’s complicated). So, she and I went to the tube station where she realized that she didn’t have her Oyster card (the travel card that works a bit like a debit card for traveling on public transit). We weren’t thrilled with the idea of walking an hour back, so Michelle slipped through the gates as a regular delinquent, hoping not to suffer the consequential fine of being caught riding the rails for free. There was no trouble getting her onto the train, but leaving the destination station you must swipe your card again to get out. When we arrived at our destination, we noticed how many workers were watching the turnstiles. Michelle got a little freaked out and we waited for a large youth group to go through. She slipped out right in front of me on my Oyster card. It really got the blood going for both of us. I’m not sure what the fine would be for aiding a delinquent rider. At least we weren’t caught. She found her Oyster card on her bed, luckily. We got home just fine, put on Emperor’s New Groove for a little bit before deciding it was too late for a movie. I was so tired that I got in bed with the intention of not blogging, but then started feeling guilty so I hope you’ve liked my little post.

p.s. Pics will come later because Michelle has the camera in her flat and I can't get to it.

Here is a little update for May 8 that I forgot to include in my blog. I’m finding that I’m forgetting so much about my days that I’m going to try to keep a list to add on later to my blogs the things that I forget when it’s midnight. So, here is the catch-up. On the way to Portabello Road, I stopped to get my tube pass for the duration of my stay here. The guy attending was being a total jerk and wasn’t giving me the deal that we were told would be offered to us. Michelle totally went to bat for me. She got a little feisty and ended up pretty quickly talking to the manager of the station trying to iron out the problem. It’s always pretty enjoyable to watch Michelle get feisty, no matter what the issue at hand is. Before heading off to Portabello Road I stopped in a department clothing store called H&M. I needed to find a blazer that I could wear for when we go to sing a church service with choirs at Oxford and Cambridge. I would have taken one of my own, but I didn’t know I needed to take one until I’d already left for California. Luck would have it that I found an incredible dark gray jacket at H&M that fit like a glove for 10 pounds!!! What a total bargain and find. As we were walking along Portabello Road, we saw this bus driver of a double-decker bus clip a parked car on the side of the road. It totally crunched. That poor man’s face told everything; his day was ruined. Finally, as we were walking up to Buckingham Palace, Michelle’s shoes were totally cutting into her feet. She decided to take off her shoes, but quickly put them back on again when she realized that the sidewalk was sort-of covered in horse poop. Whoops!