Spelling mistake, and a fun day.

Sorry, I should have typed 'Gagliano' in yesterday's post.

Today is our Wedding Anniversary. After so many years we were at a loose end and could think of nothing too exciting to do. Sad, isn't it? But we have quite a bit of fun most days, I suppose. We are good friends. We had booked lunch at a new restaurant in the village and I was in bed, thinking we had to get out of the house from 9-12 to allow our visiting magician to do her stuff with the housework. She comes once a fortnight and her visits force us to do a tidy up! G. came in and announced triumphantly that he knew what to do. The Dump was the place to go! We could fill the car up with the old cans of paint that I swear have been breeding in the shed for years . For some inexplicable reason, this cheered me up no end and I rose with energy and optimism! The weather has been grey and drizzly but the journey was lovely - all wet and misty with snowdrops and crocus flowers lurking along the way. The dump brought back memories of my cycle ride as it is at the start of the disused railway track we used. There was an intriguing 'department store' where discarded items had been retrieved and tastefully set out for our perusal! We probably missed an antique treasure lying unrecognised amongst the iffy teapots, chamberpots and candlesticks!

After that we tidied ourselves up feeling very self satisfied and dropped in at a comfortable country hotel nearby and had coffee in the lounge - all hand painted chinese silk walls, enormous flower arrangements and waiter in black apron. Having enjoyed the luxury of deep armchairs and good coffee for an hour we went on to lunch. The restaurant is owned and run by a young modern couple who have got their business just right - friendly, unstuffy, spotless and very good food.

Back home all was magically transformed and after a crossword, Sudoku, and snooze, I did my practise. Not too bad today. 'A' string still thin and reedy when I play in 4th position, but maybe a little better today. One day.........

Detective work

I have clicked around the internet and using what little I managed to decipher from Umberto Clerici's charming Italian accent, think I have discovered what the extraordinary encore was which he played the other night. The composer is Giovanni Sollima, a Sicilian, and the piece - 'Alone'. I cannot find a performance of it on the 'net' but it may be out there. However Sollima is on UTube playing with 5 or 6 cellists, and pretty impressive it is! The music is reminiscent of 'Alone', and well worth listening to. I don't know how to link the UTube video into this blog I am afraid, but it was posted by 'albaria' and the title seemed to be '3 Sinfonie on the Blog - World Festival on the Beach'. Sollima's biography can be found on The Living Composers Project at www.composers21.com/. He's rather dishy, in my humble opinion!

On Saturday our Parish Church held a concert in aid of a local hospice. The visiting cellist was a young woman called Gemma Rosefield, and her piano accompanist Simon Lepper. Once again this was a fantastic evening. She played some Martinu, Beethoven, Schumann, Shostakovich and Paganini. We paid £10 a ticket and could not have been better served if we had gone to London and paid a fortune. She told us about her cello. It is a Galliano, 1704, and was played by King George IV (him of Brighton Pavilion) and was given to him by the King of Spain. It was the most beautiful cello I have ever seen and had the Royal Crest on the back. It's a bit like driving a clean car - everything seems so much better where beauty is involved. I have no doubt Gemma Rosefield could make the worst cello sing, but she really was at one with her instrument and it was a beautiful occasion.

Apologies, and yes it went well!

I am so sorry that I have not acknowledged before now, the good wishes of those who sent them to me. I have had internet trouble but things are better now - or so I thought until a moment ago when I lost the replies I was writing in the 'comments'! Now I can't get to your comments at all so I am saying it all here! The concert went really well, as several of you predicted. The snow had disappeared and the drive across country was sunny and cheerful. The hall was perishing cold as the heating had not been switched on and we did our final rehearsal in coats and scarves. It warmed up eventually, the performance started for real, and there was no going back. I looked down at my bow and it was shaking which made me wonder if I was going to drop it or send it flying across the hall during a fast bit! Needless to say, I didn't and apart from a couple of episodes of panicky muddle - happily during fortissimo passages - I didn't go too far wrong! Two of the grandchildren came with their Mum and were suitably impressed with the whole occasion. How nice to think they may be encouraged to play music themselves in the future.

On Sunday afternoon G. and I went to Brighton Dome to hear Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor in a concert that included Rossini's William Tell Overture and Saint-Saens 'Organ Symphony' (Symphony No 3 in C minor). It was the first time I had heard the Saint- Saens, and I felt the organ before I heard it. The vibration was more noticeable than the sound as it started to play pianissimo. It was a great piece. The Dome was part of the Brighton Pavilion built by the Prince of Wales who became King George IV. I think it was part of the stables, but now, of course, is a concert hall with a beautiful organ, recently refurbished. We had good seats for cello watching as well as for listening to the beautiful music. The soloist was Umberto Clerici, a young Italian on his UK debut. He was very touched by the applause he received and played a most amazing piece as an encore which had been composed by a Sicilian friend. No one we spoke to afterwards heard who he was or what the music was as he introduced it in a broken English accent. However, help may be at hand because the website for Brighton Philharmonic has a message board and someone has asked about it. (www.brightonphil.org.uk).

5 days to go

Saturday's session went very well. It was longer than usual and serious work and I felt I had improved. I still left out some phrases that are so fast they are over before I can brace myself for them. Let's hope the audience doesn't notice! I've roped G. in to help with the interval drinks. We have to replace all the chairs exactly as they were before the performance, so he will be very useful when we feel like wet leather after it is all over!

After lunch my son-in-law phoned to suggest a bike ride with him and the two children. He knows I can't ride a bike and that I would love to use one of those neat models that have a battery for negotiating hills. We went to a track that used to be a railway line, and I wobbled along, clutching the handlebars like grim death. I was using M's bike (no battery!). I fell off spectacularly three times - the first occasion I took another cyclist with me into the ditch! She was very sweet about it, and so were her parents, and they had the generosity to say how brave I was! I thought she was pretty brave too! The other two occasions were solitary events apart from D. picking up the bike and encouraging me to get back on. Just as I felt I could go no further, we turned round and I had the return journey to negotiate. By the time we got back to the car I had almost learned to prise my fingers off the handlebars and use the back brake when zig zagging became too scary. I was muddy, smelt of doggy doohs and was utterly freaked out. I stripped off in the kitchen and put everything into the washing machine. Today I am rigid with stiffness right across my shoulders but happily have not broken a wrist or anything else. Will I do it again? I don't know!

The weather forecast is for snow and we don't do snow here without everything grinding to a halt. I have to drive 'cross country to the concert so that may turn out to be a bit of a problem. G. is from Scotland so made of sterner stuff and we'll take a snow shovel with us. "The Show must go on!"