Thursday 3 November 2011

NaNoBlogMo & Bellini

 

For some months I've been as quiet as a stalking cat, though in truth my life has been less stalkish, more... I can't imagine what a cat suffering existential angst might do: develop mange perhaps.  My soul certainly feels a bit itchy: I've been worrying lots and achieving little, with nary a trace of feline grace.

Terri told me yesterday that she's cross with me for neglecting my blog; so I've decided to follow NaNoWriMo, up to a point, and publish something as often as I can over the course of November.

To kick off then, I'll tell you what Terri & I did yesterday.  First, we went to the Mummers, Maypoles and Milkmaids exhibition at the Horniman Museum, which featured gorgeous, elemental photographs of face-painted, season-honouring lovelies from across England.  I was happy to see so many photographs of Sussex events, including the Lewes bonfire, Eastbourne's Lammas Festival and Hastings' Jack in the Green.  There were also many pictures of osses, horn dances and straw men from other parts of the land, plus some particularly beautiful shots of  snowy Yorkshire, and I felt every inch a British topophile.

In the evening we went to the first night of La Sonnambula at the ROH.  Actually, it was a triple first: Terri popped her opera cherry and it was my first Bellini.  We sat in the gods, in the very cheapest seats, where the view was terrible but the sound wonderful.  Around us people coughed like nanny goats and someone's mobile phone rang, but we didn't care (well, we did a bit): we sighed and cooed (silently) and were bathed in the exquisite singing of Eglise Gutierrez. We were only sorry we had to dash for my train as soon as the curtain fell and couldn't join in the 'Brava!'s and uproarious applause.

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