The organist librarian

 Wednesday Blackfriars. World opera day part 4 and Ensemble 26 Beethoven and Boulanger. Exercises. Faith in action getting to know you zoom. Meditation. Liz got blood test result - anaemia. Garden progressing well. Zoom supervision group for spiritual directors. Watched Borat - silly and funny. Come dine with me. Thursday was a most successful day. Liz went to Bromley and then to the Globe and went on the stage with the family MND! I would have loved that! The SLIFG zoom was well attended and Juney Muhammad gave an excellent talk on BLM and Black history and we saw 2 videos from Rizwan. Finished 2.30. At 4 LS group went well until 5.15 and we agreed to explore Journey to 2030. Picked up Liz. Traffic horrendous. Come dine with me. Mass for deceased brothers from Petts Wood - Polish priest read all the names with great care. Pity about the CDs.  Friday St Martin's in the fields, Blackfriars. Tires, exercises. to Lidl and Post Office. Watched LMP Red riding hood music by Paul Pat...

  The garden is being transformed! The old shed has gone. An enjoyable composite recital at St John's. I played Dom Andrew Moore. William McVicker gave an excellent talk on T. C. Lewis and Norman Harper demonstrated Bach Victorian style. Watched Rscm evensong. Ginette Nye was singing and Rosemary Field conducted - psalm too slow and long gap before each response.  The Scott brothers at Rochdale on you tube. Strictly was good. Come dine with me. Clocks went back an hour. LMP Strauss oboe concerto.  A quiet Sunday at home. Liz went to sing.  Bravo  David Grealy  and Conor Prendiville for the Vierne recital. I do love Berceuse it is one of two Vierne pieces I can play. The other being Epitaphe. The Angelus ought to be better known. World opera day so a feast on you tube.  Garsington Fidelio works really well with reduced orchestra and one to a part chorus! Toby Spence is terrific! Loved watching home videos especially Dad's birthday in 1996 because it has...

 Up at 7.15 for last swim. Full breakfast. Set off at 10.10 and got home 1.45! There was a big holdup on A3 so we went via Dorking and Box Hill - very pretty. Unpacked. Come dine with me. Bake off was good. I was tired. Liz got paint for garden boxes. Bake off was good and The Apprentice best bits. Wednesday very wet. Liz went for blood test and was tired. Blackfriars. Meditation. Read more of Fratelli tutti. Zoom ACTA Phil McCarthy of Caritas - very stimulating. Nicholas King on fellowship. LSIUK zoom and Edward de Quay joined us. Come dine with me. Kanneh-Mason family at Barbican excellent. Lecture on macabre in graveyards.  Friday up early and slide now at No 11. Gardeners coming tomorrow. Funeral of Pam (98) at St John's. 11 sang. Rutter went well and I found I could sing well. To Selsdon to pick up videos now on 3 memory sticks. Extra slice but fell asleep. Eat well for less. 

 Saturday had fruit and avocado for breakfast and slept better back not so bad. Walked wrong way along beach and eventually up to Russell-Cotes gallery which had amazing paintings and scultpure. Coffee on the terrace in sunshine. Then crazy golf in lower gardens Liz beat me. Back for tea and rest and watched lecture on avoiding purgatory in mediaeval period. Watched Beatrice and Eugenie. Had our prosecco before dinner. Steak and piddle pie, scampi for starter, white chocolate creme brulee. Sunday a quiet morning Blackfriars, watched part of Bernie's ordination at Kingston and her first Mass at Balham and Fr John preached. Saw first part of Nelson's Bargue course. To Corfe Castle. The half mile walk from car to castle was a surprise but very pretty. Sketched. Cream tea at NT cafe abd bought a calendar. Swim. Smiked salmon, roast beef, ice cream for dinner. Singapore Grip was well done. # Monday swim at 7.30 and had pool to ourselves. Walked to beach front and enjoyed the sunshin...

 To Dennis's to get heating on. We drove straight to Hotel Collingwood vis Guildford and all very smooth. The room is on 3rd floor and confortable, big bed. We had a swim and jacuzzi. Excellent dinner scampi, loin of pork, brownie. Heard the end of Daniel Hyde's recital from King's Elgar and Jongen. Evensong was from Canterbury. The Savoy. Could not turn bath tap off but quickly fixed. Thursday to Christchurch and an excellent well attended recital by Sachin Gunga assistant at Portsmouth based on hymn tunes. Coffee and cake and met him and Peter Wright and his mother! To Mudeford quay and a nice walk along the beach. Swans. Then to Brockenhurst and saw lots of ponies. Back to the priory for 5.30 and Simon Earl was so nice. I played on the Nicholson Moore and Elgar vesper voluntaries. Excellent dinner again. Watched The Savoy. Pancakes and syrup for breakfast!  Friday to Compton Acres gardens which are really lovely and a sunny day. Drove to Sandbanks. Had a rest - swimming ...

 Blackfriars excellent homily from Fr Bruno. Police zoom about hate crime. Flu jab at the surgery. Commissioned as a Laudato Si' animator. It strikes me after several recent zooms that many of us are just plain tired. Tired of being at home, tired of zooming instead of really meeting. Tired of no singing. Spiritually exhausted too. But there is light at the end of every tunnel and keep calm and carry on! Come dine with me, Bake off. Singapore grip. Updated obit and funeral plans. Long chat to Ann. 

 Blackfriars. An excellent SPIDIR zoom day with Chris Chapman on renewal dialogue and discernment. Ian Curror played really well at Cornill and the Howells was a discovery! Liz cleaned the garden boxes with mould remover and pressure washer ready to paint them. The 2013 Met Parsifal is very striking with great singers and Daniele Gatti conducting all 5 hours without a score!!! Took a break from Parsifal for Living liturgy zoom on renewal. Only connect and University challenge. Back to Parsifal which is superb. Subtitles not in sync so have found libretto with very useful notes online by Derrick Everitt. The final act so beautiful and moving especially in this time of Eucharistic fast.

 Enjoyed listening to the SSG assembly recorded items. Oxford and then plunged into Gotterdammerung 1990 from the Met with Behrens, Jerusalem, Ludwig and Salminen singing magnificently and the orchestra wow! Took a break to hear David Grealy playing Widor, Franck and Guilmant brilliantly at St Patrick's Dublin. There does seem to a problem - the Wagner kept stopping and lost Dublin during the Guilmant! I found the final act very moving. I just love the final pages of the score. Watched first part of Ermione by Rossini from Glynebourne but no subtitles. Us came to a conclusion. Nelson was on good form and I ordered 2 art books to read on kindle. 

 Walsingham daily office and good sermons from Salcombe and Oxford. Saw part of the SSG assembly for which we had recorded musical items. To Caterham to play for wedding - my first one there (I have not played for a wedding since Charlotte got married believe it or not!). All went well and the bride was not late. I now get a break from driving to Caterham -some of the local driving is dreadful! 3 vans turned round in front of me. Siegfried from the Met 1990 with Siegfried Jerusalem, Behrens and Morris on great form. You have to feel sorry for Fafner and the woodbird not getting a curtain call! Nicholas King SJ from Orpington zoom on Luke and Acts and evangelisation. Proud songsters Britten, Faure and Brahms. 

Facadefrom Freemasons hall with Samuel West. A delight! Facade from Freemasons hall with Samuel West. A delight! Walkure from Met with Jessye Norman, Christa Ludwig, James Morris, Hildegrard Behrens, Gary Lakes and Kurt Moll. The music of Act 3 is sublime - so glad to see this again. Walsingham and Blackfriars. Today we celebrate St John Henry Newman. Universalis gives lots of alternative readings none of which were chosen by Blackfriars? Chanticleer in Voces 8 series. My octopus teacher remarkable. Liz at Alpha. Royal Academy violin sonatas by Elgar and Delius Daniel Stroud and Timothy Rumsey, new organ works (no names!)  W|Myalkufroth Met with Jess Norman, Christa Ludwig, James MorrBehrenGaryLakes and Kurt Moll.

 Up late. Daniel French on Tyndale. Blackfriars. Rheingold 1990 from the Met traditional production. Morris, Jerusalem and Christa Ludwig. Lovely to have a call from Michael Bourdeaux in response to my letter. He is 86! Prof Paul Binski on the medieval view of death very interesting. Zoom LBFaith network well attended. We heard about level 2 for London next week but holidays still allowed. Zoom for Laudato Si and John Paul De Quay joined us - he rang earlier. Lively discussion. 

 An early night last night but still woke up in the night twice. Blackfriars. Tannhauser from the Met with Eva Maria Westbrook - much better production than the one I have seen. Did my exercises while watching. Meditatio for quiet time. 50th Cardinal Bea lecture with Fr Michael Barnes and Jonathan Gorsky. 

 Blackfriars. Painting and Tristan from the Met 2016. The reviews were right. The production is strange but the singing by Stimme, Skelton and Pape conducted by Sir Simon Rattle is superb. I redid the guardian angel deepening the blues as Nelson suggested and worked on the Our Lady "icon". Meditation before the Liebestod. Lourdes Mass and Zoom. Bake off was good. Protest at parliament by professional musicians. Bojo promising all electric from wind power. Battled with a 25kg bag of salt for dishwasher and eventually split it into 4 boxes! 

 Blackfriars. Karin rang about the CAFOD campaign to 2030. Jonathan Rennert played Rheinberger at Cornhill. Could not get into the chat beforehand! Watched Nelson. SLIFG committee - only 4. Singapore grip. Living liturgy on icons in the home. Only connect, University challenge, Prince William on climate change, infertility in men. Started to read Pope's new encyclical.

 Really foul day a couple of small floods on way to church. I played Flor Peeters on "St George's Windsor" and the Lloyd Webber. I only managed one page of the FJackson at the service by the time I had changed shoes to go to the hall. Think the bells went on too long? I put out choir music in numbered sets ready for the 18th and Jerry marked places to stand for rehearsal. Got petrol on way back and enjoyed David Grealy's recital. A good homily from Blackfriars.  Death café was very interesting. David Attenborough a life on the planet was excellent. Us was very good. Watched a bit of Nelson and Singapore Grip but feeling really tired. 

 More rain. Chat to Ann - new bathroom looks great. Blackfriars, The Conference on mental health and BAME was good but too long. I had to take a break. I wonder why BAME doctors and medical staff do not get promoted so they can influence NHS policies. Recorded items for SSG assembly next Saturday. Played piano including FJ. RCM organ Posnina Bach excellent. 

 Friday rained all day. Blackfriars. Painted picture of angel wings with lights in blue for Nelson Feast of Guardian angels. Listened to Sixteen concert from King's Place. Durham cathedral Daniel Cook playing FJ, Harris and Vierne 6. RCM Bach never came on at 1. St Michael's Simon Hogan good included Judith Bingham. Bit of St Chad's Birmingham. The Laudato Si prayers we were given wrong time. LMP Michael Collins playing Weber and Mozart St Pancras tower superb. Choral evensong from Durham. Intot eh refugee journey interesting. LJS Succoth Shabbat service. FJ at 103! A lovely tribute including some songs. Georgian suite worth exploring. Laurence of Arabia and Bake off extra slice. London Zoo in lockdown. Last of the series on NT properties featured Ham house and gardens. 

 October and definitely autumn. Blackfriars and Walsingham. Durham cathedral organ recitals. Churches trust talk on the Black Death and how it affected churches. Put up some more pictures and changed some. Zoom Laudato Si' group -  6 of us. Louise dropped in - nice to see her and she quickly sorted the Google Drive query. Excellent launch of National Grief awareness week. Programme on London Zoo and Vera.