The organist librarian

Swam, turned mattress.  Colour and vision at Natural History museum fascinating - some animals can see more colours than we can! Excellent Satie cabaret prom at Cadogan and perfect for sketching! Painters' paintings at National Gallery some lovely pictures but most of it is Nat Gallery stuff which one can normally see for free!  A fine prom from BBC Phil conducted by Storgards. Schumann violin concerto, Sibelius and Nielsen 5 with stunning playing from the percussion! Jorg Widmann Armonica not to my taste. Pre-Prom talk with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston Shakespeare and the sea. Miserable night and train delayed again. First score disaster - wrong Schumann score!  John tells me Fr Martin Plunkett, a rabbi and an imam were interviewed outside the cathedral and on the TV news on Sunday - excellent!

Up early to get to Europe House for 9 a.m. Double jeopardy: women refugees. Informative and shocking. What dangers do women refugees face? How can the challenges be met? Should we be doing more? Mary Honeyball MEP, member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality will present her draft report on the situation of women refugees and asylum seekers in the EU. She will be joined for a panel discussion by Rahela Sidiqi, trustee of Women for Refugee Women and Dr Michelle Dimasi who works with governments on implementing effective measures to tackle refugee crises. Razia Iqbal, BBC News will moderate the discussion. To National gallery to see the Delacroix exhibition. Excellent film but why so many people? The gallery seem to be only concerned with packing them in! Then to Whitechapel gallery for Electronic Superhighway 2016-1966. Some of the videos were very interesting - others less so. No sign of Nelson Ferreira's art and I did ask! Land of hop...

My second Sunday of the interregnum - there are significant changes in the congregation and new church wardens. Fr Leon sings everything including the Gospel. He is enthusiastic and clearly enjoyed my playing. We managed the psalm on minimal rehearsal and I played Ridout;s fun piece on "This joyful Eastertide" (A lady asked about this hymn - she really liked it) Archer on St Fulbert and Willan on Vulpius and also did some improvising! When practising had a go at Bach passacaglia and final section of Messiah. Service now startsa round 10.50 so it means getting to St Paul's cathedral for 1 p.m. talk unlikely. Nice chicken for lunch and watched Sex and the Church and National Gallery and Rick Wakeman on Vivaldi Four Seasons. At evensong we sang Walmisley in D minor and Wesley The Lord hath been mindful of us. Benediction. Dennis and Ann Marie came down.

Friday woke late. Watched Downton Abbey which was horrid - why change it so much? EJ and Bruce brought luggage over and picked up parcel from Post Office and a huge picture they are taking back. They set off again and I met them at 4 at the National Gallery. We saw all the major pictures well most of them. It's interesting how easy it is to be distracted by other pictures! We walked to Covent Garden and met Liz and had a lovely meal at Jamie Oliver's. The ballet was terrific - great dancing and nice music, inventive sets and production - most enjoyable. We got home at 11.30 p.m. and slept well.

Swam 30 - Melissa on reception only 2 more days there. Facebook chat to Steve in Canberra and Graeme in Glasgow. DVD/HDD player jammed with both buttons on. Right ear playing up - keep having to open it. Cleared out the shed and rearranged stuff and threw stuff out. Noticed on tfl that there had been a fatality at Clapham so got buses to the cathedral in time to be crozier bearer for Archbishop Vincent for vespers to mark end of cathedral choir school outreach day. Lead me Lord and O ineffabile. Good to hear the children sing the psalms and Salve. Spoke to Jeremy de Satge afterwards and gave David the PMM magazine. Tea at M & S. To National Gallery to see the lovely display of altarpieces. Missa rehearsal and spoke to Ann and Philip.

Wed to spirituality day led by Eileen McDade on "Who do you say I am?" Excellent and had a choice of postcards from National Gallery. I chose Piero's Baptism and Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks also poster of Mystic Nativity by Botticelli which is a very strange picture indeed. Went to Church House bookshop as St Paul's closed for stocktaking and got calendar for Ann and Paul, plus some cards and a nice little statue on the sale of the Holy Family made of a sort of soft stone. To National Gallery to look at the real pictures! Then to the chorus party at Waterloo Warehouse which was a quiz with Jackie's excellent food. Didn't do too well in the quiz on 2008! Thursday chorus rehearsal with Edward - Arvo Part, Bruckner, Kodaly. A lot of sight reading. As I finished early to Tate Britain to see Turner Prize and quite intrigued by the winner's films. But is it art? Those who wrote on the noticeboard didn't think so! To National Portrait gallery to see ph...