Proms

NT at home As you like it a triumph. Mixed feelings about tonight's Prom Handel Solomon. The orchestra seemed too quiet for the hall and Act 1 was a bit dull. Realised one hearing aid was in 2 bits! Some lovely singing. The timpanist was amazing. Excellent conducting. Not a bad audience considering the rail strike!

Saturday lovely meditation from Richard with nephew Jack in Ithaca. S and B. To St John's 10 am Mass for Ian Golds and Alistair. Sang Jerusalem the golden (top F!) Nice to chat to friends. Posters for Isabel with additions. Chat to Colette about Farm Street Mass and sorted. No idea how many will come! Siegfried splendid. Longborough festival opera. To the Prom. Debussy Nocturnes beautifully played and sung. The Mass in D by Dame Ethel Smyth is a tremendous sing and outdoes Beethoven! Bravo BBC chorus and Sakari! Loved the soloists too!

Sunday Played Finlandia and Dad's Bishopthorpe Suite. Nice chat at coffee to Danae who is a bell ringer. CCA picnic at Park Hill was good and promoted Isabel Losada's talk. ENO at Fairfield halls La Boheme is very good indeed. But the car park is crazy. Door to the lift locked! ENO La Boheme at the Fairfield cost us £5 each! William Thomas as Colline is one to watch but all the cast were excellent. Martyn Brabbins conducting. Watched Marin Alsop's prom with Ben Grosvenor playing Prokofiev 3rd concerto. Dvorak 7. Repeated programme on perfect pianists. This is my home was good.

Monday swim at 8. Spoke to guy who was charging up and down the middle lane and suggested he go in the fast lane. I don't think he understood me. B, SM and S. Liz to swim and gym and then to meet WM organiser for coffee. Watched part 2 of Siegfried. Sent emails. Prom Liverpool (Liz had spoken to Cormac about this!) Carmithen and Brahms quartets. Also wind quintets. Nielsen Symphonia expansiva and talk about Ethel Smyth. ENO survey about La Boheme. We both went to aquarobics. Morgana is crazy but fun and I found I could do a lot of it! As a result missed Balham and Beckenham meetings (the latter the zoom did not work any way) also a Climate Justice meeting from Scotland.

Tuesday swim. To Croydon Minster for Martin How's funeral which was very special. The singing was lovely and the hymns were sung with gusto. My hearing aids were not working well - new tubes on order from Guy's and could be buildup of wax. The spray the doctor prescribed seems to be working in the right ear. At reception say Nigel Groome, Chris Town, Martin Ford, Stephen Disley, Anne Fleming, Jean Castledine and she introduced me to Edward Warren's parents, Jonathan Rennert, Terence, Alan Bayes, John Wardle, Andrew Cantrell, Ginette and Peter Nye, Jonathan Gregory. David Price, Peter Nardone, Peter Wright were there. Did not see RSCM high-ups maybe they came on Monday. The vicar linked the 2 celebrations brilliantly and asked what we would put on Martin's coffin. I would put the score of Haydn I gave him for the RSCM service at the RAH and the MS of his homage to Elgar which I turned over for him at the Minster. What a loss - such an encourager and so much joy! We went on buses and when we got home my shirt was wet through from wearing suit and RSCM tie! Back into Tshirt and shorts. We spent 3 hours doing my blue badge application involving scans and copying lots of medical reports. I might get it by Christmas if Croydon agrees. The prom was Brahms 2 with Mehta. Webern and Debussy songs in first half not very attractive!

Wednesday swim, B, SM and S. Liz to gym and swim. Victoria rang and new appointment for gym introduction. Booked for Scottish network and SMITF lectures so I will miss aquarobics unless they record the lectures. Sorting out emails from Virginia. I though August was supposed to be a holiday! Renewed driving licence. Meditation. Piano practise. Moved tomatoes in garden as hose ban has started. Cooked Hello Fresh meatballs with linguini. Could not get into Magda's zoom but Cheltenham with Trish Sandbach in Leeds was great. "Would it help if..." a great way to approach the clergy!

Thursday swim, B, SM and S. The 8 a.m. time can be quieter but it does mess up prayer times. To art and good work on both pictures. Sanjit the new CEO of AgeUk was impressed although very few there. I told him about the library exhibitions and the group is full. Liz to gym. Churches conservation trust talk on Popes and their weird deaths. We were invited to Prem and Deborah's for tea at 3. Earlier I messaged the surgery and got a call for an appointment with Dr Dacre at 4.40 p.m so I told Phil we would come in our car. Nobody at the house so went to the church where Prem was leading a singsong on his guitar. It was pleasant enough but really needed a drink. I said there wasn't time for tea and got to the surgery early. Doctor is very nice and we discussed 3 things. But what was going on at New Addington? Why invite us if Prem knew there was a singing group at that time? To the Prom 60% capacity so no move from the circle but Imogen did get us together and the sound was fine. My hearing aids have not been great and it turns out there is infection in both ears. Lalo, Brahms and Franck - I took the score but did not try to use it as the light is not great for small pages! Great Prom tonight. Franck Symphony. Lalo. Brahms violin concerto played by Daniel Lozakovich and a stunning encore. Fabien Gabel conducted BBCSO most persuasively. A joy to watch!