The organist librarian

Tuesday blood test at surgery cancelled, Mass. Henry to Whitgift centre softplay and he loved it. The works could not trace order. Bank and Post Office. Quiet time and 2 new people there. Clapham picturehouse  Fabulous Queen of Spades from ROH. Wonderful singing and production. The chorus Wow! Dame Felicity Palmer, Westbrook, Stoyanov and stand-in tenor, Pappano on great form. My tweet about the coup de theatre at the end of first part appeared on the screen! I love the idea of the posh audience standing for the arrival of the "Empress"! Sat next to Biddy Spidir chair! Wed up early for blood test at Mayday, swam only 4 in pool and sauna, Mass. Went to see Mary Queen of Scots slightly disappointed not historically accurate or easy to follow. Brilliant acting. Popped into St Mary's Clapham for the first time. Fine Seacole statue outside St Thomas hospital. Excellent champagne tea at the library Marriott County hall. Had a lot to drink and hunky fireman from Tampa and his p

34 mile drive from Burrswood then delays on train and tube meant we arrived one minute late at English National Opera for Queen of Spades. Why we could not have slipped into our end of row seats front row of dress circle is beyond me. 30 minutes watching screen downstairs where subtitles were not always shown then we were allowed into back rows of dress circle where you cannot see the subtitles! Still we enjoyed the music and great singing especially the tenor! Some oddities in the production which in many ways was very clever. Felicity Palmer is amazing!

No swim again. Listened to Walton Sinfonia concertante from the Prom with a lovely full score from CML. The HDD version lost the last 3 pages which I found on Iplayer! To Cadogan Hall for a super Prom of Shostakovich waltzes which were fun and Facade conducted by John Wilson and the Nash ensemble with the superb Dame Felicity Palmer and Ian Bostridge perfect as narrators. To Science museum basement to meet Lou, Ciarán and James. Had coffee and salad. I went to the V and A for the lovely wedding dresses display which was pricey but worth it. The Duchess of Argyl had a huge train carried by footmen through crowds at the Oratory. Some fine modern dresses too especially the Indian and Chinese style ones. The Duchess of Cornwall and Sarah Chatto dresses very fine. Some were too revealing for a church wedding! The talk was about Robert Frost and Edward Thomas and was excellent. Great to hear Frost read by an American. The Cleveland played Brahms Tragic overture and No. 2 beautifully. The Jo

Louise went back home after breakfast. I went to 8 a.m. Mass at St Mary's - little Indian priest who said "heaven persevere you" instead of "preserve"! They now play taped music of plainchant. Pat Ryan was there. At St Michael's we sang "He who would valiant be", All creatures, Father hear and Happy are they (Mum's favourite and she died 8 years ago this week). I played Thalben-Ball. Peeters and Walton Henry V music. The CDs have arrived and look good. John Williams had made a ridiculous fuss on email about them. What church treasurer want to return a cheque? Idiot and rude with it. To St John's vicarage for garden lunch - played football. Dennis came. I went to the Prom of Elektra, Rebecca was there and not so many in gallery. Sounds like Salome last night was great but there were queue jumpers - weekend ticket holders. Amazing singers not least Felicity Palmer.

Packed up and got away at 10 a.m. It really has been a success! Arrived at Bluebell railway in good time for the 12 noon train. Ciarán was alarmed by the steam noise from the engine but eventually got on the train and covered his ears. He was very happy chatting to 2 boys in our compartment. The Punch and Judy was full so we went to look at the carriage works and got the next train back and visited the shop which he finds confusing. He ended up with a Cranky crane book and we got him a tunnel for his track and some Peter railway books. Lemon curd for us and chutney for Lou and Tom. Liz bought a London 2012 bus. Drove to Acton and arrived around 4 ish. 180 miles all round. He was delighted to see Mummy and Daddy and loved his new bed. Lou has got lovely toy storage in the dining room and his room looks great. Liz stayed and I went to the Prom - plenty of seats in gallery. Peter Grimes conducted by Edward Gardner and semi staged. I got sandwiches which were nice but overpriced! Charles g