The organist librarian

To Bow to play for 11.30 a.m. Mass. Ross has been helping there for 6 weeks and is going to seminary in a year's time! Organ small but nice so played from Elijah to match the first reading. The small choir were pretty bad - not singing right notes, not in time, adding harmonies to plainchant! Guitarist seemed competent. Was given wrong number for Alleluia! They launched into an extra hymn after communion which was not needed. Oh well offer it up! Nice to see Fr Michael again. The reader was useless. Had a bacon roll in the hall watching Olympics. Visited Bow church and had excellent homemade food at new Nunnery cafe. To prom of National Youth wind orchestra and National Youth brass band. Super Crown Imperial with organ. Virtuosic playing. To pre Prom talk on Schoenberg with BBC singer (why a soprano?) trumpet and cello. Liz came home to watch closing ceremony with Dennis - I saw Eric Idle to the end. Gurrelieder - excellent soloists and choirs did well although I would have loved ...

To Bow to play for 11.30 a.m. Mass. Ross has been helping there for 6 weeks and is going to seminary in a year's time! Organ small but nice so played from Elijah to match the first reading. The small choir were pretty bad - not singing right notes, not in time, adding harmonies to plainchant! Guitarist seemed competent. Was given wrong number for Alleluia! They launched into an extra hymn after communion which was not needed. Oh well offer it up! Nice to see Fr Michael again. The reader was useless. Had a bacon roll in the hall watching Olympics. Visited Bow church and had excellent homemade food at new Nunnery cafe. To prom of National Youth wind orchestra and National Youth brass band. Super Crown Imperial with organ. Virtuosic playing. To pre Prom talk on Schoenberg with BBC singer (why a soprano?) trumpet and cello. Liz came home to watch closing ceremony with Dennis - I saw Eric Idle to the end. Gurrelieder - excellent soloists and choirs did well although I would have loved ...

To Bow to play for 11.30 a.m. Mass. Ross has been helping there for 6 weeks and is going to seminary in a year's time! Organ small but nice so played from Elijah to match the first reading. The small choir were pretty bad - not singing right notes, not in time, adding harmonies to plainchant! Guitarist seemed competent. Was given wrong number for Alleluia! They launched into an extra hymn after communion which was not needed. Oh well offer it up! Nice to see Fr Michael again. The reader was useless. Had a bacon roll in the hall watching Olympics. Visited Bow church and had excellent homemade food at new Nunnery cafe. To prom of National Youth wind orchestra and National Youth brass band. Super Crown Imperial with organ. Virtuosic playing. To pre Prom talk on Schoenberg with BBC singer (why a soprano?) trumpet and cello. Liz came home to watch closing ceremony with Dennis - I saw Eric Idle to the end. Gurrelieder - excellent soloists and choirs did well although I would have loved ...

Louise took Ciarán home in the car -  she is now working at home because of the Olympics. We went by bus and tram to Wimbledon and new shuttle bus to Wimbledon. We had excellent seats on Court No. 1 in the shade for £16 each! Saw Juan Monaco of Argentina beat David Goffin of Belgium. Serena Williams was great as was John Imber. Kim Clijsters beat Spaniard and to our surprise there was a first round men's double match - Roger Federer and Walianka beating Japanese pair in 3 sets = brilliant! Home by 10.15 p.m. after a fantastic day

To evensong at St John's - nice to see everyone again. Terence having knee op done. Sumsion in G and Stanford Justorum animae - end of it wrecked by sopranos out of tune. Both to swimming pool to find that it was too cold so did not venture in. To library and return lots of scores and picked up reserved books - saw Diana and 2 other readers! To Methodist central hall for inspiring presentation about the scale of the Olympics and the planned outreach and BBC coverage. Good lunch and saw Christina. Our table got full marks for the sports quiz and we got a white T shirt. Met people from Hounslow and Essex. Missed tai chi but it was worth it. To our first ballroom dancing class at South Norwood adult education centre and learnt the cha cha cha. We also did waltz and foxtrot - very good teachers.

At Coulsdon on Sunday endured "You shall go out with joy" for the 3rd time this summer and there were no children present! I played Vaughan Williams "Land of our birth" (wonderful tune) and Fantasia on Greensleeves and the beautiful Vierne Berceuse which I played 2 years ago at Mum and Dad's cremation. No need to practise so had coffee and chatted about Buckingham Palace and King Lear! Watched closing ceremony of the Olympics which was most impressive. Boris Johnson looked scruffy with jacket open and hands in pockets. Good use of London bus and wrote down lots of ideas for an opening ceremony using nursery rhymes and British things. To the Prom at 4 p.m. Simon Preston playing Bach. Met Daniel and Gill and Daniel's friend Bart. A cautious start but some fine playing and I followed most of it with my scores sitting on the floor. Halfway through some guy complained about the cushion squeaking. It was a plastic inflatable one BP issued at the ballet in Canary W...

Spectacular opening to the Olympics - London will never match Beijing! Why not be British and be understated - oh the meter ran out! I watched a programme last night on Vanessa MAe the violinist and how she became such a fine musician. Practice makes perfect - over 7000 hours of practice before the age of 16!

The pulled muscle in my left side seems to have cleared up thanks to ibuprofen and heat ttreatment with the microwaved beanbag! I now have a pain in right upper chest which Shivram who is studying these things says will go. My left shoulder still gives me twinges and I ntoe tonight I have bruised my left hand middle finger! I did swim this morning 22 despite waking late as Liz was in Bow overnight for the boiler man. I never sleep well when she is away! Discussed Doris's farewell - low key, no present! I received the papers about the bereavement counselling course - I will miss some sessions but I will give it a try. Angela thinks this a good idea. She and Pauline liked the wedding photos - Louise has some better ones on face book. Olympics start tonight so I am lighting a candle in my window for Tibet.

A jolly Juan Miro picture which was in the bedroom at the Wurzburg b and b! The library is busy as it is school holidays and the elderly are renewing their freedom passes which now give free travel on local buses throughout England! The heating is back on as we have a new boiler. To Catenian circle AGM and meeting and Kevin Ingram is our new President for the year with the 1000th meeting next February. Col;in brought me home - he was at Tony Blair's lecture and his daughter was involved in the Olympic flame's progress across London which was disrupted by anti-China demos about Tibet. he had said the demonstrators were violent but it looked to me from the TV that the Chinese guards were equally bad.It is also the centenary year and we are going to the annual conference in Manchester in May. Watched Sacred music parts 1 and 2 presented by Simon Russell Beale - one of the altos in The Sixteen sings in Westminster Cathedral choir. Interesting to see the history of polyphony and wh...