The organist librarian

We saw the new elephant house opened by the Queen the day before and the new African hunting dogs and a 3 day old ring-tailed lemur clinging to its mother. Lots of sketching! A lovely day out. Butterflies! I renewed my membership. I had planned to get to the Dulwich meeting but a fire at the start of the M1 meant a long detour for Louise.

Played Henry G. Ley on Down Ampney and Bach Piece d'orgue. First time I have played the whole piece in public and it went well. Good presentation International Needs. Nice lunch with white wine as there was no evensong. Wrote to PM and Home secretary about reneging on the Alf Dubs agreement to bring 3000 unaccompanied children to the U.K. Sang songs from the Edwardian songbook and enjoyed Painting challenge at Whipsnade painting flamingos and elephants and the pottery throw down. Call the midwife dealt with GCM and electroshock treatment. Songs of Praise. Watched the Pope's visit to Anglican church in Rome much of it in Italian.

Tuesday swam 20. Brilliant playing by  Alexander Pott  at Grosvenor chapel - Tomkins, Byrd and Bach. He makes the difficult sound easy. Spoke to his mother and a family from West Midlands.  To Tate Britain to see conceptual art - preferred Mark Wallinger and Sophie Michael's films and the Duveen dancers!  Fascinated by summer houses near Serpentine. Unimpressed by paintings at Serpentine gallery.  Excellent preProm discussion of Elgar 1 and BBC Philharmonic did not disappoint! A triumphant end. Dutilleux score hard to follow! Cannot imagine Rostropovich playing it! Simpson and Davies not really impressed. Empty hall put off my unknown works?  Lovely day at Whipsnade with the boys and Louise driving the new car! Saw baby giraffe, lemurs, sea lions, train ride, tiger, cheetahs, lions, zebras, elephants, rhino, moose, meerkats, etc.  The discussion of Henri Dutilleux is very helpful and I asked a question as I find his music bewildering and got lost in t...

Swam 20 and Liz came as well. Looked up Harry Mellor's details for his 50 year scroll. Hearing aid at AgeUK - lady 30 minutes late, new tubes and she agrees I need new moulds to stop the whistling. Went for yellow fever injection but informed that risk was greatly increased for over 60s so need to discuss with nurse. To Boots Whitgift after lunch for eye test. Small cataract in right eye but no need for new glasses and come back in 2 years. Liz met me at Selhurst. The intro to the Prom as rather too high brow and the young instrumentalists did not get to play much. West-Eastern Divan orchestra under Barenboim played uninspiring Schoenberg, Beethoven Triple concerto and Tchaik 4. To Acton. Wed to Whipsnade and had good journeys with no holdups. We all loved it and Ciaran became a young zoo explorer for a year. Saw red panda, sea lions under water, rhinos, elephants, lions, tiger, lynx, chimps, camels, deer, yaks, hippos, giraffes, zebras, waterbuck. Went on steam train ride. Had no...