The day began with massive exercises in the flat to make my legs feel better. The swimming is not working out very well due to their pool, their activities, and my aversion to dirt. So I remembered that the stationary bike is good for my legs, so I have been pedaling away and going whenever I want to. Nice change to exercise, I feel back in control. I advanced my program to include all the exercises anyone my age should be doing. So far it seems to be working quite nicely. My legs have actually allowed me to get some writing done and I didn’t have to take a nap today. I made good progress on my writing.
Then I took a taxi down to the Head of the River restaurant which is located at the head of the river Thames. Rain started coming down in buckets and everyone who had been sitting out on the patio overlooking the river dashed inside and snatched up every table and standing room space in the building. Not to be without dinner, I marched out into the rain with my umbrella to find another place. I had a ticket to hear the trumpet solos at Christ Church at 8 and saw a place across the street called The Old Tom. The pub serves Thai food and was first mentioned in the history books in 1681 when it was called Jacob’s Well. The pub changed its name to Great Tom in 1865 and to The Old Tom a decade or so later. Named after the bell in nearby Christ Church’s Tom Tower, which strikes 101 times every evening at 9.05. The pub was used in the filming of The Oxford Murders featuring John Hurt and Elijah Woods.
People were friendly. Service was good. Pad Thai was good. Couple next to me chatted and reminded me of my umbrella when they left so I would not get wet. Not many tables. A few in the front for drinks but only 3 in the back for dinner. I was still early to the concert after eating leisurely so I stopped in another shop 3 doors down for the most chocolate ice cream ever. Made right there on the premises.
Then I crossed the street in the rain and walked into the giant courtyard of Christ Church. The docent at the concert said a French visitor and I could not sit where we were sitting because we had non-sighted £10 tickets and only the sighted £20 tickets could sit in those seats. I thought briefly. “OK, I said, I will move when there is a need for seats. I was here two weeks ago and had the same tickets and they moved me here just before the concert because there were not enough sighted ticket holders here.” She agreed to my plan. I motioned for the French tourist, Veronique, to move over one. She did and we held down the fort in the sighted £20 area. Many people came but they all had the £10 tickets and obediently sat where the docents pointed them to sit, which in the end was just as well. The trumpet players only played 3 pieces where we could actually see them. All the other pieces were either played by the organist or the trumpet players with the organ and they went up to where the organ was. So the whole bunch of us people paying some £20 and others £10 pretty much saw the same thing. The good news is that we heard it all. The trumpets were herald trumpets and there was a Bb, a tenor and a bass trumpet. Amazing what sounds these men could coerce from these instruments. Stay with me here: They played Marc-Antoine Charpentier from Te Deum H. 146: Marche de timbales Prelude (Marche en rondeau); John Stanley’s Trumpet Tune in D major; Jeremiah Clarke’s The Prince of Denmark’s March (aka Trumpet Voluntary); Louis Vierne, from Organ Symphony No. 3 in F sharp minor, Op. 28; Anton Diabelli, Processional Fanfares for Clarino and Timpani Nos. 3, 4, 7 and 12; Jean-Baptiste Lully, selection from Pieces de trompettes; Stravinsky’s Fanfare for a New Theatre; Eben’s Duetti for Two Trumpets;, Bach’s Trio Sonata in D minor, BWV 527 and Handel’s Sonata No. 2 in A flat for Three Trumpets and Organ arranged by Eric Hanson. These five men did not play around. They knew how to blow these trumpets and knew how to introduce me to a whole different set of chamber music making.
Many of the ladies and gentlemen in the audience nodded and greeted me as we waded through the courtyard full of water and pouring rain to the entrance of the college. The doors were closed and only one single person door was open for folks to exit. The porter came out, backed everyone up, and opened those monumentally huge doors in front of me. I felt it was so symbolic. I had had a wonderful day. I got work done, cleaned some in the flat. I had a great dinner and ice cream to boot. I made a new friend with the docent (she gave me a free program at the interval) and with the French tourist. I called a taxi to take me back to the flat and the porter opened the huge doors just as I approached. I felt the world is opened up for me and I am ready to take it on. Happy Birthday to me.
Leara Rhodes 