Concert: Gabrieli Consort & Players

So, the first adventure of the day was coming back from lunch, when the side of my foot kind of caught in one of the many cracks in London pavements - and down I went, like a cannonball. Ouch! Those pavements are hard - I banged both knees (not great at the best of times) and did something funny to my right foot, in particular the big toe. And so I was stiff, sore and sorry all afternoon.

Tonight, I was back with London Classical Music and Theatre Group, for a Gabrieli Consort & Players concert at Wigmore Hall. Programmes available to ticket-holders to download. And wouldn't you know it, the organiser gave his seat number - so, when I saw the seat beside him was free, I booked it! I was glad I wasn't walking, given the state of me. A combination of buses would have got me there, in just under an hour - but as usual, work dragged on, and I ended up on the Tube. It was a quick journey, at least, if not so comfortable with all the stairs.. but I did discover, desperately trying to hurry up the stairs at the far end, that exercise seemed to help. Oxford Circus station has a simple enough exit system - East or West for Oxford Street, North or South for Regent Street, making four exits in all. Which didn't stop me nearly making an ass of myself by heading back onto the Tube again instead - what can I say, the first thing I saw when I passed through the barriers and came down the tunnel was - another set of barriers! So, not quite obvious.

I made the venue with five minutes to spare, and figured there was no point in dragging myself downstairs to the cloakroom where we'd agreed to meet - I was messaging to explain when the organiser appeared anyway! Handily, we'd got paper programmes, despite them urging us to read them on our phones. Anyway, he just had time to regale me with stories of sundry people involved with the music who all hailed from the same part of Ireland as we both did (!) before the concert started.

I hadn't realised it was Epiphany-specific.. gee, that's two days in a row, what with the Epiphany procession I saw yesterday! As a reminder:

Anyway, the music was glorious. I love Bach, and this being sung, it was lovely to have the printed lyrics, with translations alongside so I could see how much German I remembered. Definitely a language I'd like to pick up again, if I had the time. The second half, mind, was his Mass in F, and was in Latin. Truly an antidote to the daily grind, and in beautiful surroundings I hadn't seen in nearly three years!

At the interval, we went downstairs - and seeing the length of the queue at the bar, simply had water. The cloakroom turns out to be on the other side of the basement, and has seating that isn't used any more - most handy! And there we were, chatting away, when our third member showed up! Excellent - and we had a lovely time, then and again at the end. Another enjoyable and sociable evening. Oh, and I took buses back - handily, my first bus arrived - as usual, lately - exactly when I did. And it took me no longer than the Tube would have done, at that time of night - and with far less climbing. (and a better view!) Nearly stumbled again on the way- perhaps it's the shoes..

So, tomorrow is, of course, film - and what's coming up is Drive My Car, a Japanese film whose closest showing to me is in the Curzon Bloomsbury. Not yet booking out, so I haven't yet booked.

Wednesday, back with Invigorate, for a tour of "3 Historic Belgravia Pubs". My first event with them this year! I just hope my legs are working again.

On Thursday, my ex-coworker is talking about meeting up - dunno exactly where yet, but I did recommend the Duke of Sussex. And then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.. and hallelujah, they've dropped the testing requirement again!