Wednesday, January 11, 2012

11th Dec - Sunday church service and Pahud at Wigmore Hall

Covent Garden market, near the church

We managed to have a good night's sleep, though jetlag caused me to wake up before anyone else. Our day started with a morning visit to Covent market to soak in the energy of early rising Londoners. We watched a quartet perform before heading to the nearby Crown Court Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian church. It was smallish but welcoming which made us feel at home. We participated in a nativity service, which was made up of  a cast of unpredictable little tots who read scripture passages and acted out every role except Joseph. The kids' roles were not well defined because they moved about during the performance. Nevertheless it was heart warming. A Korean couple, James and Eunice, were tasked to welcome us and we had a good chat and extended our welcome to our church in Singapore.

A little more shopping at Covent Garden after service yielded a 100% new wool scarf at a cool 14 GBP. Satisfied, we set off for Old Street , where I  had earlier made a lunch reservation at Fifteen London. It operated out of Westland Place, not a great neighborhood  but considering Jamie Oliver's intention to equip at risk kids with life changing skills, I was understanding about it. The food, from antipasti to main pasta course, was very fresh and delicious. The only grouse was the slow food delivery but it also gave us a chance to chat.

Lunch ended at 3.30pm. We took off to Oxford Circus, first to collect our pre-booked concert tickets at Wigmore Hall and then to HMV where H bought 3 classical CDs ( Kim Kashashian, William Primrose, Glenn Gould for 30 GBP ). Oxford Street was closed to vehicular traffic on Sundays  and we enjoyed ourselves walking on the road and soaking up the lights and music.

Oxford Street started winding down at  6.30pm, it being a Sunday ( poof !! ), so we headed to Wigmore hall. It was a smallish concert hall but acoustics was good. Even though we were seated at almost the end of the hall, the nuances of Emmanuel Pahud' s flute and Yefim Bronfman's piano were clearly felt. We coursed through Schumman, Brahmns, Mozart and Prokofiev and the audience's appreciation were reciprocated with an encore off Mozart's repetoire. Considering our jetlag(ed) state, I would say, we were well behaved audience.

We took a tube back to Gloucester Rd from Bond Street station. By 10pm, we were home, for another round of steak pie supper. Finally, after some washing and final  planning  for the next day , we surrendered to the strain of the day.

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