New flute

As mentioned yesterday, I've been tempted into buying a new flute. 

So today, we had a lovely, if rather costly, day out in London.  We visited a flute shop, where they were very helpful.  They took us into a separate room, brought me a number of flutes to try out, provided some music for me to play, and left us to make up our minds.  No pressure at all.  We actually made up our minds quite quickly - I think they would have been happy for us to take much longer if necessary.

We opted for a Pearl (my new alto flute is also a Pearl) - we loved the tone.

Really enjoyed the ease with which these could be played.  Not sure how fair the comparison with my old flute is, given that it was in dire need of servicing - once that is done, it'll maybe as easy to play.

After that, we had a meal (late lunch?) at a Turkish restaurant, and then  went to Wigmore Hall, and a short concert of chamber music by the Nash Ensemble - two pieces by Beethoven, and a piece by Mendelssohn for clarinet, basset horn and piano that really delighted us.  In fact, we enjoyed it so much we've booked two more trips to London to hear more chamber music.  Isn't it great to be retired, and have the time for this.