Concert

OK, this photo is blurry and has blown-out highlights, but it's a lot more representative of my day than yesterday's.

After Monday's late night, I could have wished for a better start to the day than stacking five stères of wood, but that's what we ended up doing. Still, now next winter is amply provided for. It was a beautiful day, and in view of another late night and little opportunity to eat dinner, we drove to Lagrasse and ate lunch on the terrace at L'Affenage -- very pleasant. And then I had a much-needed siesta.

S set off for tonight's concert three hours earlier than I did -- this was because he had decided to walk there, on the now well-worn path over the mountain. He didn't look at the weather forecast before he set off, but wished he had as the menacing clouds gathered with remarkable speed. Still, he didn't get rained on, and arrived safely; I had prudently put a change of clothes in the car for him so he didn't have to clump into the hall with boots and rucksack.

The hall was packed -- they even turned people away, because there was just no more room (bet S would have been gutted to be refused entry after walking all that way!). Excellent for a first concert, and we did well -- everyone enjoyed it. After all the difficulties in rehearsal, even the Ravel went as smoothly as could be expected. Afterwards there was a copious buffet, but it took a long time to appear, so we were ravenous by the time it did arrive. We eventually got home at 1 a.m. -- hence the second backblip in a row. S did what he could with a compact camera from a seat in the audience -- I chose this one despite the faults, because you can see our director, William, saluting the choir.