Busted

"Feather? What feather?"

This being concert day I knew I'd have very little time for photography, and I was wondering what the best strategy might be for getting a journal photo, when I glanced out of the kitchen window while making a cup of tea and saw that a woodpigeon had paid the ultimate price for its lack of agility, and was now being lunched on by a sparrowhawk. Photos taken at fifty metres distance through a slightly grubby double-glazed window are never going to be completely successful, but the 100-500RF did a pretty good job in the circumstances.

Our final rehearsal started late, because the day's storms had caused multiple train cancellations, delaying the arrival of some of the orchestral players. It therefore turned into a long afternoon, and by the time we were back in the church this evening I was already feeling quite tired. But Mendelssohn's Elijah is a great work to sing, and as soon as we kicked off I was fine. The young orchestra from the Birmingham Royal Conservatoire really stepped up, and hand on heart I think the choir did too. The soloists were all excellent, especially Andrew Slater, who sang the title role with the combination of ease and attack you only get from being in the (unimaginable to me!) position of being one of the best singers in the world. R, who has attended every concert bar, I think, two that we've performed over the past decade, said afterwards that he thoroughly enjoyed it, and thought it was the best performance we'd ever given. Which gives me something to aim for next season, when we'll be tackling Brahms' beautiful German Requiem.