Last night we had tickets booked for a concert at St Martin's in the Fields, a Valentine's Opera Gala.
As we emerged from the underground in Trafalgar Square, we spotted a Waterstones where Christine was able to buy a pocket book A-Z street map. Thanks for the comment yesterday, however.
Four very capable singers at the outset of their careers were accompanied by an equally proficient pianist. They sang a variety of generally well-known operatic arias, combining solo and joint items. Composers ranged from Verdi to Gilbert and Sullivan, with Mozart, Puccini and several others. As we have found before, the church was pretty full although the gallery was not in use. A very pleasant evening.
We were back at the boat by 10 o'clock. The only distraction was that several people were sleeping rough on mattresses under a bridge over the canal, with no option for us but to squeeze past. We could not actually see a human face as they were all very well wrapped up under their sleeping bags.
Today was a slow start as the service we opted for at St Stephens, Westbourne Park did not start until 11. It was only a 17 minute walk and we were in good time. Just for once we stood out age-wise. The congregation, around 60, were mostly young, some with new families and a good quantity of teenagers. At the point when t he children and young people left for their own activities, about a third of those present went out.
It was a well-conducted mainstream 'modern' service with a lively music group. We only recognised one of the 'songs' - Amazing Grace - but that was somewhat adapted! The sermon was long - somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes accompanied by lots of PowerPoint slides. It was presented carefully and had been thought through, if only so that the slides matched the content. However, at the end we wondered what had been said that could not have been contained in less than half the time. We did feel that the length was a given and that the material had to be found to fill it. Afterwards we learnt that the rector is friends with the former priest in charge of Perranzabuloe whom Mike knew until he left for a new post in Bristol. Glad to hear that the move had gone well.
Back to the boat and definitely time for lunch! More of yesterday's soup and a tasty, crusty new loaf went down well.
Afterwards we took the boat for a very short trip across Brownings Pool to use the services at the Little Venice CaRT Office. It is usually quite tight here - there is a narrows, probably originally for collecting tolls. Camden Lock has re-opened today after a long closure and so rather more boats passed by than we would have expected this time of the year.
Afterwards we reversed back to our mooring. Following a cup of tea, Christine popped to the nearby Sainsbury Local for milk and bread. Meanwhile, Mike started to prepare the roast dinner - port, stuffing and the usual veg to be followed by a citrus sauce and melon.
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