Another Weekly Accounting

Monday, May 31

For the afternoon, Emily, Phil, Matt, and I went to “the pancake house” for a wonderful lunch and then wandered through Harrod’s and the surrounding stores. They are VERY expensive! I’m not going to return to the USA with an authentic Burberry scarf...but I did get 6 Prestat (Harrod’s) chocolates. They are the chocolate makers for the queen. And these were just as expensive as the Fortnum & Mason chocolates, but I think these were actually larger…

The evening was a trip to the Tesco Express down by Gloucester Road (to avoid the anti-Israeli protest happening on High Street near “Embassy Row.” Luckily the area wasn’t turned into a war zone by the protesters!

Tuesday, June 1

LONG. Very Long. Paul Spicer’s morning sessions were interactive and kept my attention, but the afternoon ones were 100% scripted. I’m sure if he had given the exact same words on the fly, it would have kept my attention. The attitude he had since he was reading created an aura of boredom. If the afternoon sessions had involved some interactions with “the audience,” then we as students would’ve paid better attention.

As a side note, lunch was at a little French patisserie down the street from our flats. As we walked to and from, the weather was typical English: light rain. I loved it and was glad to experience my vision of England in person.

After our sessions with Paul Spicer concluded, Jake, Emily, and I headed out to see Robin Hood. It was a great film! The adventure was getting there. We took the tube and walked to where we were supposed to be, according to the internet map provided by the cinema. There was no cinema in sight, and it should’ve been visible since there were 14 screens at the cinema. We walked through some sketchy parts of town that I won’t see again, I’m sure of it. Eventually we made it to the Westfield’s mall where the cinema was located. Of course, it was really close to where we started, just in a slightly different direction.

Of course, we also had difficulties getting our tickets out of the machine, so we waited in a line for a bit. By that point, it was after 8, and the movie started at 7:45. But when we walked in, there were still 15 minutes of previews and commercials going. I’m glad that we didn’t have to sit through all of those previews, but I was antsy the whole time waiting in a line. The movie, as I said, was incredibly done. Creating the back story for Robin Hood and ending where most films start was a brilliant move.

Wednesday, June 2

I got the opportunity to practice the organ for two hours. I got through quite a lot of repertoire, which was good. I feel real hope for my recital in the fall. It has been wonderful getting practice in while I’ve been in London. I was afraid that things would fall apart before I got to Cambridge, which would’ve been devastating, at least mentally.

The opera itself was an experience. The seats we were in were most uncomfortable because there was no leg room. But the building was incredibly opulent. During the second act, there was some excitement in our area of the theatre. A woman got sick and, of course, a whole lot of commotion commenced: people standing up and moving around. Things turned out in the end, but the dramatic music played by the orchestra really fit the moment well!

Two things were disappointing in the opera, on a very generic level. The third act scenery was weird. It had a futuristic, artsy feel that stood in opposition to the traditional settings of the previous acts. Also, the death of Tosca was anti-dramatic. For an “opera diva” to just fall off the balcony instead of deliberately leaping was disappointing.

Thursday, June 3

I enjoyed the tour of Canterbury Cathedral, but found it interesting that our guide was not a member of the Anglican, or even Catholic, faith. I loved being in the cathedral and seeing the living story of the Anglican faith. Following Becket’s pathway of assassination was exciting, as well. I would love to see this site during the heyday of the pilgrimages to Canterbury; I’ll be sure to do so in the next life.

After the guided tour, we headed over to the St. Augustine Abbey site a block away. It is a very old site. I couldn’t believe the date that we were seeing on grave markers. Sister Hall commented that it was probably the oldest site we’ve been to on our trip, and I think she is right. That means it is the oldest site I’ve been to before.

Then we ran to catch our punt tour. There were 12 of us in the boat. We had a most enjoyable ride; I would love to own a punt and nap on a lazy river, or read a pleasant book on it. The tour guide gave us a great history of the area around Canterbury and told us the stories of the four other Archbishops of Canterbury that were killed. Their deaths were most interesting; for example, one was killed by his drunken captors as they threw beef bones at him.

We had enough time after the boat tour to stop in at Marks & Spencer to grab dinner food. As we walked toward the food hall, we saw the England football display (since M&S is the official clothier of the national team). A few of us bought jackets and Phil got a tie. The tie was really nice, so I might have to get one.

Friday, June 4

Brother Wimmer gave an excellent presentation on the World Wars and the history surrounding them from a British perspective. I have always loved 20^th century history, and the British viewpoint was enlightening. I gained a whole new perspective and appreciation for the strength of the British people and their armed forces. It was hard, though, to think that a whole village’s male population could be wiped out in one action.

The War Museum was fascinating. I hope to go back before my time in England is done, we saw so little of it in the few hours we were there. I didn’t even get through all of the WWII exhibit, yet alone the post-WWII and Holocaust exhibits. I still haven’t gone to the Holocaust Museum in DC, so I want to go here where it is a free museum. Seeing a war museum from the viewpoint of the British also taught me a lot and helped me understand things that had been glossed over in previous studies of the world wars.

After our time at the museum, Phil, Jake, and I dragged Oliver, Emily, and Steve to the Savoy theatre to help us in entering the ticket lottery for Legally Blonde. We got there a few minutes before the actual drawing, entered our names, and waited. A few minutes after the hour, someone came out and told us that everyone who had entered the drawing was a winner for the night. Oh well for Emily, Steve, and Oliver...I’m glad they came, though; it was fun to visit with them and would’ve been useful if an actual drawing had taken place. It was nice getting seats for the stalls at £25 apiece.

The show was funny. An interesting side note is the theatre: instead of being built up, the stall seat holders walked further and further underground to get to their seats. Part of that has to do with the building being on a bit of a hill, but not entirely. Our seats were comfortable, but since we didn’t rush to the front of the queue when the tickets were given away, the balcony obstructed the top foot or two of the stage. No, we didn’t really miss anything, but it was distracting.

On our way home, we grabbed some Wafflemeister waffles for the tube ride home. They are so good. We joked about franchising in Provo. We think it would turn out; after all, there are lots of frozen yogurt stands in Provo, the waffle stand would be the new trend. We would take over the J Dawgs stand… The likelihood of this taking place: slim to none; the fun in dreaming and discussing: great! I’m sad that in a week we will be split up.

Saturday, June 5

Did I wake up on time? No. Did we leave on time? Not exactly. But we did go to Portobello Road once Jake, Phil, and I were awake. We decided to take the bus all the way there since it was so close and was such a good day. While we waited at the bus stop, Miriam walked up and we traveled there with her. We wandered down Portobello Road and this time we made it to the end, which actually isn’t much further than we had gone the last time we ventured there. We each got a pastry at a little stand, and they were huge! I looked at some prints for quite a while and almost bought one or two, but I decided to wait on purchasing any.

When we got back to the flat, we decided that some food and a short rest would be good before traveling to St. Paul’s. And Phil had decided not to go, so it was up to Jake and I to go. However, Jake’s nap started going long and then I decided to take a short nap. We both woke up to shouts of protestors going by on the street. At 4 PM. That ruled out our St. Paul’s trip! However, it meant we got to watch the thousands of protestors marching past our flat on their way to the Israeli embassy. Israel is not being wise with these aid ships. I’m not sure of all their options, of course, but the way they are acting and portraying their actions is not winning them any friends in the international arena. I’ll admit, watching all the protestors en masse, it was the first time that I’ve been nervous and a little scared since being in London; there weren’t very many police officers in sight, and they didn’t have guns, anyway. I wish the officers here carried guns.

Phil, Jake, and I then journeyed to dinner at the Trafalgar. It was gloriously delicious, but our sadness came with dessert. The rush made it so they couldn’t bring us the fabulous brownie that we wanted to try. Oh well, this means I’ll have to return sometime soon. We made it to the concert of The Creation barely on time.

After the concert, Steve, Emily, Jake, Phil, and I went to the Sloane Square My Old Dutch restaurant. I had another pear pancake. So good!

Sunday, June 7

When the time came for our Windsor trip, the coach was practically empty. It turned out that there was a whole host of people a hundred yards away, just visiting. It was good that everyone came, but I was rather excited for a quiet bus ride to catch up on my sleep. However, my sleep didn’t really happen because we had the BEST coach driver in the world. As we drove through London, he acted as a tour guide. I really enjoyed it, particularly since we hadn’t driven through that specific part of town before. I wish he had been our driver through all of our time in London. I found out after we arrived in Windsor that Nathan had been requesting this particular driver the entire time we’ve been here and this was the first time we could get him. Nathan had gotten several bits of advice to do so. I’m so glad that he did.

After we got to Windsor, Jake, Phil, and I tagged up with Nathan and Sister Hall to go through the castle and estate. Alan and his wife were with us for a bit, and then went on their own way. The estate was incredible and the interior was breathtaking! There were so many paintings inside! I loved seeing the originals that I’ve grown up seeing in all my history books. And the decor was phenomenally well-kept, after all the years of use.

Something I was unaware of before today, there was a fire that destroyed much of the structure in 1992. Hardly any of the artifacts were destroyed, but much of the building itself suffered. The reworking looked just like other parts of the house. I’m greatly impressed with the level of craftsmanship they were able to afford. And apparently the final product came out under budget.

After the time spent traipsing across the grounds and through the house, we waited for entrance for evensong. The interior of the chapel was gorgeous, and I was sitting in on of the Knights of the Garters’ seats. I didn’t recognize the name, but it was cool to think of all the people that have sat there: heads of state from around the world, various politicians of England (folks like Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill), and many great men from across the countryside.

Today

So, today was good. We enjoyed our session with the only LDS professional singer in England today. Then we worked on plans for the time after London. Things aren't all finalized, but closer. The best part of today was seeing Wicked tonight! Yes, this was the second time in my time here, but it was so worth it. We walked up to the theatre with less than 30 minutes before the show and bought our tickets at 7:10. And, most surprising of all, the show got a standing ovation by the audience. I'm pretty sure that is the first I've seen since we've been in London.

new music

Friday was exciting and good, but not as I entirely expected it would be. The early morning did not equal fun. The group departing for a day off in Brighton, we had almost two days free, made every noise possible as they departed. We heard discussions of The Fantastic Mr. Fox and why people weren’t ready to depart in very loud tones, all before 7 AM.

The actual morning brought joy as I (with Emilie Gardner and Heather Faerber) met Ceri Benson (now in England on her world tour) and her sisters, Aubrey and Rachel, to have breakfast. We met up at the base of the Albert Memorial and then wandered towards the South Kensington tube stop to find a place to eat. I had a Belgian waffle with fruit on top that was really good; there was a sweet, grainy flavor about it that I’ve not had before. It was fun to see Ceri in London and to talk with Aubrey about school opportunities in the UK.

Afterwards, I headed home to regroup with Jake. We left for the Victoria and Albert Museum. The discoveries were good, but nothing earth-shattering. When it was about time, I headed back to the Hyde Park Chapel (it is right next door) to practice on the organ. But when I got there, it looked suspiciously like a wedding in the works. So, I found Sister Field and learned that was the case. I got rescheduled for Saturday. I can do that, but it wasn’t my plan; oh well.

I returned to the museum and eventually met back with Jake. He told me there was an incredible room that I had to see. We headed there on our way out. Boy, was he right; I walked into a room that had both Davids, Moses, two Captives, and Trajan’s Column! AMAZING! During the 19^th century, the museum sent out crews and worked with foreign governments to obtain various casts of famous statues. These allowed artists to study from all the masters, while staying in London. It was an incredible sight. Another important and interesting bit of knowledge: since the casts were made, some of the original works have been destroyed, so the only copy is in the V&A.

Jake and I headed over to the West End for dinner and a show when we tired of walking around. We had fish and chips at a fun little cafe; nothing incredible, but a decent price and taste. I’d go back. We got to the box office, only to find out that we couldn’t get student concessions on the 8:30 PM performance. Obviously, by that time, we were too late to try for any other shows (most start at 7:30 PM). We wandered through a few movie theatres, thinking a movie might be a good alternative. We were mistaken. Well, perhaps not, but the prices chased us away. I do not feel that movies are worth £14. (And that is just in standard seats. Yes, there are different grades of movie theatre seats here.) After looking around Leicester Square, the decision was made to go home. Funny to be home before 9 PM on a Friday night, yes. But it was nice to be at home when it was quiet.

Yesterday morning I took my time. Nothing was scheduled until my organ practice, so I relaxed. It felt amazing to be almost free of a schedule. When I got to the church, I got the key and practiced for just over an hour. My hands were stiff, but it was very good to practice. I remembered the Brahms really well, so I’m guessing that my “tried and true” pieces will come back quickly. The Mendelssohn 4^th movement was more of a challenge, since I’ve not finished learning, let alone polishing, it. In other words, it will likely be a struggle to finish learning it and the last bit of the Bach 3^rd movement. It will all work out, though, it always does when I am willing to work hard.

Afterwards, Jake and I headed to the British Library. Everyone else discovered new plans, so we were the only ones. The exhibits were nice, but small. It felt good to have seen most everything the place had to offer in about 2 hours. Seeing the Magna Charta, Beatles manuscripts, Beethoven’s tuning fork, and Handel’s Messiah manuscript within the same room was incredible. We saw lots of people working on homework there, so we imagined that lots of London university students use the extensive national library to do big research projects. Not a bad idea.

We then dashed over to the British Museum for a bit before dinner. On the way we passed through King’s Cross Station and saw Platform 9 ¾. Touristy, yes, but essential. We mainly saw the Egyptian rooms once we got to the Museum. Of course, that meant we saw the Rosetta stone. It angered me to see everyone and their brother touching the artifacts, however. Apparently “No Touching” means something different here… Anyway, the worst part was getting kicked out of the rooms within 30 minutes of being there. Granted, we were still a few minutes late to dinner with Phil, but the map gave us museum hours that didn’t include which rooms close early. We found out the hard way that the Egyptian rooms are among them! I don’t know why they bother to stay open later if you can’t see any of the ancient civilization rooms. (And who knows how many others they close early…) Well, I’ll go back, that’s for sure. “Always leave them wanting more.”

We did get over to Sloane Square a bit late, but Phil was just arriving himself, due to all the weekend Tube delays. Dinner at the Trafalgar was wonderful, as usual. We then caught the bus back to Cadogen Hall for the evening’s concert. I don’t know where to begin with that concert of the Ealing Choral Society. The way they talked about themselves in the program, you would think they were the rising stars in community choral music. Far from the truth.

Their program was too much for them. They were singing difficult literature, very muddily. When the conductor tried to change tempi, the choir refused to move. That was likely due to all eyes being glued to scores. While that is not necessarily the key indicator of too difficult of a program, the fact that intonation was all over the place certainly indicates this.

Another difficulty arose from the number of singers. There were less 1^st and 2^nd tenors than 2^nd altos. The tenors knew this, at least subconsciously, and sang with (too much) gusto; so much pushed sound. Also a major factor, vocalist age; a lot of the choir was old and had difficulty singing with the agility necessary to sing the pieces we heard.

As a funny side not from the concert, Jake pointed out a man seated below that looked like he wasn’t wearing any pants. It turns out that he was wearing shorts, but they were pretty short...

Today was wonderful in many ways. We heard some great music and saw amazing sights. I made it to the family ward meetings at 9 AM. The difficulty was the temperature in the chapel; they don’t believe in air conditioning here. Oh, the room was warm and I can’t imagine how warm it was by the afternoon meetings!

After sacrament meeting, I dashed by the flat and on to the tube to get to the St. Paul’s Cathedral service. I thought it was at 11 AM, and was unhappy that so much of the tube was shut down, making me late. It turns out that the service started at 11:30, so I made it with a few minutes to spare and found a seat up front next to other BYU folks that made it earlier. The room was incredible, and the way the sun shone through the windows was impressive. However, the music composed for the service was not good. It was a premiere of a new mass by a current British composer. I remember the discussion we had in Organ Pedagogy this past semester about what makes music “good.” We were very careful to not be narrow-minded and to set up general principles. One of those principles that I feel is 100% necessary is: does the piece fulfill its purpose? The mass did not fulfill its purpose. This mass was commissioned to be sung in a service, not a concert hall. Therefore, the audience will be standing for much of the singing due to Anglican service tradition. This means that a movement should not last forever, otherwise the audience is only thinking about how tired their feet are.

It didn’t help that the music sounded strange. That was not (specifically) a principle we discussed this past semester. (Though the good melody rule we established was probably broken…) However, I went into the service aware that it was a modern music premiere. With that knowledge and my “music world” background, I still felt confused and awkward. How did the audience member feel that walked in off of the street to experience a service at the cathedral as part of their touristy London experience? I’ll answer that for you. They thought it was rubbish.

I won’t go so far as to call it rubbish. There were forms and patterns. However, I do stand by my original stance that it was not good music. At least I got to participate in a service there.

After that, I headed home and enjoyed lunch and a nap. After the nap, I did some journaling until it was time to go to the 6:30 evensong service at St. Bartholomew-the-Great. The building was very old and they used incense for the service. It had a much older feel than any other services we’ve attended. At times, some of the men sang with a swallowed sound, but the choir sounded whole and unified. I loved their sound. It would be fun to go back sometime.

Emily and I rode back to the flats after the service ended and grabbed a bite to eat on the way. She took me to her favorite pancake place here — wow. WOW! I’ve never really had savoury pancakes, but I can’t wait to go back. A pancake with ham, bacon, peppers, mushrooms...delicious! And the dessert pancake with pears and cinnamon was divine. I’ve never seen such things in the US, but we should figure it out.

It looks like a few of us will be taking a temple trip this Friday. I hope it is able to go through. I really need to go, I miss it so much. There is no denying that returning to work at the temple in the fall will be a blessing. But in the meantime, a visit to the temple here when I can will have to suffice. All in all, life is good. Life is great.

The Trafalgar

Yesterday was a great day! We learned a lot, had fun, and enjoyed a great concert. Our rehearsals went well, but it will be a lot of music to master. This will be a great experience in Oxford this weekend, on so many levels.

I particularly was appreciative that they let Brother Wimmer teach about the English governement for a bit yesterday. This is such a fascinating time to be here, with a hung Parliament. (However, it is not hung now. The Tories formed a successful coalition yesterday evening.)

For the afternoon, Phil, Jake, and I wandered through the edge of Kensington Gardens and saw the Albert Memorial. Amazing! Not the little stone that he requested of Victoria, that’s for sure. I loved the bison on the America corner and the frieze of famous/important men.

We then adventured to the Science Museum and explored the ground level in about 45 minutes. It will be fun to pop in a few more times and see the rest of the collections. The most interesting thing we saw today was the first clock created to measure a ship’s longitude at sea (H1) by John Harrison. I read the book about his life quite a few years ago, and was excited to his first go at the solution. He was dedicated, despite Parliament giving him difficulties.

We ended up getting to Cadogen Hall early last night, so we took the bus to find a place to eat. We found The Trafalgar. It is now my favorite pub. Maybe I’ll find another good one to replace it, but the food and atmosphere were great! The smell was right, but not overpowering. And there was space for lots of people at the same table — a real win for when you have lots of friends visiting together.

Of course, the concert was marvelous. Even though our seats were on the side of the balcony, I though they were perfect. In most concerts, I’d actually prefer the ability to see the music that the performers were playing, it makes it much more interesting for me. The concert last night was the Tallis Scholars at Cadogan Hall. They are as excellent as everyone claims they are. Of course, they aren’t perfect, but things locked so frequently; intonation was much better than pretty much any choir I’ve heard before.

In regards to the conductor, his style was unlike anything I’ve seen before. I wish I could’ve seen the music to know what time signatures (or lack thereof) he was conducting. I could not recognize his beats or indications, but his singers know his motions very well, and communicate very effectively.

After the concert we headed back to The Trafalgar, this time with a group, to get a bite (mostly dessert). The menu said they served food until 10 PM, but that was obviously untrue. At least last night it was. So we wandered on the tube back toward home, stopping at Tesco on the way.

While there, Jake, Phil, and I bought a chocolate truffle mousse thing. We ate it once we got home. It was divine! I still would’ve appreciated dessert at The Trafalgar, but it was a good substitute. We also discussed the musicals playing on the West End. It looks like we will be seeing Wicked this afternoon. I’m interested to see how cheaply we can get tickets. It might be under 20 pounds! Amazing! Oh, the joys of living in London as a student!

And for your viewing pleasure, the chapel where we have class: