[Forgot to do this at the time, so relying on the itinerary and my faulty memory]
Get to the airport just before 6, and it is already packed with travelers (it is the start of the summer holidays). I get in line at the BA Customer Service booth, and when I finally get to the counter, the lady tells me that they can’t change it (arrgghh!), but that that she will make a note in my file that I am not traveling today so that my ticket will not get cancelled, and I’ll just need to call the group bookings office when they open Monday. About an hour later I hear a page for the driver of the bus for the Houston G&S group, spot him, then spot Ken, and lead the former to the latter, relieving a lot of anxiety on Ken’s part. I meet Ken’s partner, David, who is extremely nice. The Houston crowd eventually comes trickling out of customs, and we all board the coaches and head to Buxton (Palace Hotel). Hunter had kindly offered to let me crash on the floor of his single, but it turned out that he had two twin beds, so I didn’t have to slum it. Call the BA group bookings office, and they can’t help me at all without the group booking number, which is not on my ticket at al. I have to get that from Adventure Travel in Kalamazoo, who booked the Palmer tour, so I email them with all the particulars. That evening have a ticket to see Patience, but it was a pretty sloppy show, and coupled with the four hours of sleep the night before, I decide to make an early night of it.
Month: August 2004
[Forgot to do this at the time, so relying on the itinerary and my faulty memory]
Stayed up late the night before, playing durak and finally paying to use the wireless internet access they offered (£3/30 min! but £5 for 2 hours, which is almost decent) and doing a video chat with my folks (using the Canon DV camera was great, but the 4-pin adapter on the reeled FireWire cable wasn’t very sure, and kept causing dropouts…will have to bring a proper 4-to-6 cable next time). Got up late the next morning, and in the rush managed to leave my camera battery charger behind. On the coach to London, we work up a couple of Byrd motets. Get to the hotel (Copthorne Tara Hotel), where I try to call BA to get my flight changed (the number we had before wasn’t right). Get the right number, but they tell me that they can’t change it, and that the group bookings office is closed, but that I can go to their office in Harrod’s and they can change it there. Have lunch with the twins at a nice Thai place, then hook back up with Jeffrey to check out the Museum of Instruments at the Royal College of Music, only to find out it is only open when classes are in session. Over to Harrod’s, where the BA people there tell me they can’t change it, but if I go to the airport early the next day they can change it there. Next is over to Westminster Abbey, which we don’t get to visit, but run into Brady (and suite) and realize we are just in time for the evensong service, which was nice, but the choir (All the Kings Men from Winnipeg) was a disappointment, with several people consistently singing flat. Up to Trafalagar Square, where where we people watch for a bit, then head east to Brick Lane for dinner. It has gotten a bit more polished since I last was there, with most of the places having hawkers out front offering various discounts to get diners in…we settle on Chilies, which gave us 30% off, no service charge, and first round of drinks free. Afterwards, we wander over to London Bridge, then back to the hotel, since I have to get up at a quarter to 5 so I can get my ticket situation straightened out.
[Forgot to do this at the time, so relying on the itinerary and my faulty memory]
Bus to Cavendish, where we have lunch at the Sue Ryder Museum (she helped settle dislocated persons after WWII), then stopped in the ‘antiquing’ town of Long Melford…but on an early weekday afternoon, there were only one or two stores open, which seemed rather odd. Next was Pentlow, the home of a former parishioner of Palmer’s, where the local parishioners hosted a wonderful tea for us (including some truly incredible homemade shortbread), then a concert in the Pentlow Parish church, which was the smallest venue of the trip, but also the most rewarding, because it was packed to the gills…most of the parish’s 110 people were in attendance, as well as many guests, and followed with a nice reception afterwards.
[Forgot to do this at the time, so relying on the itinerary and my faulty memory]
Free Day in Cambridge, which can mean only one thing: punting! Jeff went off to meet his cousins, so it was just me and the Belcher twins. We wandered around the bridge getting offers from the different companies, but settled on the one that, for the price of the punting tour, threw in an hour of punt rental for free. All the punt tour guides give about the same spiel, a fact we noticed when we heard guides from another company telling the same lame joke our guide had told us on the way up. After the tour, neither of the girls wanted to try their hand at punting, which suited me fine, because then I got to do the whole hour. 🙂 It took a few tries before I realized that the easiest way to guide the punt was to let the pole trail in the water a bit and use it as a rudder before pulling it out. Had a couple of close calls, but never lost my pole in the muck, and even helped rescue one lost by one of the ‘professionals’. 😉 Lunched at a chain pub called ‘The Slug and Lettuce’, then, giving up on the idea of renting bikes in the afternoon, spent a while wandering around the shops until Brian Jordan’s (the music store) opened, where I bought their entire stock of old G&S scores, and we got several copies of the Chester Book of English Motets, with an eye to doing some busking in London. Went to evensong at Clare College and heard Tim Brown leading the Eton Choral Workshop people, then hooked up with Norma and we grabbed some sandwiches and wine and went to Dowling College for an open air production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. It was really well done, with an excellent cast, and very attractive: I was lusting after the leading ladies, and the girls were all lusting after the leading men. Afterwards hooked up with some more of the group and played with the Young’uns while waiting for the bus. When we realized that we had missed the bus we wanted, and that the next one wasn’t for an hour, I got us a couple of cabs and we headed back to the hotel.
[Forgot to do this at the time, so relying on the itinerary and my faulty memory]
Off to Cambridge, where we have an incredible workshop with Tim Brown at Clare College. Originally supposed to go for 3 hours, both he and the choir want more, so we go for another hour. He saw my PowerBook at the break, and, also owning one, asked if I wanted to check email or anything, which of course I did. After the workshop I spent another hour and a half with him and AJ (a film student) showing them things in iMovie and iPhoto and generally being a geek. In the workshop he was lamenting the lack of basses in Great Britain, and then he remarked about his lack of computer support…I jokingly said I’d be happy to come over for a year and do both, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea! Will follow up with him when I get home and see if maybe we can work a deal.
Walkie Talkies come in handy in tracking down the gang, since I missed lunch to play on the computer. Find a book fair and get a book called ‘Austria’s Eastern Question: 1700-1790’. Skip the coach back and spend a few hours more in town, then catch a bus to the hotel (Cambridgeshire Moat House) for another uninspired meal. Go swimming afterwards, try the wet sauna (nice) and the dry sauna (insanely hot: 80˚C). Swam some more with Laurie and Camille (after paying Camille back for two things I ‘owed’ her for by picking her up and jumping into the pool), then back to Jeff’s and my room for some durak.