Singing; graduation; free dinner

April here already. Spring, young things, etc.

Ruth and I met Helen S at a crowded Lyndhurst on Friday for an early-evening dinner before heading to Claire’s choir’s concert at the Wesley Methodist Church over the road. The Lyndy’s food seems to have improved since its takeover a couple of years ago; had an acceptable chicken Caesar salad, though couldn’t detect the presence of any anchovies – wish these weren’t widely regarded in the UK as some sort of controversial exotic foodstuff. Helen seemed remarkably cheerful after her first day post-redundancy; had apparently managed to sign on successfully and appeared to have enjoyed a pleasant browse around the shops. We headed over to the church and joined Claire’s mother Chris at some quite good seats up in the gallery.

The Witt Studio’s End-of-Term Showcase included a large and diverse range of pieces, many of them solos, some by the Witt Studio Singers – billed as a ‘virtuoso vocal ensemble’ – and some by the full choir, the Witt Studio Chorus, of which Claire and her friend Kay are members. Ruth enjoyed Louise Herrington’s rendition of When You’re Good to Mamma, from Chicago – great voice, but I can’t be doing with that sort of stuff. Nay to musicals, and thrice nay to Gilbert & Sullivan – what was all that supposed to be about? I think my favourite number of the evening was David Lay’s rendition of With Joy Th’impatient Husbandman, from Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons, partly because I enjoyed the title.

Up to London on Saturday to see Claire graduate with her BSc (Hons) in Psychology from the Open University. As the ceremony wasn’t until the afternoon I took the opportunity to pop in to see Hannah and her latest flat. Flat nice if cosy. Stanley, Hannah’s cuddly sheep, is still filthy but she is reluctant to try cleaning products on him. Excitingly, Hannah was due to be doing a photo shoot of a nude man later that afternoon, I gather for a new ‘erotica for straight women’ magazine.

Walked from Hannah’s to the Barbican where I met up with Claire, her parents, her sisters Tanya and Fiona and her old friend Ann. The ceremony lasted a couple of hours and was OK – speeches not too long; lots of raucous cheering of graduands – much livelier than any of my graduation ceremonies. Afterwards we took the bus to Covent Garden and had a couple of drinks at the Punch and Judy with its balcony overlooking the Covent Garden Piazza. The pub was, unsurprisingly, packed so we were forced to stand huddled in a corner of the balcony for the time we were there, though we did manage to find a stool for Claire’s flagging mother. We went on to the Covent Garden branch of La Tasca for a nice dinner, though Claire and Fiona were evidently disappointed with the refurb it had apparently had since the last time they were there. Sampled a Crema Catalana liqueur, which I discovered smells and tastes like Angel Delight, so not an experience to be repeated.

Ruth and I went for a very pleasant walk around Whiteknights Lake on Sunday, including seeing some adorable ducklings who couldn’t have been more than a few days old. Had a look around the cave-type structure at the top end of the lake, presumably built as a garden feature at one point, and a brief look at Foxhill House.

Got to try my hand a being a restaurant critic on Tuesday evening. Ray’s sister Sharon now works for the Reading Chronicle and is in charge of the restaurant review spot. Sharon is apparently becoming concerned for her waistline after doing a number of the reviews herself, so has started farming them out to family and friends. Ray and I were given a crib sheet in advance of things to take note of, and duly presented ourselves at the Himalaya Momo House in The Walk at about 7pm. Proceeded to have a very nice meal plus a bottle of house wine (a French table wine with a ‘Himalaya MoMo House’ label cunningly stuck over it) ENTIRELY FREE. I could go for more of this.