Gertsamtkunstwerk

Luisa Fernanda

Love in a hot climate

DVD available 'later this year'

It's over...

Maybe they will repeat it all the way back from Series 1

One of the best TV series ever. In the history of everness.

West Wing

To me it absolutely epitomises the demise of Channel 4. The channel that used to be serious and could be relied upon to show the very best dramas, amongst other things, to a TV channel that surely has absolutely no credibility and barely shows any programme that doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator, assisting those who are complicit in their own brainwashing.

I missed too much of West Wing thanks to the capriciousness of Channel 4 messing it around all over the schedules. Once upon a time I would have called it my favourite channel, but I can never do that now. More4 looks like it's becoming a serious channel for people who think. But what a betrayal by Channel 4 Terrestrial.

Bryn at Kenwood

This happened a couple of weeks ago and I have been suffering RoundTuit on the writing-up side of stuff. I took fifteen pictures of the concert and a dozen of the fireworks, so they should appear in about a couple of weeks time. I currently have 80 unprocessed before I get to those - you'll know the time is approachingwhen you see the ones appearing which I took as we walked three times around Hampstead Heath looking for Kenwood. I know Hampstead is supposed to be a bit of countryside in the middle of London, but the lack of signage and maps is a pain - at the end of the day it's just a public part in an Inner London Borough and, thus, should have signs...!

Eventually we found the Kenwood Estate; even then it wasn't very clear where the concert venue was; even then it wasn't entirely clear where the stage was...I know I know, it's a long established venue; my father went to concerts there when my grandparents lived in Belsize Park (and they retired to Ireland in 1959 - my grandfather packing it all in weeks before a certain M. Thatcher became his minister...! I always digress...), but I'm afraid the ability to find the place doesn't come implanted in DNA.

Once we got there we discovered it to be an excellent venue in very many ways. Lots of freebies going. Faye said something later about free apples; Jimmy and I took a certain amount of pleasure in free sherry. We had feared that the catering would have been typical outdoors concert - rancid burgers - but turns out it was Marks and Sparks doing their picnic specials. We were sitting in the premium deckchairs; the cheap seats consisted of bring your own blanket and sit on the ground.

The stage was on an island in the lake; we were safely on shore. Jimmy was hoping that the more ardent Brynettes might make an attempt to storm the stage, sadly no such attempt was made.

We were inflicted with the most egregious Classic FM-lite arseholes as immediate seat mates. It would have been possible to have moved seats but I'm always scared of doing that in case you end up with even worse!

The concert started with the Stella Artois music incorrectly billed as the Overture to some foreign thing called La forza del destino, as the middlenglanders in front of us pointed out to each other; they swayed their deckchairs to the waltz from Carousel, which would have been fine if they had been in a discrete group, but I'm sure it must affected everyone else in their row. Needless to say, they talked through all the quiet bits, pointing out aeroplanes that flew over - hello, this is a big city, we have 'planes. Get over it! In Meditation from Thais , played by Chloe Hanslip - she could have "Not as Annoying as Catrin Finch" as her marketing slogan - there is a pause just before the end. Anybody who actually knows the piece will know that; those that have just clippets on Clas-smugFM applaud at the pause...

The talking couple behind (also Stella Artois connoisseurs) got up to go immediately the concert finished, thus missing the encores.

But my favourites were the the two women just over my right shoulder who were yelling "Bryn, Bryn," like Groupies, and when he announced there would be encores "Something Welsh, something Welsh", when he announced Suo Gan cheered like maniacs. And then clapped before the music finished, obviously not quite as knowledgeable fans as they wanted us to think!

But you know I love a good moan; besides, the more I blog about the ignorant notice-me behaviour of the smugly ignorant the more sustainable will be my insanity plea when charged with Murder in the Concert Hall!

But apart from the ignorant twunts, the concert was really really enjoyable. I would have wished for Bryn to do more operatic stuff and less crossover, but that's the way it does; the way it goes with all of them. It's like opera singers have this deadly addiction to crossover, like they see a microphone and a sound system, and they're like a child in a chocolate factory...That having been said, it kind of sorts the men from the boys. Bryn has a fabulous voice, which made he crossovery bits bearable, indeed I'll Walk Beside You was one of the highlights. I could imagine that with one of those pretend, crossover popera singers, it would be unbearable.

But that's the point of a concert like this: to hear a great singer at his prime without having to sit through a boring opera, or extricate intellectuality and meaning, or pretend that you love the programme. It's for the voice.

There is something quite magic about sitting in an open venue on a balmy summer night, listening to good music performed well, often with the accompaniment of water-foul, but the trouble with open air venues is that the stage tends to be a long way from the audience, which rather reduces the artist-audience interplay. And of course, it goes without saying that proceeds were miked and amplified. I did find the amplification rather tinny especially for the high strings and woodwind. Very enjoyable.

Bryn

 

I have to be careful what i write here because I know there are a great number of Bryn fans out there. I have two albums by Bryn, one of cr***o**r and one of opera.

The imaginatively named Bryn actually isn't too crossover, in that it does contain some operatic arias, as well as traditional songs. I haven't got round yet to buying Simple Gifts. (Amazon seems to be offering a Double Album; I only have a single album...)

Bryn has a really fabulous voice and there are those who wonder why he has to waste it on cr***o**r. Actually, I like some of the crossover on here a great deal.  Especially Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn.

And it's one of the opera ones that I really don't like. Namely, "Au fond du temple saint" and I think you can guess why. I have a wonderful recording by Jussi Bjoerling and Robert Merrill. Additionally, from time to time they show on the TV a performance of Bryn singing this with Roberto Alagna and it's wonderful. So on this record he has to sing it with Andrea Bocelli. Which is a real shame, because Bocelli's whiny bleat with its approximation to pitch just goes and spoils it. I don't understand why one of the world's greatest opera singers feels the need to sing an operatic duet with a mediocre pop singer.

The only explanation I can think of is that it makes him feel more secure because when he does it the contrast is almost embarrassing. Last year, Songs of Praise came from Brynfest and they showed Bryn singing a duet with Aled Jones. And Aled Jones is by no means a bad singer. Jimmy summed it up

Bryn's not even trying but he's outsinging the other bloke in every way. The other bloke's singing his heart out but it's a different class.

I mean, really,  Bryn has everything, when he makes the effort. In his voice alone: a delightful sound ,superb musicianship and the ability to colour the tone to convince the listener that he understands what he's singing - the words, the music, the emotion, the mood. Even things like Going Home, or  Home Sweet Home, which you've heard a  million times sung by all sorts of people - from his mouth it becomes something extra special.

And if you want to hear My Heart will Go On (or, rather Il Mio Cuore Va) performed superbly well, this is where you'll hear it.

  The other album I have of his is one of Handel Arias, which I got fairly soon after it was released in 1997. He hasn't made a big thing of Handel in his career, I don't think. A whole album of Handel arias is high risk gamble for the listener, in my opinion, because, basically, Handel was a churner-out of operas and oratorios for the commercial market. He wasn't striving for high art or the great truth in the way that, say, Wagner did later. His aim was to supply the paying public with entertainment, and it would be fair to say it was formulaic. If the formula works, that's a good thing, and for Handel, it definitely works. The downside is that a string of arias can be all a bit samey, and it doesn't really matter - Messiah aside - which work any particular aria is from. I'm knocking Handel. He wrote Messiah, for god's sake. And this album contains the gorgeous Where'er you walk (from Semele) and Ombra mai fu (from Serse) which are classics in their own right as well as three from Messiah.

What makes this album so enjoyable is pretty much what makes 'Bryn' also enjoyable - the wonderful voice, the musicality, the ability to colour the voice, and the sense that even though I'm not following the libretto, I know what emotions the aria is about because of the characterisation in his voice. The Scottish Chamber orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras are lively with a lot of oomph

Local characters

Inspired by Inspector Sands, being a Brixtonian, I could not resist...

Brixton Tube has two main ones, the woman who plays the comb. A colleague asked me what all that is about; I explained, 'she plays the comb'. Why? 'Because that's what she does'. There is the black man on a bike, whose name I know from the police but why post it? He used to cycle up and down the stretch of Brixton Road between the Tube and Kentucky Fried Rat selling TDK cassettes and muttering. Now that market has dried up, he just mutters. His muttering is virulently anti-white but he's seriously deluded rather than agitating racial hatred. Alan has moved on. I know his name because the staff at Brixton Tube used the Public Address system to ask him to stop pouring lager into the ticket machines.

The Christians come in all shapes and forms; I suspect most of the street evangelists are themselves victims of brainwashing by evangelical cults who prey on the vulnerable. There's one who paces up-and-down outside Kentucky Fried Rat, alternating out-of-tune belting-with-full-lungs snatches of some Revivalist hymn, with an increasing desperate exhortation to us to repent of our sins. There used to be a man outside the Tube who repeated ad nauseam "Repent, these are the Last Days, repent these are the Last Days." He's moved on.

In my immediate neighbourhood there's the hat woman. In winter she is never out without one of those 70s style pseudo-Russian fake fur hats. In summer, her shower cap. We also used to have the woman who murdered her husband, but sadly she has moved on to join him. Used to be a teacher.

On Streatham Hill there is the bus spotter. Often spotted outside Brixton garage, sometimes on buses. Keeps a record in his notebook of all the buses that go past. 159, 57, 137, 59, 118, 417.

There's the guy who hangs out at the Big Junction, offering to wash your windscreen (how 90s!), but he lacks squeegee or bucket. He also runs with the traffic, a look in his eyes of a petrified rabbit caught in the headlights. I've seen him running with the traffic along the A23 desperate to get out of the traffic, unable to calculate that a swiftturn to right or left would get him there, especiallyover the pedestrian crossing which happens to have a green man showing...

Then there's C. When I first moved to Streatham I immediately clocked him as the Village Idiot, and found nothing to change my view. I was really quite shocked to learn he is the partner of a LibDem ex-councillor and erstwhile Parliamentary Candidate for elsewhere, who is very nice, highly qualified, highly intelligent and conscientious. C. gets on buses, sees small children sitting quietly with parents and embarks into a rant at the parents for their audacity in bringing their foetuses into public.

Then there's the pimps, petty thieves, nutters, prostitutes and con-merchants, but less said about my friends the better..

JDF at the Proms

For me, this is one of the three 'Must See' Proms of the season.

Having skived off Siegfried (heat), had to leave Cosi fan Tutte (heat) and skived off Belshazzars Feast (domestic stuff, verge of nervous breakdown...), I was getting a little bit anxious about my ability to sit through a Prom. I went armed with drinking water, spraying water and a fan, which quickly collapsed, leaving me in the traditional Proms mode of using my programme as a fan. Actually, having a second tier box seat (ooh, all of £18) I found myself to be marginally but significantly cooler than in the Circle.

In the bar I perused the programme and began to get anxious all over again. It looked so tantalising that I feared for my high expectations. I had to laugh at someone who described Juan Diego Florez as a 'famous Argentinian baritone'. Peruvian, actually, and it's difficult to imagine a less baritional tenor! I hope their misunderstanding didn't mar their enjoyment!

update: Well, the Telegraph has him down as Chilean. Let me spell it out, he's from P-E-R-U. Like Paddington.

Programme in the extended entry; available to listen to on line for a few more days.

Very much a concert of two halves. To be honest, a little un-Prom-like in a sense, but tremendous good fun. the first half was the opera bits, particularly an exposition of bel canto singing. I love the overture to the Barber of Seville, very much an opera I regard as consisting of an overture and two arias - but it was a third, rarely performed aria that was on display tonight, Cessa di piu resistere, which was a splendid display of vocal gymnastics froma gorgeous and technically excellent, secure voice. It did strike me in a number of arias and songs that his voice didn't seem fully opened up until he hit a sufficiently high note, but I'm quibbling at the margins.

Una furtiva lagrima is a truly gorgeous aria, and a great showpiece for any tenor; they all like to stick it on their compilation CDs. It starts with a gently introduction, which is a cue for far too many people to have their whispered conversations....sigh...if the composer didn't want you to hear the music, he wouldn't have written it. Trust me on this one. It was a good rendition, one dodgy note, but otherwise excellent. It's one of those arias that tempt to me to do competitive comparisons between various versions heard live and on record; therefore I say it lacked some nuance and a plaintive quality. But that's not to say it wasn't pleasing.

I felt rather indifferent to the orchestral piece that followed, knowing it was just a filler before the Party Piece de resistance.

The party piece de resistance being Ah! mes amis, quel jourde fete (35 minutes into the Listen again, Part 1). The orchestra bits are nicely twiddly and militaristic without being bombastic. Most of the aria exists in order to provide a build-up to the fireworks of a climax*

Regular readers will know - or guess - that when it comes to tenors I am not a High C freak. I would hate to be the sort of person whose pleasure depends entirely on whether a C' comes out. But in an aria where nine are written, it really is a pleasure to hear them so securely tossed off, a stupendously visceral pleasure that sent the audience wild. I was not the only person screaming in a vaguely adolescent girlie way! Definitely King of the High Cs!

To be honest, I could have done without the Falla, even though it was played excellently. It just seemed a bit long for a concert which would have equally have been at home in an arena-type setting.

The second half made it seem even more like a commercially promoted-type concert, and was tremendous fun for that. Lots of Latino Pop. A couple of people on the net have complained about the miking, but I have to say it didn't bother me. In fact, although I instinctively felt things were different, it was insufficiently intrusive to get as far as articulating the difference. But then, I am quite used to subtle miking of classical singers at the Albert Hall; maybe some people simply avoid that sort of event in the name of purism.

I thought he sounded lovely singing those songs - to the extent that his newly released album Sentimiento Latino has been added to my Amazon wishlist!, despite the apparent lack of promotional video.

Of the songs sung, the most familiar was Granada which sounded really quite different from how I am accustomed to hearing it sung. Always interesting to hear different interpretations of a song. I think JDF is obviously opera's Prince of Latino Pop.

It was fun to observe participate in the audience going a bit crazy over him, and I felt very smug lending my superdouper binoculars to the people (Mum and teenage daughters) in the next box. Although as the Mum said "As if I'm not hot enough already..."

I took a dozen photos from inside the hall, and eight at the stage door, although I didn't actually get to speak to him, surrounded as he was by teenage groupies. I don't approve of teenagers being opera groupies, especially not the way they dress. Tut. And then there were the old ladies insisting on sharing their life story; the posh thirty-something woman anxious to impress her knowledge and wisdom on anybody who was in earshot outside the Stage Door "This is definitely a voice will hear..." Er, yes..! I'm not showing the photos yet because in an attempt to cope I am working slowly through my photos chronologically - I currently have a backlog of about 170! So I suggest checking back in about three or four weeks!

And finally hi to Caro who I met in the bar!

* in my not entirely serious opinion!

25 Lines

A while ago I presented you with 25 lines selected at random from tracks residing on my computer, omitting non-verbal, non-English and songs where the first line is or acts as first line.

Just to tidy up:

1. You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life: Dancing Queen - Abba.
Magpie got the artist; Rullsenberg added the track
2. After all these years after all these tears between us: All I really need is you - Neil Diamond. Answered by Alice
3. From the very first time I rest my eyes on you, boy. Daisy said Annie Lennox: I don't wanna wait in vain for your love (actually, Waiting in Vain, but why nit-pick?)
4. Back in '68 in a sweaty club: Geno - Dexys Midnight Runners Robin
5. 1.2.3.4 Heaven loves ya The clouds part for ya: Boys Keep Swingin - David Bowie. Robin, again.
6. She said it was just a figment of speech: Walk Away Renee -Billy Bragg. Daisy got the artist, Alice,
7. There you go Flashing fever from your eyes: Show Me Heaven - Maria McKee. Alice got the song, but guessed a couple of alternative artists.
8. Only you, you're the only thing I'll see forever: Tonight from West Side Story said Alan. It's been recorded by so many people it would have been unfair to expect you to guess the artists that happened to appear on this random play. But only a bit of effort would actually have been required - Plácido Domingo and Renée Fleming
9. I love you from the bottom of my pencil case: Song for Whoever - Beautiful South - Rullsenberg
10. The telephone is ringin' in the middle of the night I pull the bed clothes higher: Nanci Griffith - It's just another morning here: Alice
11. My breath smells of a thousand fags And when I'm drunk I dance like me Dad. Robbie Williams's Strong - artist guessed by Skuds, song by Will
12. I blame you for the moonlit sky and the dream that died: sleeping Satellite, Tasmin Archer: Alan
13. If you take me straight to heaven I could never fall: In All the Right Places - Lisa Stansfield - Alice
14. Last night you talked about leaving - Too Many Broken Hearts - Jason Donovan. Will
15. Baby I've been here before I know this room, I walked this floor. Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen. Daisy (well, loads of artists to choose from...)
16. Don't you think it's funny that nothing's what it seems when you're not looking forward? - snagged by JonnyB
17. Coyote, oh coyote can you tell me why: Full Moon full of Love - kd lang , thanks Lyle
18. Punctured bicycle On a hillside desolate. This Charming Man - the Smiths, guessed by Rullsenberg
19. the wind's whistling my mind's twisting: Not so manic now - Dubstar (Rullsenberg)
20. My baby drives a car he calls me when he wants: Some Girls Rachel Stevens - artist guessed by Gordon, song by Alice.
21. I want you to be the strong one: You do -McAlmont and Butler. I'm really shocked no one got it because it is such a wonderful OTT song - now uploaded to my yahoo group - non-members can apply for membership here (you won't be refused
22. I'm flying high on something beautiful and aimless: Sense - Lightning Seeds - identified by Carol
23. With the heartbreak open So much you cant hide: Goody Two Shoes, Adam Ant identified by Daisy
24. Hey, little girl, comb your hair, fix your make-up, soon he will open the door - Wives and Lovers Dionne Warwick. Rullsenberg guessed the song; it's been recorded by very many.
25. I'm nothing special in fact I'm a bit of a bore: Abba's glorious Thank You for the Music. Rullsenberg, again...

It's been fun. And it might be fun to stick the occasional '10 First Lines' in another time when I'm proscrastinating...!

Don Pasquale at ROH

I saw this nearly two weeks ago and for some strange reason I haven't got round to blogging it yet. During the interval I was approached by someone who introduced herself as blog lurker and gave me her name, but my memory is terrible, and I can't remember, which is very very rude (my pathetic excuse is I'd had two meetings that afternoon and have spent the time since in a whirl of meetings involving lots of introductions and being told who else to contact so I'm going slightly loopy on names).

By Donizetti. 

As I remarked elsewhere, I only go to operas because of the star pull of the singers, and, yet despite a cast without an obvious star name, and despite not being a trained musician, and thus not entitled to an opinion about music, for some foolish reason I booked this - for the opera.

Cast:
Ernesto: Eric Cutler
Don Pasquale: Alessandro Corbelli
Doctor Malatesta: Christopher Maltman
Norina: Aleksandra Kurzak

Stick waver: Bruno Campanella

Cut a long silly story short, old Don Pasquale wants to disinherit his nephew Ernesto by marrying a wife, and also wants to prevent Ernesto from marrying Norina, so a plot is hatched, initially behind Ernesto's back, that DP marries Norina disguised as Malatesta's sister fresh out of a convent, and as soon as she marries, she turns into a nagging floozy with very expensive tastes. And it all ends happily ever after.

Some people find the story 'problematic'. I say 'get over it', it's a silly story, not intended to be a social comment nor an analysis of human behaviour, but a bel canto opera, a vehicle for beautiful music and beautiful singing. And fun!

I saw the original production in 2004, and produced a brief and not very enlightening summary review.  My hesitation on both occasions is probably because other than saying 'it was an enjoyable piece of entertainment gloriously performed' what else is there to say, unless one is intimately familiar with the work from recordings or the score (so many operas, so little time...!). It seemed at the end of the evening, everyone had a smile on their face!

I wouldn't say any if the singers stood out as having given great performances but they were all good. Eric Cutler made his ROH debut and  was justifiably received well, not just in the warm enthusiastic applause at curtain call, but also in the all-important overheard conversation stakes. "His name's very Anglo-Saxon, so he's not Latin,
but he's very good..."

At first I couldn't quite decide. I thought his voice had some beauty within it but seemed a bit rough around the edges. In the first act I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and decided I would wait for Com'e gentil to judge. His Povero Ernesto was beautifully sung; by the time he got to Com'e Gentil, I had quite forgotten about 'judging'.

He will most certainly do!

I had to feel sorry for him a bit because he didn't look right in the costume at all. I don't know if it was specifically designed for Juan Diego Florez, but in any case, Eric Cutler is a tall man with a proportionately full frame, and I'm afraid in the 18th century dandy's costume he was perfect drag queen. I mentioned this to a couple of
people, who agreed wholeheartedly. Faye saw it last night and used the expression 'Charles Kennedy in drag...'

Aleksandra Kurzak was also impressive although IMHO I preferred Tatiana Lisnic in the role. I think when Tatiana played the role, the stroppy demanding Norina was an act; with Aleksandra I thought it was just an extension of the default Norina personality. I quite liked her voice although it was a bit quiet in places and a bit shrieky towards the top (but I'm a bit love-or-hate when it comes to sops)

Alessandro Corbelli played Don Pasquale, and while I wouldn't rave over the voice, the characterisation was excellent. Christopher Maltman gave an engaging and memorable performance as Dr Malatesta. I thought he looked surprisingly scrumptious in ringlets. I don't especially go for the voice, but he has a wonderful stage presence and
was so obviously enjoying himself.

What came over was how much everybody enjoyed it; the orchestra, the singers (who all acted and interacted to a high standard) and most of all the audience. I was surprised, with the tourist season being at its height, there was no clapping of the scenery (but Faye's seat neighbours, from the land where they clap scenery did so!); I was also surprised and a bit disappointed that there was no applause after Com'e gentil.

Re-reading my review I realise it's praise praise praise all the way, and that is a fair reflection. Again, stressing that there was nothing outstanding or great about it but it was good to very good all the way through. No doubt there were many technical flaws but I'm not sufficiently familiar with the opera to identify them or enable them to spoil my enjoyment.

As a PS, I am becoming more and more of a fan of the Lower Slips as a place to sit. Although something is lost because of the restricted view, much is gained by proximity to the stage. Again, the overhang causes some acoustic loss, but in this production, it was really fantastic to be so close to them when they were in the attic of the Dolls house.

Warm words, bullshit

If it's not Tesco it's the other lot of wankers, Como working for MacNiven and Cameron, working for Develica.

Half past seven this morning they started unloading paving slabs outside our house, using the back gate to the site, using heavy machinery.

There is a principle under English Law that people should be entitled to a quiet enjoyment of sunday. It is specifically against the Planning Consent to carry out building works on a Sunday (or overnight). Getting the matter resolved and stopped is difficult enough; if it is stopped, under pressure, there is no acknowledgement of the fact that people have had their lives disrupted, sometimes seriously so. I'm reluctant to use the word 'compensation' because it immediately gets dismissed as being 'money-grabbing' or 'part of the compensation culture'. But they cannot restore what they have stolen - peace, rest, sleep - so money acts as a proxy restitution. And more importantly, if they were required by law to pay an amount equivalent to the rental value of the property whose residents they have disturbed, this would act as a heavy disincentive to anti-social behaviour. (If it were a teenage hoodie, they would be ASBO'd: not so easy to ASBO smug white middle-class men for their anti-social behaviour which is worse than teenagers by a degree of magnitude). Enough compensation to pay for a two week holiday somewhere quiet and peaceful would be a small acknowledgement of the disturbance we have had to endure for a year.

There is another issue. Our area used to be plagued by prostitutes (and there are signs they are returning). In general, this just meant condoms littering the ground which are just unpleasant. Very occasionally we would realise that business was being conducted literally on our doorstep.

About five years ago the windows to my out house were smashed and broken into as a shelter for prostitute and punter; two years ago, when I was at the depth of my illness, sleeping all day and then unable to sleep at night, I was sitting on the sofa and heard a woman screaming as she was flung with considerable force against our front door, and a man's voice shouting angrily. We called the police, who agreed it was almost certainly prostitute and punter/pimp, and advised us if we ever hear such noises again to call them again.

What we have experienced recently is builders shouting ta all hours outside our house. If we followed the police advice to the letter, we should be calling them. Clearly common sense has to prevail; if they look builders, they almost certainly are builders, and thus, not a police matter. But at what point is my checking to see who they are, and asking them to move away, a breach of common sense. At what point am I endangering myself and my home by taking the common sense approach

Oh, and there is a crack in our front window. Naturally, I expect that to be replaced by the Como/MacNiven and Cameron/Develica...

30 Streatham Place

May I just point out to anybody who hits on this blog as a result of a search for the jerry-built crappy flats at Thirty Streatham Place, I wouldn't bother wasting your money on them, because you will have to put up with living on top of a Tesco store which cares nothing abouut whatever noise and anti-social behaviour they impose on their neighbours.

You also know that the block opposite - Arkwright House and the shops - is going to be demolished next year and there is a massive building project planned for that site. Oh, and the ex-petrol station next to McDonalds is also in the planning process. More noisy disruptive building works.

My apologies to regular readers - have blog, will manipulate google. Everything I say is true

Every Little Helps

The internet can be so informative...

The only cconclusion that can be draw from this is that Tesco has nothing but contempt for its English customers. If North British or West British people refuse to buy anything in their local Tesco with an English flag on it then screw them - the English are 85% of the population of the UK.

Tesco will take no action

Tesco acknowledges that promotion of first and second baby milk (infant formula) is illegal, but does not say it will take any action to stop the recurring promotions of these products in its stores.

Tesco ignores the ban on promotion of follow-on milks contained in the Code and falsely claims that these products can be both promoted and demonstrated in store.

Tesco Ely Axe Free Bus Service

When Tesco moved from it’s Broad Street premises (also relocating it’s popular Market Street Home and Wear store a few years later) to it’s larger store in Angel Drove, Tesco always maintained it would provide a free bus shuttle for those without access to transport. The majority of people who use it are elderly and don’t have their own transport.

Human Nature, Faith Restored...

Last week I mentioned I had lost my Oystercard. I didn't mention that I had also lost my Security pass for the old building, which I kept hold of because we initially thought we would need them for buildings elsewhere in the Empire (on the back, it says please hand it at the nearest police station). Also a few train tickets etc to support my next expenses claim.

I have just had a phonecall from Oyster who were contacted by Brixton police because someone had handed it in at the police station. Which is ace! (As I said to Jimmy, if I had found someone's Oystercard, I would have picked it up for safe-keeping and then not got round to handing it in, being a scatty cow, but at least safe in the knowledge that they were not being ripped off by a thieving toe-rag.

I asked the person at the police station whether the person who handed it in could be thanked personally on my behalf; she said they would have been. I don't expect to be given the name of the person, but, just in case you happen to be reading this (one never knows!), please accept my thanks.

Actually, that would be quite funny, to find lost property identifiable as belonging to someone who you sort of know but don't really.

My aunt once found a fiver and handed it into a police station, which I thought was crazy. I once found a fiver right outside Kensington Town Hall at lunchtime. I discussed with colleagues whether I should advertise on the notice board "One item of cash found" - please identify to claim it as yours", but we decided that was crazy. In the end we went with "One five pound note found outside Town Hall. Impossible to identify owner. Will be donated to the next reputable charity that collects in Town Hall or outside tube station." We got no response, and Crisis were collecting a few days later at the Tube.

The Ongoing Tesco Saga

See Dear Tesco

Because they started work at 7.30 this morning (according to Jimmy) and because their drill was going at 13:45, I replied:

Dear Steven Phillips

This is still a wholly inadequate reply.

Firstly, I am not a 'customer'; I am writing as someone who has had the anti-social behaviour of Tesco imposed on me irrespective of choice. So please do not patronise  me by calling me a 'customer'.

Secondly,  the paragraph  "When an Enforcement Officer agrees to undertake enquiries on behalf of one of our customers, we are unable to make direct comment to that customer until we are informed that all investigations have been concluded. No customer details are released until that time " is a complete abrogation of responsibility. Please do not try and pretend that some part of the Data Protection Act means you are unable to respond to my complaint. As you are no doubt aware, Local Authority Noise Enforcement sections are inundated with requests for help, especially in hot weather such as we have been having lately.

Thirdly, irrespective of whether or not my local authority are taking enforcement action, the fact remains that as I write, Saturday 13:45, your contractors are acting illegally in continuing their building work to the extent that it is encroaching on my right to enjoy the peace of my home. Previously, Tesco may have pleaded ignorance; I have now drawn it to your attention twice - this is the third time - and I do not believe there is any defence in law to continuing illegal acts having been notified that they are illegal.

As it is clear that Tesco have no intention of acting in a considerate way to neighbours, I feel that I am left with a choice of options. One is to consult my solicitor, which I shall do on Monday afternoon unless I receive a sensible reply to my correspondence. The second is to organise a leafletting campaign, including a picket of the store on Friday, its opening day, which I am perfectly capable of doing. Thirdly is merely to alert the local and national media to the sheer contempt in which Tesco holds ordinary people.

Finally, you have not acknowledged my request to meet with your store manager to discuss issues regarding the safety and enjoyment of my home. These issues include noise and parking: I am very concerned that Tesco customers will park in a way that will block access - including emergency access - to my house and that of my immediate neighbours. Your corporate silence on this matter will be included in any press release I write for the media.

I look forward to a constructive reply. In the meantime, I shall copy this to the local residents associations.

Yours sincerely

Gert Blog

I sent this at 13:58.

Amazon recommendations

Anyone who shops at Amazon will get various products recommended. In fairness, they more you fine tune it, the better they get - they've stopped offering me Andrea Senzatalento and Russell Evenlesstalentson CDs. I can never decide whether offering me alternative versions to the same work is really smart or really unsmart. I wish they'd work out that I ordered a guidebook to Goa nearly a year ago so it's unlikely in the extreme I would want another one. Kerala maybe, Goa never ever ever...

But today's recommendation is...interesting.... They've recommended me Martina Navratilova's autobiography on the basis of me buying kd lang's Reintarnation. Oh my god, woe is me, they think I'm a dyke...even though 80% of the rest of my orders would suggest strongly I'm not. Having a large kd lang collection is not an euphemism for being a dyke.

There again, Martina Navratilova is my favourite sportswoman, ever. And I think her autobiography might be interesting...

Friday searches

As the clamour for pictures of various footballers has died down I have enough Weird Search Requests to make a list:

• Nabucco and coughing erotic - I didn't realise the persistent coughing in opera houses was actually a strange form of sexual arousal
• she spread me on bed kissing to have a surgery to stimulate your desire - does this make any sense to you?
• am i allowed to use bad language to my neighbour - It's nice to know that Gordon Brown visits my site
• crushed mices by her feet teens fetish - this is wrong on so many levels
• gossip blair mandelson homosexual relations - but of course. In fact they are set for a Civil Partnership just as soon as Tony gets rid of Cherie-the-beard
• classicfm.con - an unintentionally apt misspelling
• british actor comedian over 6 feet high forehead bright blue eyes almost ugly very funny - I am 99% convinced this is Bernard Bresslaw
• Toddler My sister just announced that she is leaving her husband and I suspect she is having an affair. Fabulous.
• why do men like to see girls flash their knickers unconsciously - because they're pervs men ;-);

and finally, not weird but frustrating and indicative of many. I know the answer:

• lambeth council leaders 1993 to 1995 - up to May 1994 it was Steve Whalley, then the Council was hung and and the leaders of the three groups were Anna Tapsell (replaced by Jim Dickson), Labour; Mike Tuffrey, LibDim, and the late Hugh Jones, Tory. A comment or an email would have elicited a response.

The healing power of music

Music therapy 'can aid healing'

Listening to music makes us feel better - but many doctors are now beginning to believe that it does much more. There is emerging evidence that it can bring about physical changes to the body that can improve our health.

This news story also featured on the Today programme. What isn't clear is the extent to which the effect depends upon genre, and if it does, do the rules apply across the board or do they vary according to an individual's personal taste? There is a substantial body of evidence that shows that different types of music can improve different brain functions - concentration, logic, creativity etc

It followed an item on the quarterly crime figures. It crossed my mind that it might be interesting if there was research into the effects of music on criminality. I often wonder why the "music" one hears most often played inappropriately loud in inappropriate places is the most unrelenting hiphop. But I can't decide whether the anti-social behaviour is influenced by the aggressive beat and lack of melody, or whether aggressive anti-social people gravitate to that sort of music. I'm not talking about the words, I'm talking about the "music". I can never understand why some so-called restaurants insist on playing music that has a beat faster than a resting heart beat.

And yet music teaching in schools is still woefully inadequate. And when it is taught, it's often a joke, concentrating just on a tiny section of one aspect of pop music. Scared of being 'elitist', too many parents and teachers and governors conclude that the children in state schools are simply not good enough for the type of music that's taught as routine in independent schools. It's like saying, "We're not rich and our children are not destined to be movers and shakers so it doesn't matter if they can't spell..." Oh, well, never mind...

Luisa Fernanda in Madrid

And broadcast on Spanish Telly, according to Kaz (Youngest Pensioner) on her eternal holiday on a Costa, clarifying the phonecall I received from Favourite Niece, skiving-school and zarzuela-watching on an Ibizan poolside (yes, she phoned me up specially - using Mum's phone, of course...)

Plácido Domingo celebró junto a los madrileños el fin de la temporada del Teatro Real

El público canta zarzuela junto a Plácido Domingo durante la despedida de la temporada del Teatro Real

Plácido Domingo saca la zarzuela a la calle

La plaza de Oriente se entrega a «Luisa Fernanda»

Video of a post-performance cast inspection by Juan Carlos and Sofia

Y'know, I so adore him with that beard. I hope he doesn't get rid of it...

Cor! What a scorcher!

The Substandard screamed Tubes 54° buses 47°

And the thermometer is set to rise further in unprecedented hot weather!

Three times today I have felt the sun/heat on my bare skin and concluded "That is quite possibly the hottest I have ever felt in this country" Can't be sure, but that's how I felt.

I went telling random people today that tomorrow is "Dress Down Wednesday". Well, not entirely random. Shall we say there was a clear gender bias in my sample...!

While on the bus from Victoria to Kensington Gore I counted 20 white people in jackets (I decided not to count visible ethnic minorities after I saw a very elderly woman in sari, jumper and cardigan). Of the twenty, one was in full morning regalia (Buck House Garden Party?) and one was emerging grandly from the Lanesborough. I counted five wearing jackets into the auditorium of the Albert Hall. And I felt ever so sorry for the commissionaires who were not permitted to remove their jackets until the conductor raised his baton. But in general, despite the "No Jacket Required" rule, I was surprised by how many men were wearing ties. In the office okay (for once our air conditioning was beautiful!), but once liberated and homeward bound...take it off!

As for the orchestra...surely Enlightenment means wearing shirt sleeves not dinner togs. It's the Proms for heavens sake, not Glyndebourne. Okay, it's Glyndebourne at the Proms.

But hey, how can I manage to provide a commentary from the Albert Hall even while Cosi is being broadcast live from same? Have they fitted free Wi-Fi into the Albert Hall?

Baton up at 6.30pm. 7.15 - my god the interval is not until 8. I think I might actually die. 7.25: I don't know whether this feeling is imminent vomiting or imminent fainting. Either way, I do not want it broadcast live on Radio 3. And if I did either, especially the former, I don't think I could ever show my face at a Prom or an opera again "Oh there's that woman who threw up in Cosi..."

I paused for a moment in the bar and decided that I could wait an hour until the second half started and decide whether or not to go in. I also realised that there were a couple of dozen people - probably late comers but perhaps the heat-affected, too, lounging in the stairwells and hallways listening to the relay, watching on a screen (fixed camera - no official televising tonight).

I went into the Ladies and I was shocked. I had earlier gasped at how red my nose was despite not having really been outside today. Having been out in the sun on Tuesday and Saturday my skin was a foreign-looking shade of walnut, but at 7.30 this evening it was paler than I have seen myself since the final day of my A-Levels in 1986 when I looked in the mirror and watched the bedroom somersault before my eyes...

So I came home, realising at the bus stop that my mp3 player is an FM radio. And I was home soon after the second act begun.

My attendance at Belshazzar on Sunday is weather dependent. It had better break before next Tuesday when a certain Peruvian dusky eyed Tenorino takes centre stage. I do not want to miss one minute of Juan Diego Florez.

Dear Tesco

Thursday
Dear Madam/Sir

I live immediately adjoining the site at Streatham Place which is scheduled to be a new Tesco store opening 28 July. We had to endure drilling and hammering beyond five pm last Saturday, and we are having to endure it now at quarter past nine in the evening, quite contrary to LB Lambeth's policy on building noise.

I have witnesses that heard one of your builders say that they were perfectly aware of the rules, but by the time anybody tried to take any action, they've finished the job and moved on, so it doesn't matter. So much for Tesco's Ethical and Corporate Responsibility Policy.

I am very concerned at the impact that the new Tesco store will have on my peace and homelife, and therefore request a meeting with the store manager. She or he can contact me on xxxxxxxx so that we can arrange a meeting at a time that suits me. At that meeting we can agree a number of actions that I will expect Tesco to take if their shop or their customers have a detrimental effect upon my home life. I will take notes, and I will expect a written confirmation from Tesco of what is agreed in that meeting.

I will, of course, contact Lambeth's Noise Control officers on the morning of Friday 14 July.

I look forward to your prompt response

Yours faithfully

Monday
Wot, no Dear Gert!

Thank you for your email.

I was very sorry to learn about your recent experiences and I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and upset that this has caused you.

In order to organise your request I would suggest that you contact our Head Office on 01992 632 222.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] quoting XXXXXXXX.

Kind Regards

Helen Bowie
Tesco Customer Service

Monday evening

Dear Helen Bowie

This is really not an professional response. Please could you (or a colleague) forward my message to Head Office. It is quarter past ten in the evening and this building work is continuing.

I am not prepared to be fobbed off. I work during the day so it is not convenient to telephone your Head Office. Furthermore, I want everything in writing. I have been informed that a Lambeth Case Officer is dealing with the noise aspect of this case. But there are other matters, too.

If I do not receive confirmation by close of play on Tuesday, I shall escalate the matter.

Your sincerely

And now I have to sit around unrelaxed enduring the delightful summer music of hammer on metal and waiting for a hone call to inform me that a Noise Officer is en route.

Tesco think that if they fob people off for long enough, they just give in or give up. Which is probably true, because people generally have complicated enough lives as it is and often can't deal with the added stress.

Money grabbing bastards.

Meta stuff

I discovered by accident yesterday that if you right click on a photo on this blog, and then 'View Image', the page that comes up has the actual photo as the page icon. Utterly pointless but a bit of fun.

Analysing my site stats I suspect that people are not fully taking advantage of the 'Linky Log' which shows outward links when I either don't have anything to say or else no time in which to say it. Many of them are to YouTube. Bit of a tip on You Tube searching - it's worth searching on names with and without accents eg Placido/Plácido, Villazon/Villazón, Alvarez/Álvarez. On my keyboard at any rate, a quick way to put in that accent is by pressing the Alt Gr key whilst pressing the a, o key. Thanks to Nephew #1 for that tip. YMMV.

Also analysing my site stats, via sitemeter, I find out little bits about people. The site stats tells me, in general, about a specific visitor - who their ISP is, what country they are in, possibly what town (although I know that my ISP, BT Internet randomly assigns me to servers anywhere in Britain). It also tells me the referring site, your entry page, your exit page, and an outclick. This is fascinating to me, although more so in the aggregate than the individual. And for example, it gives useful information as to whether people are actually finding the right pages to match their search terms; or the proportion of people who come to the front page vs those who hit a particular category archive.

As far as I am concerned this information is confidential and will never be discussed - except in the aggregate - on this blog. I will certainly never divulge where any individual, identifiable or not, works, except perhaps face-to-face: eg I said to one site visitor when I met them in person "You work for a such-and-such company" or once at work I said "Someone from this organisation did a google on my name at four o'clock yesterday" and my colleague (I knew it was almost certainly one of her and about three other people) went bright red and 'fessed up. If any colleagues were to notify me, either in real life or by email, that they are colleagues and bloggers, that remains between us.

I may occasionally comment that I have had loads of hits from large and/or well-known organisations, eg the BBC or the House of Commons, or that I seem particularly popular in Named Country, but I would never say that I have had multiple hits on a particular post from Grabbit and Run Ltd, for example.

If you analyse your site stats and see a referral from Bloglines3057397, that's me.

I have been unable to do weird search requests for a while because half my hits are people coming for pictures of Dvd Bckm or Crstno Rnldo - pictures that have been removed but are still live on Google Images. Many of the rest are eminently sensible, or at least, understandable (ie the words all appear but not necessarily in the same sentence) requests eg what is Crstno Rnldo p3n1s size? or Pixtures Pincress Daina itaian dyeing newspapers

Explore!

Explore adventure area now OPEN

We did our 'Out-of-Office' volunteering on Tuesday. Thirteen of us painted and erected fences and did a spot of weeding, mulching and litter-picking in preparation for yesterday's opening of the Explore Adventure Playground at the London Wetland Centre. We were a bit concerned whether we were actually adding value but we were assured that our fence-building made a massive difference to them; otherwise they would have had to have worked all round the clock. I took loads of photos; those of my colleagues are not for the internet, but the flora and fauna ones will be edited and published in due course.

It's a lovely adventure playground, aimed at 3-11 year olds. We enjoyed exploring it and (very tentatively) trying the equipment. It's in keeping with the wetland theme and although I hesitate to tell people what to do, I would say it's an extra element for what must be an attractive day out for that age group.

I now have a backlog of 300 photos to be processed and have decided to stop fretting about them, because if I do them slowly and steadily, they will get cleared, even as I add to them. And come the autumn and winter, I shall have plenty to play with when I am taking fewer than in Spring/Summer.

Stage Door post-Figaro

Main objective - to stalk Gerald Finley. Objective achieved, end of blogpost...!

I happened to be sitting next to a woman from Vienna; as we left the auditorium she asked me rather nervously whether 'people' go to the Stage Door. I said she had asked the right person, the answer was definitely yes! So we went together. There were five of us in total. She and me, someone I didn't know, Smelly-Psycho-Weirdo-Stalker (I warned her to avoid him; she said that someone had told her the same thing in the amphitheatre on Tuesday...!); and B. who is a very nice non-malicious person but exceptionally tedious and long-winded, in that she tells me her life story (post-Eugene Onegin, post-Cyrano de Bergerac and post-Nozze di Figaro). She's not an ideal companion for stage-door-stalking because of her long-windedness and her tendency to monopolise singers with her long-windedness to the point of visible (but not to her) irritation. On the other hand, it does serve to benefit me as being, in comparison, relatively normal.

I have to say, Stage Door Stalking is a helluva lot easier when there are five groupies, not five dozen!

In order, they came out Robert Lloyd, Isabel Bayrakdarian and Soile Isokoski - photos below the jump. B. is a massive fan of Robert and announced her intention to get a photo of him, then flaffed around with her camera. In consequence, he was getting edgier and edgier, as most people do when obliged to pose for a photo that is a long time in coming. So I said something like "Ooh, I think she wants lots of photos of you, so you keep on posing and she'll keep on snapping..." I think he realised what my line of thinking was; in any case, he relaxed and hopefully B. got her photo.

Isabel seemed a bit shy, perhaps her English isn't good, but she paused to sign and pose and did so graciously. Then Soile appeared. She comes over in photos and on the TV as visually quite harsh, and not very feminine, but on the stage she was supremely feminine. Impulsively, I said "It was wonderful! Thank you!" I did so enjoy her role. She smiled, and I thought "What a gentle person." and soft and feminine.

Finally, my favourite baritone. He came out and greeted me as if he recognised/remembered me. I asked him about the furniture abuse, confirming, as I thought, that it was inadvertent - and seeming to savour the phrase. I also asked him whether Dr Atomic was coming over here (thanks to Cunning Little Vixen for the prompt). Amsterdam 2007, he said. I queried whether there was any performance planned for England. He said maybe, in 2008. I asked whether he would be in it. He replied that he wasn't sure, he didn't know if he was available, and he might not want to do the part by then. "Amsterdam 2007," he said. I gave a smile, and he stressed again, "Amsterdam 2007..." I'm sorely tempted (but rather nervous of travelling for opera...).

Oystercard rip-off

I lost my Oystercard this evening, and tried to report this at the Tube Station. The chap said I had to report it to Oystercard direct, and gave me a phone number. I was anxious to do this straightaway because, not only does it have an unspent balance on it, but, every time it falls below £5, it is automatically topped up (ATU) with £20, so, unstopped, it could give a thieving toerag unlimited free travel on London Transport at my expense.

Apparently, it's not registered. Which is strange, because I filled in a form at St James's Park Station when I first got it to enable me to buy a weekly or monthly travel card. I was told specifically that you to use pay-as-you-go did not need registration, but for a weekly or longer season ticket, it did. And I purchased quite a few weekly season tickets - although I stopped doing that when I went part time. And, when I enquired, I gave my post code and house number, and they confirmed that they had two cards with ATU at that address. One last used on 7 July on the 45 bus, and another one, not registered, with a balance of £12 with ATU. Guess which is his and which is mine...

I also registered it at the website. That's why I have a user name; that's why they were able to email me to notify me about the introduction of ATU. According to the man on the phone, because it hasn't been registered, I can't get a refund of my outstanding balance. Not only that, but they can't stop it. and, furthermore, there's nothing I can do to stop the ATU.

I was very nearly hysterical, and although I made it clear that my argument was not with him personally, it was still utterly unacceptable. He said I could make a complaint about St James's Park Underground. With increasing anger - but cold, restrained anger...no, I was bloody hysterical, I asked him exactly what was acceptable about some thieving toe-rag being able to keep using my Oystercard as the money keeps coming out of my account, £20 a time.

Surprise, surprise, I'm suddenly on hold and talking to the supervisor. Suddenly, the card is cancelled, so if thieving toe-rag decides to try and use it, they won't be able to. Suddenly, they can stop the ATU and suddenly I have a transaction number generated by the supervisor as a result of a) cancelling the card and b) cancelling the ATU.

And yet, even though I had to fill in a form originally in order to be able to purchase a season ticket, and even though they are able to match the card to my house number/post-code, tell me the balance, tell me when it was last used, and they have - even if not directly accessible at that point - my bank details, they are perfectly entitled to steal £12 off me, because they swear it isn't registered. It's not in my nature to say 'nice little scam' but hey, it seems like a nice little scam. My word against theirs that it's registered. If they do they this for every lost card - tell people it's not registered, they can make a fucking fortune. I wonder if some people would have taken "I'm afraid we can't cancel ATU because it's not registered" as the final answer.

The only way I can complain is by writing a letter. No email address or web-form, they say. Well, we shall see. I know it's only twelve pounds, but it's the principle of the matter. If I do not get a satisfactory response to my first complain, I'm going to my AM, and, if necessary Ken himself.

Another reason to boycott Tesco...

...they redefine 'bastard builders'.

My local authority, like most others, has guidelines for building sites which states

Generally, we restrict the hours when noisy activity can take place to:

* Monday-Friday, 8am-6pm
* Saturday, 8am-1pm.

The main contractors at 30 Streatham Place know this full well, and thus keep religiously to it, almost to the point of piss-taking - except for when they don't stick to it, and lie about it.

It doesn't apply to Tesco who had their builders on site until nearly six pm on Saturday, and are currently on site with heavy noisy machinery and hammering. I have witnesses that heard one of their builders say "We are fully aware of what the council says but by the time they get onto us we're out of there, it doesn't matter..."

Doesn't matter when they capricioualy and callously disturb the peace and homelives of local residents who they expect to be their customers. Of course it doesn't matter. The immediate local residents make up a tiny proportion of the expected footfall, especially when there is the opportunity for so much passing trade from the South Circular. And anyway the local residents will soon move on.

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Their main store at Brixton felt the need to expand when Sainsbury's opened at Clapham Common. They did the building work at night, to the misery of their neighbours. Their response...if we built during the day it would affect our customers.

It's all money, money, money. People do not matter in their sick world.

Gipfeltreffen der stars

For those people who don't read comments, Nika has alerted me, and thus you, to a site with a cornucopia of photos of a post-concert party at Berlin's Mexican Embassy last Friday.

It is said that the best place to be at any party is in the kitchen...

Le nozze di Figaro

I went to a performance of this at the Royal Opera House on Thursday evening. I thoroughly enjoyed it, perhaps more than I enjoyed my previous attendance in February, even though objectively the cast was marginally better in February.

On the way there I was a bit stressed out. I had a standing ticket, in the balcony, and I was a bit anxious as to whether I would be able to tolerate standing for the entirety of a fairly lengthy opera. But I got extremely lucky, in that the seat next to my standing place was still empty when the house lights went down, so I snagged it. Ironically, the view from my original standing place was probably less obscured than the seat in which I ended up, especially considering that the man in front of me was of above average height and seemed to have a rather large head.

The worst aspect of the evening was some of my immediate neighbours in the audience, who were clearly tourists, and gave a distinct impression of having not the slightest idea about what they were they were seeing, and, more to the point, a noticeable absence of self-awareness and awareness of how to behave in public. The chortling at every surtitle was mildly irritating; the talking during the quiet bits was boorish and solipsistic.

But the worst aspect was minutes from the end, the surtitle screen displayed, "Countess, forgive me..." and they all rolled around laughing as it was the funniest line ever written. This just proved their collective utter pre-ignorance of the opera (which, in itself, is highly forgivable) but it seems strange to me that anybody could have sat through the previous three hours and find the Count's begging for forgiveness to be funny. I could describe it many ways, but it would never occur to me to laugh. But the thing is, this is one of the most sublime  moments in the Western musical canon, achingly beautiful music made more achingly beautiful by the context of everything that has gone before. So there was quite a lot of irate shushing from music lovers. Yahoo Group members can hear the finale here; non-members can apply for membership here (this is a formality; it's just a means to try and avoid spam). This is from the Jacobs' set

I did not make the mistake of 'studying' the opera beforehand. As it is my favourite opera*, I know it better than just about any other. I have so many different versions on vinyl, cassette, video, CD, and DVD there is no 'definite' version in my head. This means that as long as it is performed competently, it would be difficult not to enjoy it.

I have now seen the production 'live' twice with largely different casts, and have seen the televising about three times, and I have to conclude that it is brilliant; a production that good deserves to stay in the rep until I've got my Bus Pass and be performed nearly every year.

It's invidious to compare one cast with another, but with it being just about five months since I saw the first cast, it's difficult not to make comparisons. But I want to stress that neither cast contained a weak link, and contained no one I wouldn't wish to see again in the roles that they played.  As Figaro, Kyle Ketelsen was good but not great. Fine voice good acting, and well deserving of enthusiastic applause. But his performance only served to illustrate just how fine a performance Erwin Schrott had given in February. I'm afraid Kyle was lacking in the areas where Erwin's strengths shone through - beauty of voice, stage presence and sheer sexy charisma. I was chatting with someone in the interval who shared this view and nearly went into palpitations when I mentioned that Erwin will be Don Giovanni next season. Soile Isokoski was outstanding as the Countess, a rich and gorgeous voice. I had enjoyed Dorothea Roschmann in this part in February but had found her voice a bit patchy. I loved Soile's voice and would love to hear her more, but she doesn't appear in London very often.

I thought Sophie Kochs was a bit too feminine for Cherubino, slightly preferring Rinat Shaham's portrayal, but slightly preferring Sophie Kochs' voice. So, a score draw there. I preferred Miah Persson's February Susanna, finding Isabel Bayrakdarian's voice to be uneven and her stage presence less.  But I wouldn't hesitate to see her again.

We had a couple of long-term favourites, Robert Lloyd and Diana Montague as Bartolo and Marcellina, and although it was a shame we had lost the splendid Philip Langridge as Don Basilio, John Graham-Hall was good enough in the part. I can't say I was sorry that the Final Act lost the arias for Marcellina and Don Basilio. bloke waving stick was David Syrus. A few people commented that the orchestra lacked 'oomph' and I'm not inclined to argue,  but it was far from lacklustre.

The Count was played splendidly by Gerald Finley. Every time I see him I adore him more. I love his voice, which I find to be nearly perfect, full of understated nuanced expressionism and, at times, sheer beauty. But I also think he is a formidable actor, and I think I have said before that his portrayal of the Count is a performance that Timothy West would be proud of.  You feel like saying "Have you ever had one of those days?", and as he stalks around getting more frustrated, confused and impotent you wonder why Mozart didn't write a Mad Scene (except that a mad scene would be OTT).  Those of you who know the production will know the part in Act II when he flings the axe across the Countess's bedroom. In a spectacular piece of furniture abuse, his axe, flying frighteningly across half the width of the stage hit a dressmaker's dummy sending it crashing to the floor. I did wonder what would happen when Figaro and Antonio attempted to enter through the bedroom door, but, of course, the servants were all eaves-dropping, and had heard it fall, so one had the sense to pick it up before mirth and woe  ensued. I asked him afterwards whether that was intended, and he admitted that it wasn't - he was just trying to make the Count seem angry. Gerald, trust me, the count seemed angry.

I love Marriage of Figaro so much. As I'm enjoying one section of music I'm tingling with excitement at the prospect of the next aria, duet or ensemble that's coming. I was thinking of highlighting my favourite moment, but I realised that it would be a list. So, instead I will single out Soile Isokoski's singing of the ineffably beautiful Porgi amor, and the very last minute when the entire cast is singing at the front of the stage, wishing us joy and peace, and the auditorium lamps come alight. I could see the goose-pimples on my arms.

I did have a thing going of reviewing all operas I own in alphabetical order, but it seems to have fallen into abeyance. I really need to revive this. If I do one a week, I ought to get to Figaro in October. Perhaps with the World Cup (almost) over and a downturn in live performances, I might make more of an effort.

* people often ask why a tenor nut has Figaro as her favourite opera, and it is a delightful paradox which I don't wish to over-analyse except that perhaps I am saved from waiting with excited but fraught anticipation for the show-stopping tenor showpiece arias...

Plácido at the World Cup Finals

As wasn't shown on UK TV* Sulk

* except for less than a minute, sort of, on ITV, in the background...

Germany 2006

That was a final that sums up the entire tournament.

Every time Italy has won a match there have been fireworks a mile or two south of here. 21:43 they went off.

The first half was intriguing. Italy weren't in it for the entire second half and extra time. Barely went near the French goal. I was heartbroken when the lovely Thierry went off injured. And shocked and outraged when Zizou...what a terrible way to end a great career.

Somebody explain this to me. I've seen players sent off for two yellows. A late clumsy tackle. A desperate tackle. A malicious tackle. I've seen players sent off for handball when they're the last line of defence. To me all understandable in the intense competitive pressure of a match, especially when the stakes are so high. But I can't understand what Zizou did. I guess it must be about testosterone. But there was no obvious provocation, maybe words, but FFS, grow up.

So a team that never really looked good (except against Ukraine) goes and wins it. They got lucky against USA and Australia, and made their luck again Germany. And this evening, well, France played better.

Team of the tournament - for me? Ghana. End of story.

Player of the tournament. Dunno. Cristiano Ronaldo? Zinedine Zidane? Ricardo? Jans Lehman?

At least we know what the goal of the tournament was - that 24-pass goal by Argentina.

Ah well, the English Premiership starts on August 20. Can't wait!

PS In the BBC's closing sequence, what was the music they played between See the Conquering Hero and Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring?

One for the Laydees

Specifically for the Laydees who watch footy for footy's sake and regard the presence of many delightful men's legs on the screen as merely an added bonus.

With the World Cup Final nearly upon us, and with the France-supporting role in Gert Cottage assigned to me (an assignation I welcome, indeed I volunteered for), only one question remains - if you could, would you Va-va-Voom or Zizou...

French footballers

Which one? Thierry Henry Zinedine Zidane Current Results

The other debate, of course, will be Chianti or Chablis. Or compromise with Rioja?

25 First Lines

It's going round the 'sphere.

I stick my music on random. When a song comes up, I write the first line. You guess the song and answer in the comments. (I have omitted ones that come up where the first line is the title)

1. You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life - snagged by Rullsenberg and Magpie (sort of...)
2. After all these years after all these tears between us
3. From the very first time I rest my eyes on you,boy - snagged by Daisy
4. Back in '68 in a sweaty club - snagged by Robin
5. 1.2.3.4 Heaven loves ya The clouds part for ya - snagged by Robin
6. She said it was just a figment of speech - artist snagged by Daisy, track as yet unguessed
7. There you go Flashing fever from your eyes
8. Only you, you're the only thing I'll see forever - snagged by Alan
9. I love you from the bottom of my pencil case - snagged by Rullsenberg
10. The telephone is ringin' in the middle of the night I pull the bed clothes higher
11. My breath smells of a thousand fags And when I'm drunk I dance like me Dad - artist snagged by Skuds, song by Will
12. I blame you for the moonlit sky and the dream that died - snagged by Alan
13. If you take me straight to heaven I could never fall
14. Last night you talked about leaving - snagged by Will
15. Baby I've been here before I know this room, I walked this floor - snagged by Daisy
16. Don't you think it's funny that nothing's what it seems when you're not looking forward? - snagged by JonnyB
17. Coyote, oh coyote can you tell me why - snagged by Lyle
18. Punctured bicycle On a hillside desolate - snagged by Rullsenberg
19. the wind's whistling my mind's twisting - - snagged by Rullsenberg
20. My baby drives a car he calls me when he wants - artist snagged by Gordon
21. I want you to be the strong one
22. I'm flying high on something beautiful and aimless - snagged by Carol
23. With the heartbreak open So much you cant hide - snagged by Daisy
24. Hey, little girl, comb your hair, fix your make-up, soon he will open the door - - snagged by Rullsenberg
25. I'm nothing special in fact I'm a bit of a bore - - snagged by Rullsenberg

That final one came up when I was walking from the coffee shop to work the other day. A fantastic track with which to start the working day and indisputedly one of my favourite pop songs of all time!

This is difficult. Some cracking and irrelevant tracks from my favourite singers are coming up: Granada, Laudate dominum, Why do the nations so furiously rage together? I can't just skip them...!