Just had a fun week in England!

First of all, flying into Birmingham was not expensive and the fare included my checked bag and a reserved seat, so all in all it was cheaper than EasyJet's fare + luggage + premium boarding. The train station is in the airport. It costs just over £11 for Northampton and takes a little less than an hour. It looks like the trains are frequent. A quick call to Geoff to let him know when I'd be in and he picked me up at the station. But if he hadn't been working from home, I could have caught the 9 or 9A bus and gotten off almost in front of their house just a few minutes later.

It was great, however to be picked up and after a late lunch of stew and a cup of tea, I headed off to pick up Aurelia at the nursery. I had about an hour or so to play with her before Claire got home. The house is lovely; any left over boxes are out of the way and the carpet upstairs looks great. Geoff left after dinner to pick up Charlotte at the mid-way pick-up spot. That way no one has to drive very far. Charlotte and Aurelia are always excited to see each other so they were late to bed.

Aurelia is a real chatterbox. In French. In English. The only thing is she's not quite intelligible yet. You can catch a word here and there. Sentences. Verbs in English are almost always in the progressive form. She counts: Un, deux, three, sept, quatre, ....

Aurelia, though, was still early to rise in the morning and came into my room to cuddle.Saturday, we dodn't do much; it was a lazy day, except for Geoff, who managed to replace the shower pump in the main bathroom and put the cat flap on the kitchen door so that they can now close that door and keep the draft out. He, at least, was very productive. Charlotte converted a box into a car and drove Aurelia. THen Aurelia was allowed to drive Charlotte and they both decorated the car. Pizza dinner was capped with a wonderful fireworks display that we watched from the warmth of the kitchen. Don't know exactly where it was, but it was very long and pretty.

On Sunday, the car became a plane when they lifted the side flaps and redecorated. Later in the day, we went to Toys'R Us and they played in the cars there, but I think they had more fun in their own car. 

Sunday, Geoff was again productive. He changed the lock on the main door. After lunch we headed down to Woking with a stop at Nigel and Valérie's place. It's coming along fine and Nigel is really doing all the work, so it's slow. But it's liveable and they are now working on the extra rooms. We all headed to the parents' for tea and then supper, which was excellent, as usual. All this time I got to observe, read to, and play with the girls.

Monday, after everyone left, I went into Northampton on my own, by bus. One way fare is expensive, but if you get a return ticket, it's not so bad. Nothing in town struck my fancy, so after picking up a bit of take-out lunch, I went back to the house, rested, and then picked up Aurelia from nursery. I had thought I'd be doing a lot of holiday shopping, but in the end, nothing. More playing. This time the box became a boat and we sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Bateau sur l'eau" endlessly, well, until Geoff got home.

Tuesday was the day I had set aside to stay home and wait for the dishwasher delivery and then do a little housework. Well, the machine was delivered at 7 a.m.! Geoff was still home! So, I took my time doing the ironing, but there was a ton of it, so, with breaks, it took the better part of the day. With all the rerun stations and then the stations that run the same programs an hour later, I got my fill of CSI episodes while ironing. 

Wednesday was the day I headed to Manchester. The reason I was going to Manchester was to see my high school friend, Beth Levin. She and I hadn't seen each other since graduation! We really didn't have much time to chat, but since Beth is very prolific on facebook, it was really like just picking up conversation where we left off. The program was not typically the kind of music I'll go after. It's what I might hear on France Musique, but not seek. I was pleasantly surprised at really enjoying it: Frank E Warren, David F Golightly and Kevin Malone (University of Manchester, The Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, Manchester UK. Beth Levin, Piano; Cheryl Law, Viola; Emily Howard, Mezzo Soprano) The Anthony Burgess selection by Kevin Malone is excellent. 

On Wednesday afternoon I walked down to the Museum of Science and Industry and mae it in time for a demonstration of the machines used in the cotton industry. Heaven knows, Manchester was the textile capital of the world and most of the technological innovations of the 19th century were for those machines. Thursday, before the concert, I went to the art museum. After the concert I didn't have the time to go to the People's Museum, so that'll have to wait for the next time. Manchester was lovely, bustling, sunny, all the things I didn't expect.

Still here!

Last night I went to hear Jay Gottlieb in a recital at the Collège des Bernardins. You know I love going to hear Jay play (here and here). The program last night was "Alterminimalismes". I'm supposing that means alternate minimalism, but who knows? Actually, this website gives you a better idea of the program. He shared the evening with another fellow, but since he played first, we did not stay for the rest. We were asked not to clap until the very end of his performance and that was frustrating because there were several times I wanted to clap. Jay's playing is moving and exciting. Most of all, I am fascinated by watching his hands. At times, his arms and wrists are not moving at all, but the fingers are a blur of activity. Other times, he's moving his arms -- never wildly; he's got every muscle under control. The pieces he played were quite varied. I enjoyed them all. Still, not the kind of music I'd have at home to listen to, so I'm glad I get to see Jay perform.

The Collège des Bernardins is a beautiful venue. This recital was in the Grand Auditorium, up on the second floor, under the roof, with seating for about 200 (my rough estimate). The acoustics are excellent. Friends were up at the very back and said they could see and hear perfectly. The Collège des Bernardins is worth visiting, if you have a chance, even without a special event to attend. It was built in the 13th century, as a school, part of the Sorbonne complex. It's on rue de Poissy, just off the rue des Ecoles, not far from Place Maubert. At the time, that would have been the eastern extremity of the Latin Quarter. This wikipedia page is in French; they don't seem to have en English translation. Paul was in on the restauration of it and told me that when they discovered the cellar, it had been flooded during at least one of the big floods. Mud had filled it up so that there was only a little space under the vaulting. When they dug it all out, they discovered a very high ceilinged vault -- beautiful. The building has returned to its original purpose - education. And these cultural events, like last night's recital.

Beth has said that she'd like to come to Paris and perform. I don't know how long the waiting list is to perform here, but I would encourage her to try to get it. I've listened to some of her pieces on MySpace and will try to buy her new album when we get back from our trip.

Jay Gottlieb Concert

What a wonderful evening of piano! Jay plays music that I might easily turn off if I heard it on the radio. I enjoy Copland, Bernstein, and Gershwin, but many of the early 20th century composers either make me cringe or just leave me indifferent. It's not the same in concert. First of all, you can feel the vibrations from the piano in your feet. You can see the intensity in Jay's facial expressions and the tenseness or fluidity of his hands. His program last night was centered around Jewish composers. It was the middle concert of three in honor of Viktor Ullman, a composer who died at Auschwitz and whose music was only recently discovered. Jay's program did not include any of Ullman's compositions though. Of course he was called back to the stage for some encores and played some Sondheim (whose A Little Night Music is coming to Paris, at last, next week) and Gershwin. As usual, the Gershwin at the end reminds me of my mother playing in the living room before dinner -- never misses. We went to one of Jay's concerts a couple of years ago with the kids and they felt it too.
Of course thinking of Jay makes me think of Beth that Jay reconnected me to. That was in 2007, I think, before I got on to facebook and found so many of my high school mates. Jay is a dear high school friend of Rita's; I went to a concert with Rita and she introduced me to Jay; I wrote to Jay to thank him and ask if he might know, or know of, Beth, MY high school friend, and he sent me back her address! On her birthday! Since I remembered it was her birthday, I dug out a picture from an old album of her birthday at my house, scanned it and sent it to her. Now we see each other on facebook mostly. I wouldn't miss a day of her links to art, poetry, and music.
Among other coincidences involving Jay, I met a flutist who knows him when I went to help Céline move in December. Céline is Derek's wife, Derek, my techwriter friend who died in October from the H1N1 flu. Derek and Ashley were both from Chicago, and somehow met here in Paris. I think it was talking about that "small world" coincidence that led me to tell her about my finding Beth through Jay, that she told me she knew Jay! Definitely a small world!
Other news
Well, not news, but just other stuff. I saw a flyer at the American Library for a Don McClean concert in April at the Cigale.  Since his repertoire is enormous and not limited to American Pie (you can listen to it there), I think I'd like to go to it. On the other side of the flyer was the announcement of Kevin Costner (yes, the actor) performing on Feb. 22.
My back is allowing me to go on walks again! On Wednesday, we had a pleasant fast-paced stroll along the Seine from the Ile aux Cygnes, where the mini Statue of Liberty is, to the Jardin des Plantes. I forgot to take my camera :-(