Another Night Out

Dave and I were out on the town again last night. I KNOW! Twice in a row! How has this happened, for two old TV-watching homebodies like us?!

Well, a year ago at Christmas, one of Dave's students gave him a gift certificate to Wigmore Hall, a classical music performance space near Oxford Street. The certificate sat in a drawer for months but I always knew it was there and that we needed to use it within a year. Sometimes I'd take it out and set it on the table next to Dave's chair in the living room, as a hint for him to pick a performance, but it would get covered over with schoolwork and inevitably I'd wind up putting it in the drawer again. Finally, several weeks ago, I got out the computer and presented him with some options, and we settled on a French horn concert by a musician named Ben Goldscheider.

So that was last night. Goldscheider, with violinist Callum Smart and pianist Richard Uttley, played four compositions, by Mozart, Gyorgy Ligeti, Clara Schumann and Brahms. It was really enjoyable. It's hard to beat a French horn for sound, with its beautiful round, full tones. The Ligeti seemed like it was probably the hardest piece, a dissonant 1982 composition that seemed full of '80s angst, the musical equivalent of a Brutalist building, or maybe Margaret Thatcher's economic policies. (Although Ligeti was Hungarian by birth.) As I told Dave, "I can't imagine what that sheet music looks like!"

And then, on the way home, we got to check out some of the Christmas lights in and around Wigmore Hall and Portland Square.

Here are the decorations on St. Christopher's Place...

...and here on James Street, both across the street from Wigmore Hall. Dave thought I should get a video for full effect.

Otherwise, yesterday was spent mostly at home. I did some work in the garden, raking fallen leaves and tidying up dead growth. I had planned to allow the leaves to break down and feed the soil, but they were so thick on the grass I thought they might kill it -- and indeed some areas were yellowing. I'm not fussy about the lawn but I don't want dead patches. I didn't try to pick up ALL the leaves, just the densest mats. I dumped them in the back of the garden so they can break down there, and left the ones that are naturally mulching our flower beds.

Two nights from now, we have to get out of the house again because Dave has hired professional cleaners to come in and give the place a three-hour once-over. He's been having a lot of allergic symptoms and he thinks there's still lingering plaster dust from our recent renovations. I'm trying not to be defensive about this, because I'm in charge of cleaning around here and I think I do a darn good job -- and to be honest I think hiring cleaners is a waste of money and I don't want people touching my stuff. But I'm acquiescing in the interest of potentially improving Dave's allergies. I don't think it will make a whit of difference but I'm going along to get along.