Well I have had a rant this week and a book review so now I am going to have a ramble.
Last weekend I took my eldest granddaughter, Florence, to the opera. She loves classical music and plays the violin and we were discussing opera one night and she said "Grandma will you take me to the opera for my birthday?" I was simply bowled over and said I would love to.
So last Saturday we went to the Royal Opera House to see the Marriage of Figaro. I had splashed out on good and expensive seats, mainly for my comfort I freely admit. The days of the Gods and the Amphitheatre are long gone mainly because of my arthritis. Beforehand I had booked us in to the Crush Room for supper.
It was all wonderful and the staff there courteous, friendly and efficient. I had told them it was Florence's birthday celebration so she got a free drink to go with her meal and when her dessert arrived, the chef had piped Happy Birthday on her plate. She loved it so much she wanted to take the plate home with the writing on...
And the good thing was that our table was there for the evening so we could leave coats, scarves etc there in safety so no stuffing under the chair or queuing to collect garments at the end.
Well, the opera itself. What can I say? I had forgotten just how funny Figaro can be and the audience were in fits at times. I knew none of the cast as I have not been to the opera for years but it did not matter. They were all brilliant and what is so wonderful about Figaro is that it is like listening to Mozart's Greatest Hits one after the other. There was one moment at the start of the third act when Susannah and the Countess were singing what is called the Letter Duet, when the beauty of it made me catch my throat and I just welled up. Sublime.
I was so proud of Florence. She was so grown up and self assured and polite and a joy to be with. It is a long opera and I think we were both flagging a bit by the end to be honest and the icing on the cake was that as we left the opera house there were her parents who had also been in London at the theatre, and we went home by taxi. Such a luxury!
A simply wonderful evening and the opera was just, well, glorious.
