I know I sort of dropped off abruptly, a week ago, and I apologize. I find it a rule that one gets so busy having adventures, one finds it progressively more difficult to find time to write about them. I intend to remedy my misdeed, by posting for each of the remaining days.
Wednesday dawned once again bright and clear. I was pleasantly surprised to find that our weather was holding cool and lovely; the last advance weather I'd looked at before we left called for rain almost every day we were expecting to be there. Cured of our misunderstanding of the daily schedule, Andy and I once again went to Matins and then breakfast, then back to our little nest up in All Saints' Chapel for rehearsal.
Wednesday was also our first day entirely on our own. Our tour guide got us through our first couple days, led us to St. Martin's and St. Augustine's Abbey on Tuesday - and then he was off home for a day before meeting up with the choir that started their residency today for a weekend in Paris before he brought them over on the train to Dover and thence to Canterbury.
With no tour to hasten to after rehearsal, and with our hardest music yet on deck for the day's service, the rehearsal went long. Afterward, Andy and I headed out to locate the Miller's Arms, our scheduled dinner spot. Our guide had chosen the place, made the reservation, and paid the bill in advance; all we needed to do was show up and eat.
We found the place easily, and became enchanted with the Abbot's Mill Park, across the street from the restaurant. The remanants of the mill works and the old mill race are still there, fed by a meadering river channeled through several arches and canals. We wandered through the park and into a garden, and could see on the other side a couple lovely old buildings which a sign proclaimed to be the old Franciscan Priory, a formal guesthouse for Canterbury pilgrims in the Middle Ages. We explored as far as we could get, but couldn't see a way to get around to the front and into the remaining buildings.
We wandered back along the riverside, watching the other people out for fun - including one young man who found it a warm enough day to jump into the river for a dunk from the bridge over the old sluice gate. Working our way back toward the cathedral, we found a pleasant looking tavern for lunch and a pint - I had bangers and mash, and Andy had fish-and-chips. Don't recall anymore which local-brewed ale-on-tap I chose, but it was quite nice.
I do recall looking at the various beers available on tap - including Stella Artois, Guiness, and several other well-known names. My feeling on this is that I've come all the way to England - why on earth would I order a beer I can get just as easily down the street from my house? In this, I've grown into a convert to my father's view; not exactly 'when in Rome, do as the Romans,' but certainly an idea that one should, when away from home, specially seek out those things that can only be had in the place one has traveled to, rather than seeking to make everything "just like home."
Back to the Lodge in time for a nap (very necessary!), then over to the Cathedral for our third and hardest Evensong. We had a request to adjust our pace, again - Monday we had apparently walked too fast in procession, and Tuesday when asked to go slower had overcompensated. So - a happy medium, perhaps? I did wish we had a crucifer or verger to follow; would have made it much easier.
Andy and I had asked David, the precentor, if it were possible for us to just climb the (narrow, steep, spiral) stairs and merely see the choir room. He blinked, a bit taken aback - after all, he said, it's just a roomful of music. We explained that we were simply crazy choir people, and that we just wanted to get a feel of what the rehearsal room atmosphere was like. He agreed to take one of us up, after the service.
We tackled the hardest set yet and did very well, and then waited for David in the vestry chapel afterward. When he met us, he hauled out a veritable set of jailer's keys, and said, "I think one of these ought to fit; let me go up first and see."
He came back a moment later. "No joy - it's got a combination lock, and I don't know the combination," he said. "I could ask David (the organist and choirmaster) for it, but if I did, he'd ask why I needed it, and if I told him it was because a visiting choir wanted to see the room, he would scream." Ah, well. At least we tried.
We headed over to the Lodge, to change for dinner and then round up the herd for the walk to dinner. There was a lovely salad, an appetizer of asparagus with Hollandaise, and a very nice chicken dish with roasted potatoes. Dessert was on our own tab; I went for the homemade strawberry cheesecake, and it was amazing - light rather than dense like most NY ones, creamy without being cloying, and with this amazing strawberry sauce that had to have been fresh-made that day.
Naturally, with dinner stretching into the evening, we didn't rehearse - a fact which came back to haunt us - but that is tomorrow's tale.
No comments:
Post a Comment