Wow. What an absolutely brilliant weekend! It started off well when Jeff came to my house to have breakfast, well ‘brunch’ I guess if you eat food at about 10:30am? I made him an omelette with sausages that his parents had bought for him when they visited a few weeks ago along with mushrooms, onions and cheese. He seemed to rather like it, so I’d say that was successful. Jeff reacquainted himself with my cat and kept the cat occupied whilst I cooked (which I appreciate as my cat is evil and incredibly attention seeking).
After breakfast we headed off to Jeff’s house so I could dump my car. I hopped into Jeff’s car and we headed off to a local farm shop so we could get something for lunch – on the way, I decided that I needed some more wine for my wine rack (I hate it having gaps) so Jeff and I popped into the absolutely wonderful wine warehouse where they have 40% off ‘bin end’ wine – 40% off is great, but it’s a bit of a moot point when the wine can still be over £100 for a half bottle. We managed to pick out some really nice Riesling and hopped into the car and continued our journey to the farm shop.
We managed to find some lovely chicken breasts for our lunch – sesame chicken salad and stopped in on a supermarket on the way back to get some salad bags and other salad stuff. I suggested to Jeff that we actually spend a few hours going to a National Trust property and he was up for the idea, however when we got back home we actually decided it was probably best just to potter around the house, especially as we were going to London later for ‘Classical Spectacular’. Another thing we bought at the supermarket was more things to grow and some more pots. This time we bought pepper seeds, cheery tomato seeds and radishes. I’m not overly keen on the radish idea, but Jeff said that his parents grew them and apparently they’re very easy to do - .e.g just stick the seeds in the ground and forget about them, so why not?
Back at Jeff’s house we made lunch and watched some more ‘Barefoot Contessa’ which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite programs. Unfortunately Ina Garten didn’t do anything overly healthy this time around, so after watching the program we deleted it and then set to work on potting all the seeds. Once done, I suggested we go to another garden center and get even MORE things to grow and Jeff was up for the idea. What I didn’t realise was, Jeff was so up for the idea we actually came away from the garden center with a cherry tree, a David Austin Rose called ‘Alnwick’ which was particularly poignant as Jeff was born near there and some gladioli. Jeff also bought two massive pots so that both the rose and the cherry tree could grow without needing to be re-potted for a few years.
We got back and set to work straight away potting things up and before long we had to stop, as we needed to get going to London. After changing clothes and the washing of hands, Jeff and I set out to the train station and hot-footed it to Knightsbridge tube station, only hesitating at the Starbucks in Waterloo to grab a couple of slices of fruit bread and some small hazelnut hot chocolates. We made it to the Royal Albert Hall JUST in time – I admit, I was quite stressed as I hate being late to anything. Jeff as always, was laid back and kept telling me to chill out, but as anyone who is a bit of a control freak knows – that’s easier said than done. We took our seats with 5 minutes to spare, and had the most amazing 2.5 hours just sitting there, listening to amazing classical pieces. The conductor, John Rigby, who I had seen before, was as always, mad as a box of frogs but in a good way. His jokes were exceptionally cheesy but I think that’s a good thing as it got the audience involved.
The pieces that the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra played were:
Nessun Dorma
Rule, Britannia
Land of Hope and Glory
1812 Overture
BIZET - Pearl Fishers Duet
HOLST - Mars The Planets
SOUSA - Liberty Bell March
HANDEL - Hallelujah Chorus
GOUNOD - Soldier's Chorus Faust
VERDI - Prelude to Act I La Traviata
STRAUSS - Also Sprach Zarathustra
RAVEL - Bolero
STRAUSS - Radetsky March
DENZA - Funiculi, Funicula
STRAUSS - Blue Danube Waltz
MUSSORGSKY - Great Gate At Kiev
BIZET - Toreador's Song Carmen
SAINT-SAENS - Finale Organ Symphony
I knew most of them, except for the ‘Slave’s Chorus’ by Handel and the Great Gate at Kiev so it was nice to listen to some new classical pieces. The Dudes who sang were utterly amazing – especially Kevin Greenlaw who looked very dashing, dressed up in a Union Jack flag for the ‘Rule Britannia’ encore. However Philip O’Brian, who was the stand in for Wynne Evans was also very, very impressive. The concert finished by having loads of balloons descend from the air and people popping them (which apparently is supposed to signify cannons?) It was a fantastic night and the Royal Albert Hall was packed with a lot of flag waving people.
We managed to get back just after midnight and both of us were totally knackered – so much so, that Jeff actually decided to call in sick as he was supposed to be working on Sunday at 7:00am. I know, not overly great in terms of work ethic – however, Jeff got some good news on Thursday and will be handing in his resignation next week, therefore hopefully he will be a lot less stressed and not working with a bunch of cretins.
We’re off to a Spa on Tuesday – Jeff’s first time, so that should be interesting and then, it’s the ‘mystery weekend’ where Jeff has no idea what we’re doing and I have planned everything…. I won’t reveal anything here as I know Jeff reads the blog, so I guess I’ll have to fill everyone in after the weekend!
-Molly
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