Ribs

I was so peeved by the 100% cloud cover on Friday that I didn't take any photos all day. The concert was of course much better than the rehearsal, although there were a couple of very wobbly bits. My legs were wobbly by the end too, because the last piece has a very loud verse that uses all the breath and voice you have left, and that's before the encore. 

Afterwards we tottered off for refreshments. Nul points to the mairie of Port la Nouvelle. When we arrived we found tables with plastic cups and bottles of water and orange juice. Wot, no wine? And more importantly, no food? Eventually the wine was found, and then a couple of people came and tossed a load of those squishy sandwiches in triangular plastic packs that you get in service stations onto the tables. Wow. We ate them because we had to (there were enough for half a sandwich each), and they were followed by still-frozen lemon tart.

Tonight's concert was in Trèbes, where a couple of choir members have political connections, so the spread was a lot better. As for the concert, disappointingly we screwed up in exactly the same two places. But hey, in modern music the audience rarely notices when you've done it wrong. Unless they know the pieces, which they certainly wouldn't because they've never been performed in France before. Anyway, the audience was very appreciative, and surprisingly numerous given that it was raining heavily.

By the time we left, the rain was torrential. On the way home I was stopped at a roadblock and breathalysed for only the second time in my life by some very soggy gendarmes. My one glass of wine registered as zero on their scale :)