Late rose

Late rose. Late blip. It's been a busy (and wonderful) day.

I went into Birmingham for lunch at the Hyatt Regency. That's part of the Symphony Hall complex and they do a magnificent Sunday lunch. You choose your starter from their buffet, they serve your main course (traditional roast or something different but wonderful) and then their sweets are totally irresistible.

The concert we went to was in the Town Hall and started at 3.00 - perfect timing. It was a recital by the marvellous soprano, Danielle de Niese. She's been described as "the world's coolest soprano" (in the US) but they're not wrong. She is gorgeous looking and has a marvellous voice. But it was her charisma that lifted her into a different league.

She sang a lot. And we applauded so much that she gave us three encores, even after a long and hard afternoon's work. Starting with English stuff (Dowland), then in Norwegian, Grieg's "Haugtussa", finishing with German songs by Wolf - and that was only to the interval. After the interval it was French all the way, with Poulenc and Bizet.

Now that sounds heavy - but it wasn't. It was sparkling and she is so sexy (and the female stage hand even put her glass of water on the floor, meaning she had to bend over to pick it up to the delight of many of the men at the front). I LOVED her shoes - vertiginous high heels and lots of bling.

So - my blip was a bit of a late blip. I got home as it was beginning to get towards dusk. So it's one of my late roses.

But if you get the chance to catch Danielle de Niese - don't miss it.