Brio

... is something our new director Florence has in spades. Very different from William's British restraint; where he would say "Pas mal," she will exclaim "Magnifique !" She plays, conducts, and sings all at the same time. She also stands on a chair at the beginning of the rehearsal (she's too small to see from the back otherwise) and leads us in 15 minutes of yoga and weird swoopy vocal exercises. William would be shocked! Everyone's enjoying it though, it's good to be shaken out of old habits as long as the new ones produce good results. We've made good progress over the weekend. Though to be fair, the repertoire is less challenging than usual : Fauré's Requiem and some César Franck pieces.

Home for an hour, then book group this evening; we all slated Sebastian Faulks' Paris Echo. He seems to be one of those authors who writes a couple of good books and then coasts on his laurels. Downhill all the way after Birdsong, though I enjoyed Enderby too. I think I'm going to give him the Ian McEwan treatment -- stop reading him.