Achievement

These beer mats have been doing the rounds for a while, but today was the first time I've seen a really large number of them in a pub, and especially a large number which included enough of each to actually complete the full logo. All but one piece came together fairly quickly, and it was only thanks to the dedication of Bernard, one of the Music Group guys that it got to this point. He actually combined trips to the loo with forays around other tables until he found the missing piece.

This was all in my local pub, where eight of us continued to following one of the best-ever of our weekly sessions. The success wasn't merely thanks to my superb hosting (though that obviously had a lot to do with it). The musical selection itself was terrific today, commencing with a stunning performance by Gustavo Dudamel and his amazing Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela of the end of Pictures at an Exhibition, finishing with part of Kent Nagano's equally stunning recording of Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony, and then, to top it all, the presentation which filled the final 30 minutes was a recording of a remarkable staging of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust, from the 1999 Salzburg Festival.

Our heads were spinning by the time we got to the pub, so putting the beer mat pieces together was a perfect finish.