Suburban dawn

Not sleeping well sometimes yields a reward. Today was a case in point. I was still awake at 5:30 am and went downstairs for a glass of orange juice. I could see strange colours through the kitchen window and went back upstairs to capture the glorious sky through the bedroom window.

I slept for a couple of hours after that, then went through my tablets-and-breakfast routine and my flex-the-elbow exercises. It was mid-morning by this stage and I had time to kill before being picked up to go to today's music-group session. Feeling invigorated but still somewhat frustrated by not having had a shave in four weeks I decided to do some bullet biting, cast the sling aside for a bit and treated myself to a shave and beard-trim. It gave me a great boost when I managed without any difficulty, using my right hand throughout without even a twinge from the broken elbow. I left for the music session feeling much more positive about things.

We had a terrific session. Our host today is German but is a prime example of more-Irish-than-the-Irish-themselves type. He went through a rough patch last year because of his landlord giving him and his house mates notice to leave. The problems with the rental market hit him really hard, but he finally landed on his feet and found a house a couple of months ago. Today was his first time having people in. He did us proud, We were only three, but we had a great time. The highlight was unexpected — the Dies irae movement from the Verdi Requiem as a ballet! I am usually wary of things like this, but this was a triumph. Superb staging and choreography, with soloists and chorus on stage with the dancers, mingling with them and equally choreographed. Sublime.

A nice touch on the way out was a table display that's left over from Easter (extra).

My chauffeur stopped off at the local Centra for me to get a few bits and pieces. The rest of the day was spent lazily, ending with the first episode of Silo on Apple TV Plus. Looks very promising.