Culture

Didn't do an awful lot for most of today.

Slept late and then watched a made-for-TV film of Ballet Shoes that I'd recorded, and indeed that I'd seen before when it was originally on a couple of Christmases ago. Ah I love Ballet Shoes, it is a book I read many times as a child.

I then watched an episode of Faking it USA where a sheep shearer learned how to be a hairdresser. I found the episode quite inappropriate as the sheep shearer in question was very open about his feelings that his gay mentor was 'perverse'. They tried with him to get him to be more open minded, and even took him to an LGBT advocacy organisation in the hope of getting him to be civil, but it didn't really work. I guess it is probably good to show the sheep shearer being himself and allow viewers to decide that he's an arsehole. But it made me very uncomfortable.

I then went on a bike ride round the block. As yesterday, my arse hurt. Ow again.

In the evening, A and I went to the Usher Hall to see the RSNO perform. We were keen to check out the Usher Hall, as it has been refurbished and we hadn't seen inside yet. It was very nice. Even the weird glassy bit seems to work when you are inside it.

Also we were keen to take advantage of free tickets :o)

The event was called New York New York, and it was music inspired by New York including Gershwin, Bernstein and Duke Ellington. We enjoyed it. The conductor (Jeff Tyzik) was quite a guy - not only conducting and presenting the whole thing, but he had arranged some of the music they played and played the cornet in certain pieces. It was really quite impressive.

That's A in the foreground, striking a cultural pose.