The adventures of Miss Despina

We went to this concert last night. We are so lucky to have this orchestra 20 minutes down the road. It was stunning.

But.

Next time I go to a concert, I am going to KILL the people who think it’s ok to cough during the quiet bits. They probably don’t have a cough, they’re just clearing their rotten throats! You just don’t do that during the 2nd mvt of Shos 2, or at any time, it’s just sooooo rude! It ruins it for everyone, in a big, accoustically fantastic concert hall - last time Ian Bostridge was there, halfway through Die Schone Mullerin, he went and waited quietly round the back of the piano until everyone had shut up coughing. It was lost on some people, but not on me, I thought it was hilarious. I’m seeing him in a month too, hooray! He’s quoted as saying

"If it weren’t for Schubert, I wouldn’t be a singer."

Which is ironic really, given that, if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t know how to sing Schubert.

We looked gorgeous last night. I said that when we go out, we must give the impression that we’ve dropped off another planet. No, said Jez. Right planet, wrong era. And he was right. Him in his trademark long black wool coat and trilby (both frightfully expensive), me in a long black coat and beret. Underneath I was wearing yet another delicious little black dress, and fantastic shoes, which may explain the looks I was getting!

Jez got recognised Yesterday. He was out in a local churchyard taking photos, and someone stopped him and told him he recognised him from Flickr, and that he liked his photos very much, he even mentioned a few of his favourites. Just what do I have to do to get recognised? Clearly standing on a stage in front of 600 people and screaming at them is having no effect!

And the funniest thing that happened yesterday?

No, it wasn’t me finding absolutely no revelant research to support my imminent project proposal. It wasn’t even me making up special songs and dances. It was Jez’s reaction to being dragged out of bed at 10am by a knock on the door.

He slipped on his dressing gown, without the belt, and answered the door with a "uuhhhh". The two people on the doorstep told him that they were giving out some leaflets in the area about the word of God.

"I’m not interested thanks," he said.

"Then maybe you’d like to like to attend one of our bible study groups?" asked the taller one.

"No thanks," grunted Jez. He wanted to get back upstairs to the curvacious brunette in his bed.

The smaller one noticed his dressing gown, which I can only hope wasn’t flapping open too much, given the complete lack of undergarments.

"I see you’re a Barcelona fan!" he said, with enthusiasm.

"Yes, an atheist Barcelona fan," said Jez. "Goodbye."

When Jez came back upstairs, we wondered why they thought he’d be interested in a Bible group if he wasn’t even interested in one of their leaflets, and also why they thought he’d want to stand there talking when he’d clearly just got out of bed, was holding his dressing gown together with one hand, and obviously had other things on his mind!

And it’s not the fact that these people were religious that made Jez say what he did. The fact is, if they had come to the door and tried to sell him some dresses, he would have said "no, I don’t want to buy your dresses, I’ve made a lifestyle choice to wear trousers rather than dresses, goodbye."

I told Jez my reasoning.

"Ahh," he said, "that’s where you’re wrong. I do wear your dresses."