Eating lunch

I leapt at the chance of a sunny lunchtime excursion and headed to the Royal Festival Hall, where I know I can grab a bit of sun. However, the normally empty first floor balcony was full of folk who'd had the same idea! The cheek. I found a space, though, scoffed my lunch and then snapped my fellow sun-worshippers.

I came back to the Royal Festival Hall in the evening to see Music to Die For, part of the Southbank's festival of death (a celebration of the living). I saw it advertised yesterday and simply had to book tickets. I've loved the tune Danse Macabre ever since I first heard it at school and it was first on the concert playlist. It's a work with so much energy and the BBC Concert Orchestra did not disappoint. I'm afraid that my short attention span had difficulty with Mahler's "Der Abschied", but Mozart's Requiem and Barber's "Adagio for Strings" were astounding. It was a fantastic concert, with wise words about death and the life from John Hannah, Keith Lockhart and, in particular, from one of the double-bass players, who was a bit Tom Waits-like and was very funny and wise. All in all, an uplifting experience. We're back to the festival tomorrow, this time for a play.