Another cold night, just above freezing followed by an overcast day with the east wind making it feel even colder. After breakfast, I had an early appointment with 'Chris the Earwax Guy' to hoover out my ears. The left one was blocked and my hearing really impaired. I thought the right one wasn't so bad, but inspection showed it was almost as bad, even if I could hear more from my right ear than my left. It was such a relief to get it done. I've put off making the effort to arrange an appointment for too long.
Clare and I made a rendezvous at the nearest bus stop to travel into town and then down to the Millennium Centre for a Friends of WNO gathering at which Adele Thomas and Sarah Crabtree, newly appointed joint director / CEO of the Company introduced themselves and shared their vision for the future development and the creative enterprises that rely upon it for work - some five hundred people - in a time when funding for the arts is being savagely cut back across the country. It's a question of imagining how to do more with less, how to engage more support nationally for a Company held in high esteem internationally for its innovative productions. Sara observed in her talk that WNO's native audience are more adventurous than other opera audiences judging by the way innovative productions play to full houses at the Millennium Centre. That was certainly the case with Death in Venice and Ainadamar last year. Both got five star reviews as well.
Sarah has come from the team at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Adele is from Port Talbot, and had a key role in Michael Sheen's Port Talbot Passion Play fifteen years ago. Her career so far has been as a free lance artistic director. "This is the first time I've been properly employed." she joked. It was great to see such enthusiasm with clarity of vision and realism about the work ahead. They were very well received. We were also treated to a fascinating talk by the head of the WNO's wig making team, demonstrating what goes into preparing both chorus and cast to step into their roles suitable coiffured. The two hour session finished with a short operatic aria recital from Harriet Eyley the singer playing Cherubino in the Marriage of Figaro which opened last night to a enthusiastic audience with plenty of hwyl, by the sound of it.
Waiting for the bus on Plas Roald Dahl afterwards with an arctic wind blowing made us impatient to get back to the city centre and lunch in John Lewis. We got on a number eight bus as much for shelter as the longer trip through Grangetown. We both had dishes of pie and mash with red cabbage for lunch. Veggie for Clare and chicken for me. We both wished we'd gone for fish and chips in Caroline Street instead, as the pie crust was hard, chewy and didn't digest readily.
We went to the bus interchange nearby to wait for a bus home and shelter from the wind. Unfortunately we got on the 24 bus to Llandaff North which goes there the long way, instead of the 25 which goes up Cathedral Road and stops at Llandaff Fields. Rather than take an hour to get home instead of twenty minutes, we got off the 24 at the Kingsway stop and walked a chilling quarter of a mile back to the nearest stop where we were lucky to catch the 61 stopping closest to our house. No success in avoiding the cold wind after all! Once I'd warmed up with a cup of tea, I donned my long topcoat and walked for another hour.
The death of Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas was announced on the evening news, eighteen months younger than I. He was a Welsh language activist, campaigning politically for the introduction of bi-lingual signs and schooling. He led Plaid Cymru for 17 years, was an MP for 18 years and Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales before it was transformed into the Senedd. I first got to know him at events hosted by St John's City Parish Church. A few years ago he and his wife Mair moved from a neighbouring street into Meadow Street.
We met now and then, walking in the park, and occasionally walked together to the Cathedral Sung Eucharist reflecting on our lives and current affairs. He was born and bred a Welsh Non-Conformist and told me that the time he spent in Westminster influenced him to become an Anglican. It's been a while since I spotted him opening his front door to receive a parcel delivery and waved, let alone on the street. A great champion of his motherland, its culture and spirituality. May he rest in peace.
Clare found a bereavement card and wrote a condolence message in Welsh to Mair, Dafydd's wife, to pop through their door in between watching episodes one and two of 'Death in Paradise' series 13. It's a very popular show, showcasing the feel-good Caribbean lifestyle enjoyed by original inhabitants and ex-pats alike. Rather gentle for the most part, with elements of romance and humour outside the murder stories it tells. These are mostly conventional domestic whodunits with clever solutions to seemingly inexplicable crimes, offering little insight into the dark underside of genteel society as modern crimmies tend to do. It's entertaining rather than reflecting sordid reality.
The new WNO production of 'Marriage of Figaro' tomorrow afternoon
