St Patrick’s Night

We celebrated St Patricks Day by going to St Paul's Cathedral for a recording of extracts from the Messiah.  It was for a Radio 2 programme, called “At the Foot of the Cross”, which is due for broadcast on Good Friday and is essentially a service of songs and readings.

We sat just at the front row of the aisle, just under the dome, so we were facing into the orchestra and the choir, and could see all the mosaics and the paintings of the dome, choir and into the transepts.  The lights were dimmed which made it all the more spectacular; an immense, quiet meditative space.

Add to that the songs from the Messiah played by the BBC Concert Orchestra, with a number of choirs (including St Paul’s own) and some soloists, and it was a magical night.  One of those events that really does lift you up spiritually.

Big Weekend – Part 1

We were at BBC Television Centre on Friday night to be part of the audience for Top of the Pops Comic Relief Special.

They had a few big bands lined up – Gavin & Stacey (accompanied by Tom Jones – see below with me in background), Franz Ferdinand, Oasis, Take That, James Morrison … although U2 did a recorded segment (it would have been great if they had been there but ah well – I’m not complaining - I shook hands with Gary Barlow from Take That!)

 

Since it was the Comic Relief Special, there were also loads of celebrity types walking around … Fearne and Reggie (obviously), Dawn French , Jennifer Saunders, Jonathan Ross, David Tennant, Patrick Kielty, Davina, Claudia Winkleman to name a few … but since I had been already told off I couldn’t take any photos of them.

So here is a photo of the wife by the stage that I did manage to take.

A good night although I did get a wee bit star struck!

Lunatic Ninja?!

His first thought was “It’s a lunatic ninja coming through the window”!?

There obviously more of them there than there is here – it certainly wouldn't rank as one of my first thoughts…!

WSP - March Calendar

Wisnoe Lee is a Jakarta-based artist whose cartoon characters and illustrations appear in a gamut of advertisements from sleek cars to mobile phone service providers. While Wisnoe has created a number of different comic strips, his pet project is an online series, Glbug, which features a corrupt official who has lost everything and is given a second chance -living a simple life as a whimsical bajaj (tricycle) driver roaming around the notorious streets of Jakarta with his cat, Oncom.

Bench

A flying visit to Edinburgh at the weekend for the wife’s sister’s wedding.

Will put some photos of the big day shortly, but wanted to put up this photo first.

Before the event, we met up with the wife’s other two sisters and went for a walk in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens.

I liked the bench so I took a photo.