Chris Dudley, England Trip, June 2007

9th day
Travel day...you know I have travelling
Thursday June 28th

I'm excited today. Tracy is in the country, and I'll be meeting her in London when I get there. When I GET THERE. The last time I
came on the train, it took Nick and I over 7 hours - instead of the 4 hours it should have been. I'm writing this just prior to us leaving
in the morning for Durham so we can head back to King's Cross Pancreas. Tracy wants me to meet her at a different station...which
is doable, and then we'll head out onto the town until the evening (around 7pm) when we'll head over to Scott's place for the evening,
and then night. We are both staying with Scott for the duration of our visit in the UK.

Anyway - we started the day at 6am - shower....leaving at 7am, followed by a 1 hour drive to the station to catch an 8:30 train. Oh
Happy joy! I'll update more...I'm guessing...on Thursday evening, when I am at Scott's house. BUT - this will be a long day. Here is
the planned agenda for the day:

7am-12:30pm: Travelling
1pm: Meet Mark Burgess near the Tate Gallery and drop off Luggage
1:15pm: Sing with Mark - he is now a composer and may write music either for me...or for my quartet, the "Countertop Quartet".
(Tracy may also meet me around this time)
2pm: Go to Tate Gallery
3pm: Pint...or two...or six, also with Mark and Tracy.
5pm: Make our way toward Scott's house in Kingston. He gets off work around 7pm.

Oh, what an exciting day this turned out to be...

Actually, I arrived at Pimlico Station around 1pm. After meeting up with an old friend, Mark Burgess,
we chatted briefly, mainly about school and how things had changed since the last time we met
(I hadn't seen Mark in over 8 years). I made my way over to the Tate "Britain" - one of the two
Tate art galleries. There, Mark and I were met by my Girlfriend, Tracy, who had deposited her
luggage elsewhere.
We saw, in particular in the gallery, the Turner Exhibits - very exciting! ... although ... I was only there
for 5 minutes... Mark and I left Tracy there to enjoy the exhibit by herself, whilst we both went off to
play some music and piano (he has started composing...and wanted to play for me), and chatted more about old times. We
reconvened at 5:45pm.

So, at 5:45pm, we all made our way over to Westminster Abbey                                                                         for evensong. This will be the
fist of my critiques over the next few days. Tomorrow will be                                                                         St. Paul's.... Anyway - we got to
Westminster Abbey DOT on time...at 5pm...for evensong...                                                                                actually, evensong was just
starting...so we had to wait for 5 minutes until after the introit,                                                                         until we were led inside to a
transept to hear the service. From my viewing position,                                                                                 I couldn't see much, but I could
still hear everything.

PAUSE

I got in a bad mood last night, half way through writing the end of the day blog. I was running out of charge on the computer, and I
realised that I had either lost the power converter, or left it at Mark's house earlier that day. Either way (and I called Mark - it is
there), I was in a bad mood for the rest of the night. Tracy tried to console me, but failed - me being a stubborn arse-wipe! So, I was
moody for the rest of the night...and now I have a temp charger (my brother's shaver plug) - temp I say, because currently it is as if I
am putting vegetable oil into my fuel tank of the car ... with a different power.... or something.

Anyway - on to my report for yesterday:

Evensong....I could barely see the choir...except the two countertenors (one small stocky one, and one black guy), the end boys and
the conductor's back. They sang:
Maurice Durufle - Tu es Petrus (as an introit) - not too bad - we came in just as they started, so were far back in the church. It
'sounded' fine. Nothing too impressive though!
The Rose Responses - interesting interpretation - bit slower than usual, but very precise - actually rather nice. (and yes Mr
White...with our fav. 'sung' our father).
The Thomas Morley Magnifcat and Nunc (first service). - These were the best of the night - Morley, as usual (and one of the reasons I
chose this current evensong at the Abbey) often writes his canticles for solo and verse-like voices. The opening was a
countertenor...and a bit squeaky too...haha...follwed by a treble...who sounded a bit like a mouse...hardly any volume. The full choir
was very impressive when they all sang the FULL parts. The Tenors and Basses were a bit wobbly - like old farmers actually....and
when we heard the solos in the Nunc from the Ts&Bs...well, I thought slowly back to the days when I worked on a Yorkshire
farm...with men and animals, all sounding the same! It was though, and I'll at least say this, a nice part of the service (it just sounded
to regular).
Orlando Gibbons - Almighty God, who by thy son - An almighty Alto Solo - accompanied by the full choir and a few verses. This was
rather good actually. The small stocky alto sang this one - a very clear, sweet, angelic type voice, with a flutter of vibrato on many
notes. The full choir sound was marvellous, a good end to the service.
The Final Hymn - didn't sing the first verse - sang bass the 2nd - sang harmonised something the 3rd - and alto the 4th. Fun...! Riiiight!

As I was leaving, I tried to take a photo of the choir - for here....when three nasty looking British Vergers ran up to me and accosted
me. They said "No Sir, you can't take photos here", and I said in my worst American accent <<Really...Oh I'm sorry....I thought that
was only during the service>>. They said "No Sir, and We would like you to put away your camera...NOW (I was still holding it with
the power on), and delete any other photos you have taken today". I said <<yeah, I think not....>> and walked out. So, no photos
today!

--

After the service, Tracy, Mark and I headed for a local pub - had a beer - chatted more - left from there - got our bags - said goodbye -
headed to the underground - then to Waterloo - then on a ground train to Kingston - where we were met by my brother - and the
evening there started (sorry for the rush - It's past 10am and we need to get on!!!) Scott took us out to dinner - we had 'tapas' -
expensive, but nice. Then we went to....a PUB...drank afew pints...played British Pool, and headed home for the night. A full, fun day!
Here are some other photos from the day:

                                                                                                                                                                                          London Bridge

                                                                                   The Lovely Houses of Parliament!

           Mark Burgess & I

A Classic British Phone Box --->                                                                                             Big Ben --->
   These will all but soon be replaced...