It Was Diana's Day Off,

we had a quiet day planned, 

but a special evening, firstly breakfast, a banana pancake affair for Diana,

I settled for a bacon sandwich and mug of tea, during the day Diana caught up with some of the washing, whilst I completed the signs and copy for this months special offer in the shop, Graham will let me know if there are any corrections, I also sent off all of the information I had regarding my Inland Revenue contributions for the next financial year, after which we both relaxed in front of the television,

in the late afternoon glad rags on, for my Christmas present Diana had bought 2 tickets for the Royal Festival Hall, 

so off from Beckenham Junction to Victoria, changing there on to the tube, three stops later,

and we were walking over the River Thames, and there is the hall,

a bit closer,

and one more for the family album,

down the steps to the South Bank, where it is a meeting place for locals and tourist with so many cafes and restaurants,

inside tickets at the ready,

as it happens we were a tad early for the 7.30 in the evening start,

so we relaxed with a wine,

and a pose from Diana, 

Ah!

a starry eyed Diana, the wine, a coke and cake came to £14.00,

then we were inside, 

'Cheers!',

Diana had bought seats in the front row centre, plenty of leg room!

the theatre was starting to fill up,

it does not look it but we were just 10 feet or so away from the conductor, and literally 5 feet away from the principle cellist, we would almost hear the orchestra as the conductor would,

one more before the orchestra came on stage,

and started their tune up,

and this is what Diana had treated us to, the Philharmonia Orchestra performing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.2, performed by Danny Driver, followed by Holst’s planetary masterpiece, Planets, conducted by Christopher Warren-Green and accompanied by the London Philharmonic Choir, 

it was all excellent as you would expect, what a wonderful, wonderful Christmas present, so many thanks to Diana, at the end of a excellent evening the conductor, 

taking a bow with the first chair violinist and principal cellist along with the orchestra, and choir to a standing ovation, we started on our way home, just short wait for the train at Victoria saw us home by 11.00, we had a snack as we watched a Poirot that we had seen a few years before, after which we were off to bed.