Diana Had The Day Off,

but in the afternoon we were out, we had bought tickets to a concert some time ago,

front row sears as it happens, but our luck ran out, today the trains are on strike!

so 2 buses, it took an amazing 1 hour to get from our 227 bus stop to Penge, a normal journey of 10 minutes or so, there were massive road works at the War Memorial roundabout, so 4 way traffic signals were in place, the whole town had become gridlocked! and worse was according to the time table on the next bus, a 176 our journey would take 1 hour 47 minutes, and that was before we hit traffic like the mess above!

but here was are at last, 

at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank,

we had allowed plenty of time, thankfully,

well I just had to have a wine to get over the journey!

we were this close to the orchestra,

slightly to the right the piano which will be removed after the first piece during the interval,

we settled back to enjoy the first piece by Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 (Emperor), if you are not familiar with the piece here it is,

but played by Alina Bercu, 

in tonight's performance the piano played Tom Borrow, at just 23 years old he is a star, and sitting almost in the shadow of the lid what a delight his playing was,

first chair, Alice Ivy Pemberton and what a performance,

 lead cello just slightly to our right, during the interval, 

the piano had been removed, 

the conductor takes the rostrum, as we settle back to enjoy Scheherazade, Op. 35, by Rimsky-Korsakov, a little about the piece below,

and here it is,

what a wonderful piece to listen to,

Alice Ivy Pemberton, first chair here playing Scheherazade brought tears to my eyes,

lead cello was also magnificent, and was directly in front of us,

after wowing the packed audience the orchestra takes a bow,

as does the conductor Tianyi Lu,

and here,

the full orchestra, all of the trials of getting here completely forgotten in the wonder of music, as it happens as I am typing this I am actually listening to Scheherazade but played by the London Symphony Orchestra, we left the theatre and was lucky to catch a 176 in no time, and at this time of night after 10.00 in the evening no traffic, as we alighted in Penge a 227 was right behind us, but it was a massive detour to get to Beckenham because of the ongoing problem at the War Memorial roundabout, but we arrived home just before midnight, I should say I am only making one post today, as I have more than a few things to take and to do in the shop, and with that as Diana has a early start tomorrow we were off to bed.