Ascot, etc.

I have been on my feet and GOING pretty much non-stop since Monday what with hashing, rehearsals, concerts, Ascot, World Cup, dinners, etc. etc. I'll try to give you the highlights, although too much has happened to write absolutely everything here. If I took 370 pictures in two days, you can imagine how much I could potentially say.

I got to Waterloo in plenty of time for the 11:05 train to Ascot. It was quite obvious that it was nearly everyone's final destination as there were top hats and feathers galore. Some old Irishman who worked at the station immediately helped me out (even though I didn't need it) with the ticket machine. He asked if I was Irish and seemed upset when I couldn't remember the county where my family lived at one point. A homeless woman walked by as we were talking and told me how beautiful I looked.

I somehow managed to snag a seat on the train. The aisles and ends of the cars were completely packed of people who had to stand for the duration of the hour-long journey. I was amongst a group of 6 guys who talked to me most of the way there and invited me to join them. When we got to Ascot, one of them bought me a rose for my jacket. They waited for me at the entrance to the Silver Ring (but I was in the Grandstand). By time I got my ticket, they had vanished.

I stood around in the parade ring until the royal procession so as to keep my wonderful place in the stands. If you check out my facebook, I have some wonderful photos of the Queen, Prince Philip, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. I eventually realized that I was more in shock that I had seen ALW than the Queen, as I hadn't expected him to be there.

I placed all of my bets at the beginning, horses chosen mostly because of their names. Won nothing on the first race and immediately thought the whole day would be like that. Then my horse won the next race. And the next one. And the next two after that- 4 consecutive winners and 2 placers, overall (i.e. I won on 5 of 6 races)!!! By the end of the day, I'd paid for my entire day out and still had £13 in my pocket.

On the ride home, I stood in an aisle and chatted with three guys who all used to work for Proctor and Gamble. One of them now owns an IT company based right behind Trafalgar Square. One of the others looked vaguely like Prince William. They invited me to watch the England/Algeria match, but I had plans to head up to Camden to meet up with some hashers. I made it to the pub minutes before halftime. Shoulder to shoulder in the place. Changed. Tie. Curry. Bed.

Woke up early enough to make it to 5-hour Bart's rehearsal 20 minutes late. In the last 5 minutes of rehearsal, Ivor had us all move around and sit next to someone we "liked the look of." In short, just to get us listening a different way. Two seconds after we shifted around, he got off the podium and shouted, "Ashley- get up here." Completely in shock, I ran up to the podium and kept on chugging. By time I found my place on the page, I realized I was conducting what was supposed to be in 4 in 2, fixed my error, then spent the rest of the movement just trying to keep my hands from flying off my arms! I had a sort of involuntary Gergiev twitch going. No matter, I survived! Very glad he hadn't warned me about it. I'm going to be on edge every rehearsal from now on. So long as it doesn't happen in the concert....

I ran to the pub straight from rehearsal so I could get changed for a formal dinner at a hash friend's house in north London. Second outing (in as many days) for the Ascot ensemble (sans hat). Did my hair without being able to see the back of it (so I kept shoving flowers into it at dinner). LOVELY meal cooked entirely from scratch- delicious smoothie-type freshly-juiced raspberry/apple concoction, harvest soup, asparagus with secret sauce, lasagne, salad, potato salad, and DIY Eton mess for dessert. Charades, made-up dictionary definition game, and additional fun was had by all.

Vaguely slept in this morning. On the walk back home from King's Cross, I heard two American girls behind me saying, "This is King's Cross Bridge...maybe it's down this way?" I immediately knew they were looking for the Clink Hostel where I stayed last summer. How did I know? Because I made the exact error of turning down that road. I helped them out, they put their bags in the luggage room, then I played tour guide for a while. We walked down to St. Paul's, across Millenium Bridge, back up Blackfriar's Bridge, had lunch with Adam across from the Royal Courts of Justice, then walked back up to the flat/hostel. Likely meeting up again later in the evening, as they are only here for 2 days and would like the guidance on what to do in such a short period of time.

Adam has a 5-day tribunal in Reading all this week. It'll take him about an hour to get to Reading and an additional 20 minutes to get to the courthouse. He has to be there by 9 AM every day, won't be able to head back to London until 4:30-5ish, then will have to go back to the office for a while before finally being able to head home. Repeat until Friday evening. My schedule is also quite full this week: Monday- LSO and choir rehearsals and meeting up with Karl, Tuesday- hashing, Wednesday- Marriage of Figaro (with Sir Colin, I believe!) at the Royal Opera House, Thursday- some sort of club thing. It's going to be a very long week.

If I've forgotten anything, expect another post.

Neat Stuff.

I just tidied up the flat. Yesterday, I spent 6 hours painting- 9 doorways plus trim in a kitchen and hallway. Not pictures of them- the actual doorways and trim. Luckily someone else mopped, otherwise I'd seriously wonder what's wrong with me willingly doing all this stuff!

Dad sent me an email complaining that I'm not writing enough. Please forgive me, everyone back home, but I'm trying to wean myself off my internet addiction. So far, I'd say I'm doing a pretty good job. Sadly for you, that means less frequent news from Ashleyland.

Dad also pointed out that I'm not talking about music as much as usual. Perhaps I'm just failing to write about it. I'm still singing in Bart's- we have a concert on June 29 and 30 at Cadogan Hall (speak to me ASAP if you want tickets!). I'm currently only singing in the one on the 29th (which means I'm missing a hash), but will try to talk my way into both of them...although I'd *really* like to talk Ivor into letting me play trumpet on it... I'm not singing in the NLS, but I will still be going to their 2 remaining concerts.

Also will be going to most of the remaining LSO concerts. One of the reasons I haven't really been going to that many rehearsals is because they've been/will be gone, are doing sessions, etc. I DID go to the free lunchtime concert on Friday, though. The brass section gave a preview for last night's concert. Hot stuff. They did an arrangement of Ives' Variations on America. Of course some Brit had to ask the origins of the tune, as it's also "God Save the Queen." Patrick (tuba player. remember him from last summer?) said it was Beethoven's. It's actually older than that (I looked it up), but Beethoven and dozens of other composers have used it in their own compositions.

The hashers had 2 teams in a touch rugby tournament in West Dulwich (south London) on Saturday. I had NO clue how to play rugby until right before playing. After the tourney (a team dressed as Morris dancers won), we all watched the England v. US World Cup game. I painted a couple of George crosses on my cheeks and the other Ohio girl (from Dayton!) in the group was given a big ol' Union Jack right across her forehead.

Last night's World Cup game was much more exciting: 4-0 Germany! Poor Australia...

Strings 'n Things

I realize that I failed to mention that I went 6 consecutive days of eating at least one meal of Indian food. It all ended with my first trip to Brick Lane with Jenny, one of my flatmates. After looking through the markets, we needed some grub. Although she can't really eat Indian, she said we had to to 1) keep up my pattern and 2) because we were in Brick Lane. It took us about half an hour to decide which place to go, as there were people outside of each harassing us with discounts.

We made a good choice: free bottle of wine AND 30% off our final bill. This equates to £10/each for main, rice, naan, and wine. Unfortunately I made the mistake of ordering Madras, aka the 2nd spiciest thing on the menu. I magically managed to eat half of it, but this required me drinking 2 pints of water (I could have easily done away with another 1 or 2).

I attempted to order my ticket for Royal Ascot yesterday but it didn't go through. I tried again today. It worked. I called in the middle of typing this just to make sure. The phone call also made me realize that I NEED to get a new higher-quality UK mobile. I had to ask the clear-speaking Englishman to repeat nearly everything he said because my phone doesn't have volume controls. But as for Ascot: You have my word that there will be many, many, many pictures. Many of them.

I'm meeting a friend for dinner at 5, then an exciting LSO concert at 7:30- Shostakovich Symphony 6, Dvorak Scherzo Capriccioso, and Britten's violin concerto (with a substitute soloist who stepped in only days ago to replace an ailing Janine Jansen). Highlight of today's LSO rehearsal: Sir Mark Elder calling Joost, "Toast." I didn't hear what he said after that, but the whole band was laughing.

I FINALLY went inside of the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday. It's nice and all, but I have to say I was a wee bit disappointed that the outside is much more decorative. There was very little color inside, the paintings were grimy....but there was a room full of historic costumes which vaguely made up for the aforementioned faults.

Squidgy.

Last night was my 3rd hash. It took place at a pub near the Barbican, so not too far from home. You don't generally think of that area as residential, but some angry residents called the police on us for being too loud. When the cops showed up, I was in the process of being made to drink out of something that isn't made to be drunk out of (I'll leave it to your imagination) in front of the group. People were shouting, "They're coming up behind you!" This turned out to be nothing to be worried about. In fact, someone said, "No hats in the circle!" And the cops were pulled forward into the circle and made to chug a half pint (of water) each. In short, we didn't get in trouble.

Something I find interesting about UK vs. US English. I never thought I would have to explain what a "mini van" is to someone. Luckily we passed what's likely the only one in Britain in the process of my attempted explanation. I had more things like this to mention, but I've since forgotten them. I'm sure they'll come back to me.

I went to the National Portrait Gallery for the first time yesterday. I was incredibly upset with myself for not taking my sketchbook. Berlioz was playing in the shop, which made me happy.

Went to LSO rehearsal this morning for the first time in 2 weeks or so. The soloist for tomorrow's concert had to drop out due to illness, but was replaced, so she show goes on! They're playing Shotakovich

Sunshine and Water Guns

-unfortunately not on the same day. Tuesday night was the "Cannonball Run" with the City Hash House Harriers. If I haven't already told you about "hashing," please allow me to elaborate. In short, it's a running club. The starting/ending point is some pub, previously determined by the "hare/s" who marked out the course. We all meet there, drop our things, run all over the place, then ideally all meet back at the pub at vaguely the same time.

The trail is kind of like a treasure hunt. If you're at the front of the pack, you are the first to come to checkpoints. They generally fall in the middle of an intersection with no indication of which way the trail goes from there. To let the slower people catch up to them, they have to spread out and find the next leg of the trail. Sometimes the trail they find is a huge loop. The slower people spot them towards the end of the loop and take the shortcut. It's crazy.

As for the Cannonball Run- it was a reenactment of the Siege of Badajoz from the War of 1812 with water gun/cannon arms. We even had uniforms with our names on them. The one major downfall of the night was that it was freezing cold and raining. The rain meant that no one cared if they were pummeled by water guns. The cold meant the last hurrah at the top of a manmade hill was quite bitter.

I was called on at the semi-last minute to turn pages for the Bart's Chamber Choir Brahms' Requiem concert at St. Martin's last night. I also sold programs and CDs. I was highly amused by all of the Americans in attendance who kept saying, "I don't know how your money works here."

I seem to have not written anything about the NLS party last week. Epic. I was not-really-self-designated Pimms overseer. There were more people at the party than the concert. I ballroom danced to 80s rock.

I also haven't mentioned the hash gathering last Sunday. 10 or so of us met up at Clapham Common (a park in South London) to enjoy an absolutely beautiful day. We played cards, Rounders, and other random games. During Rounders, I was hit in the ankle with a line drive.

The LSO just returned from Spain. I obviously didn't make it to the Håkan Hardenberger concert last night, and I also didn't make it to rehearsal this morning. I needed the rest!

Not sure what I'm going to do with myself today. Tomorrow is a hash gathering at Hyde Park.