Bath Time – Day 1

Reading time: 2 minutes...

Phew! Here we are then at The Coach House in Batheaston. It’s 5.30 and we should have been here by 4! Just our luck that this was the day when (according to the local news) a 48-wheeled monstrosity of a transporter also decided to also make its journey along the M4 and off at the same turning as us! Oh joy!

By the time we arrived it was pitch black so punching in the right code into the key box in order to gain entrance to our accommodation was a laugh!

Anyway, mission accomplished and we were very pleasantly surprised at the rooms – they were excellent! Very tastefully decorated with all the bits and bobs you could ever need for a holiday (and more) – microwave, fridge, freezer, dishwasher etc and to keep me happy, a humungous TV, a blu-ray DVD player and of course, a wireless router!!!

We quickly unpacked had a small bite to eat before leaving for the Theatre in the town – The Forum – and an evening of Mozart. It’s all part of the tongue-twisty Bath Mozart Fest here in Bath.

First, the good news: the place was packed with not a spare seat in the house. It was lovely looking theatre on the inside and the seats were very comfortable. The not-so-good news was the music itself. Part 1 consisted mostly of tunes I’d never heard of and all of them were very long pieces – zzzzzzzzzzz!. Clearly the rest of the audience was thoroughly enjoying it, but it just left me cold, even though I do like a lot of classical ‘toons’. 

The most irritating part was the violinist who managed to squeeze every last breath out of her instrument. The poor stringed-thing sounded like it was being murdered. I know it’s a real skill to be able to make a violin sound like this, but to me, it just sounded awful!

Thankfully, the intermission came quickly, allowing my ears (and the persecuted violin) time to recover. I hoped that the second part would be more ‘friendly’. Twenty-five minutes later, we were back in our seats and what could be more suitable for a Mozart Festival than scarily long piece by err, Elgar! As the suite trundled on, suddenly, a tune I knew: Nimrod. Perhaps the itinerary was now heading in my direction. ‘fraid not as more Enigma Variations filled the air and my ears with another overlong piece of pretentious nonsense!

I guess all this must sound like heresy, but I found the whole event the most boring and difficult-to-listen-to music I’ve ever heard at a concert – I hated almost every minute of it! It clearly wasn’t an event for ‘the masses’!

A lazy day tomorrow – I’m also on the look-out for a new home for a violin!