History and music

When we knew that H was coming we booked a slot for him at holiday orchestra. When he arrived and announced that he really hated music we unbooked it, although we told him he’d still need to do brass band on Thursday evenings 😉 It seemed unfair to make him spend a whole week of long days either doing something he disliked or watching others do it, so instead Bob took a few days off work and applied to do the Kentwell High Summer Recreation with H. This meant I needed to get his clothes made quickly (we had been expecting to take him along with us to Michaelmas so I knew I’d need to make them at some point anyway) so a fair bit of my time when we were at Polly’s was taken up by sewing and Saturday 22nd was my last chance to finish things off.

On Sunday I was preaching ( a drama in itself, as I managed to look up the address for the wrong church so instead of being early, as a preacher should, we arrived in a huge rush a few minutes after the service should have started, having had to dash in haste from the wrong church to the right one. By then the stewards were standing outside, anxiously scanning the road while they tried to decide what to do 🙁 ) Once we got underway the service went fine. L, A, J and K all did readings or parts of readings for me (H was let off for now!) and we had K’s favourite hymn, in honour of his return. Unfortunately the organist didn’t know the tune, so she chose another in the same meter, which was… not quite so suitable. I really struggled to keep a straight face in the pulpit as I watched K’s face!

Returning home, Bob and H loaded up the car, grabbed a quick lunch and set off to be visitors at Kentwell for the afternoon, so H could get an idea of what he would be doing during the week. The rest of us had a quiet afternoon getting ready for a busy week ahead…

This time J was doing recorders (he lives in hope that they’ll bring back advanced recorders!), then a Prime Brass workshop, Upper band, lower orchestra and upper orchestra. In the end he decided to switch from trombone to baritone for lower orchestra, because playing the trombone for so many hours each day was causing him pain. K did training strings (as a helper – A was happy about that 🙂 ), 10+ choir, upper strings and both orchestras. L had a full day of strings, including lower orchestra, but didn’t feel brave enough to risk adding in upper orchestra, partly because it would have given her such a very long day. A did training strings, folk for fun and then 7+ choir. This meant that although they all started at 9:30 A finished at 1:20, L at 3:00 and the boys at 5:30, so I camped out for most of the week; it was hardly worth trying to get home. A had a couple of play dates with her friend Z, and L went home with Z’s sister A too, since they finished at the same time and I could then collect both girls at once. On Monday I had a lovely time walking, chatting and drinking tea with T41 – a rare treat these days. I also did lots of parent helpering and inbetweentimes I read An Officer and a Spy and enjoyed it very much. I knew next to nothing about l’affaire Dreyfus and now feel a little more educated 😉
The lower presentation was on Thursday and the upper on Friday, so A got a day off (which she spent with Z) and Bob was able to come to both, with a little juggling of work hours. L was very excited to be asked to present flowers and wine to the course director, while J was even more excited to win a prize for his playing and attitude 😀

While we were holiday orchestra-ing Bob and H were mostly huddling in the military pavilion away from the rain. During brief brighter spells H had the chance to do archery, which he very much enjoyed, as well as running errands and generally being useful to the gatekeepers.I’m not sure how much he learned about Tudor life (Bob may be able to elucidate further) but he enjoyed himself enough that when Bob’s holiday ran out and he had to come back to work H was keen to stay on. Tadcu had offered to be his guardian if that was the case, but in the event the Beans kindly agreed to be guardians for him as well, since his tent was next to theirs and he knew them better. Since M was on the gate, he also agreed to keep an eye on H during the day, while Bob’s friends at the butts said he could go there without Bob too. We’re lucky to have so many helpful friends 🙂 Bob stayed until Thursday morning, then went straight into work from Kentwell leaving H in all their capable hands. We collected him again on Saturday, when we went along for a huge celebratory party and ceilidh – much fun and dancing and the most amazing cake!

1 thought on “History and music”

  1. Je suis contente que tu t’intérese à l’affaire Dreffus. Je ne sais si Bob te l’a indiqué (nosu en avons parlé à l’aéroport), mais P. Le frère aîné de L. va étudier cette anéne au Lycée Emile Zola. Ce Lycée s’appelle ainsi car il occupe les locaux dans lesquels fut jugée l’affire Dreffus. Il fera de la Gym dans la salle du procès. Incroyable non ? J’espère bien pouvoir le sensibiliser au sujet !

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