What a strange day. It started with a trip to Central Middlesex Hospital in Park Royal. I needed to pick up laxative for a colonoscopy on Monday and rearrange the gastroscopy set for ¾ earlier.
I managed after 40 minutes to rearrange the gastroscopy for tomorrow. I’m certainly not looking forward to this procedure. I had it about 20 years ago and it made me feel sick as they stuff the camera down my throat. Hopefully the technology has improved since then. Picking up the Laxative didn’t take long and then I walked back to Park Royal Station for the trip back to Headstone Lane Station.
A walk back to Pinner where I met up with Maggi in Sainsbury’s. Maggi then set off to her bridge match and I tried to set up a new router that had arrived while I was out. The set up didn’t work out so will require more work.
Bernard arrived for our drive to The Festival Hall to see a concert. The drive took an hour and we entered the car park under the National Theatre at 5:30 pm. Bernard wanted to eat at an Italian restaurant and so we choose Strada. What a mistake, we both picked a burger and McDonalds does a better job. I did actually eat it because I had hardly any lunch and I was hungry. But I probably should have sent it back and leave.
Once we had stuffed ourselves we walked over to The Southbank Centre where Bernard became very annoyed. He had bought the concert tickets by phone so we needed to pick them up at the temporary box office. The process took ages as the people in front of us had to choose where they wanted to sit. Bernard kept going up to the desk pointing to his Southbank membership card and saying he only wanted to pick up the tickets. They kept sending him back to the queue where he fretted and complained.
We eventually received our tickets and went upstairs to the concert hall. He wanted to take his seat immediately even though the music wasn’t due to start for another 20 minutes. I walked out for some relief from his moaning and bought an ice cream.
The concert, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, consisted of two parts. In the first half the orchestra played Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture and then Mozart’s Violin Concerto with soloist Randall Goosby. Both very enjoyable. The second half showpiece devoted to Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet stood out, a brilliant piece of music performed exceptionally well and led by the outstanding New Zealand conductor Gemma New. Bernard and I sat in the side almost on top of the tuba player and we could see her facial gestures as well as her whole body movements and she demonstrated her love of the music.
I drove Bernard back to our house and he set off for his home by car. Most remarkable.