Play time

When Hatti Gandhi was considering her choice of university, at the back of my mind was always the hope that wherever she ended up, it would be close enough for me to attend any concerts she was singing in. Having been parentless by the time I hit Cambridge, I used to find their absence hardest when I had a big (or even middle-sized) solo...Other people's parents would appear, applaud wildly and then take their offspring out for supper afterwards,- and being invited along wasn't ever quite the same thing. So I was delighted to head down to Cardiff last night for L's first gig there. She was singing with "Blank Verse", an ensemble of girls' voices directed by a music post grad, and they were really really good.
HG wasn't doing any solos, so I don't think this is just proud-mother talk. Lovely pure sound, and the programme included Britten and Chilcott and really hit the spot for all of us, to judge by the demands for encores. Good church too...lovely acoustic, and the air still heavy with incense from the morning's worship!

Afterwards, as neither of us needed to eat, we explored the joys of "Winter Wonderland", Cardiff's very own Christmas fair.
Lovely views of the city lights from the ferris wheel and lots of dotty mother-and-daughter stuff, but best of all was knowing how very happy HG is with her course, her friends, her city. After the agnonies of decision-making, she has clearly arrived in exactly the right place.