HALLE MARK ELDER AND BUSES WHAT A MIX

Meadowhall last Sunday

Last night we attended the opening night of the new Halle season at Bridgewater hall in Manchester, its now 8 years since Mark Elder took over the baton and a decade at the present venue after the move from the Free Trade Hall where one of Mandy's ancestors managed the premises. Well what a glorious time it has been for the orchestra, last night leader Lynn Fletcher had ample opportunity of marshaling the jet lagged musicians fresh from their tour of South America. There was a very full auditorium for once and the last piece Elgar's Enigma Variations I suppose the big draw, classic Halle home turf stuff, there were a couple of schools represented by youngsters working with the orchestra to produce their own tribute music to people. Pacific Mark Elder would not see any jingoism in the Nimrod sequence, like me he would experience the deep lasting friendship Elgar wrote off, and what a tribute to leave for a friend. Its these emotions that are shared when the piece is rolled out each chilly November morning at armistice parades with the last leaves of summer falling and thoughts go out to friendship. This deep understated emotion is something at the core of Britishness, for all the chavs and ne'er-do-wells , foreigners and free riders its still around that sense of belonging if we were just allowed to revert to it. Understatement, a sense of humour, stiff upper lip, ah in times of trouble when banks are folding what do we care, the shared joy of classical music brings people together, we are so lucky in the North West to have an abundance of theatre, music and dance.

Anyway not a lot done on the bus front or any other front albeit I did get the Wiltshire DVD run off before we went out, we encountered the MU football traffic coming home, it was like rush hour. A dosser outside the hall looked like it could have been Gordon Brown on his uppers, opposite the GMEX site of the labour Party Conference. This weekend we have our Blackpool weekend, next week the big one Showbus, our usual spot on the hillock as you enter the narrow gate, please wave, honk, flash lights etc to wake me up!

We are in Blackpool Friday night and Saturday, back Sunday night so catch up then!