Demob happy

Our season officially came to an end last Saturday with the departure of 15 Finns - part of a singing group called Utopia who visited for a week to work with Francis and Kevin Smith (counter-tenor and all round drama/voice person) on a bunch of new music. They performed two concerts locally and generally made themselves very popular. A highlight for me was a Finnish olympics: events included carrying a colleague around the garden, left-handed boule-putting (like the shot-putt but easier), and a silly walks race - the winning team got a massage from the losing team. Actually for a group who had described themselves as "grim, and we don't do all that kissing lark that you do in France", they were really very touchy feely. They hugged and massaged their way through warm-ups, rehearsals, concerts, dinner, and left me with the impression that Finland must, indeed, be a rather cold country.



And before that we had our own course - the Renaissance Consort Workshop (see above, in a full group session). What can I say, other than it was a joy for me to sing with excellent singers who also happen to be friends, and who make the "work" element of the week so pleasurable. One participant has written an on-line journal if anyone is interested in finding out more about it - http://habes.livejournal.com/53402.html.

Now we await the arrival of 6 volunteers this weekend who are going to help us garden and decorate over the next week. The weather has turned a bit chilly, so I'm particularly looking forward to congenial evenings around the fire in the big living room.