France Day 4: Getting into a routine

We are now well into the swing of rehearsals which are 9:30am to 12:30pm then 5pm to 7pm. The focus today has been on Delibes (Le Roi s'amuse), Elgar (Chanson de nuit), Hook (a suite) and Dr Finlay's Casebook theme tune, also known as March by Trevor Duncan. David's rehearsing is very particular and he singles out players or sections quite quickly getting them to play difficult bits over and over until it is right. My favourite sentence from him today was "Some of it was a right" directed to the flutes which was praise indeed compared to other comments he has produced on the first two days. I still continue to bluff my way through and ought to have five minutes to myself sorting out a few bars in some of the pieces but I use my free time as time to do other things.

In rehearsal

We get 12:30 to 5 completely to ourselves and most people make their own lunch buying bread, cheese, fruit and other bits and pieces from the local shop. We eat under a shady canopy in the gardens near the swimming pool. After lunch I had a swim and then went for a walk exploring the local foot paths. I made it as far as the Vins Haut, which is the high vinyards, then came back. There are some lovely views and I saw no one else around. I was quite keen to see what wildlife was around. There were loads of crickets all different colours and sizes, plenty of butterflys, and several times I saw the tail of a lizard just disappearing under some leaves or a tree root.

Self portrait

Vinyard

After dinner I was going to practise but Ann, one of the violinists wanted to go for a walk and so I said I'd go to keep her company. In the end four of us went and we had a lovely walk up the hill to Goult, the next village and where we will do our 'performance' on Sunday. It was a fascinating place, so typical of Provence. Beautiful stone buildings, shutters on the window, little balconys and alleyways, tiny wooden doors. It was getting dark so I couldn't take any photos but will go up there in the daytime before the end of the week. We had a tea in the bar in the village then came down in the dark using our torches when the street lights stopped. There were a few bats flying around too. It was a lovely evening but I might have to get up a little earlier to practise tomorrow morning before breakfast. It's a hard life.

I also hear it's been raining in London and I contemplated where I might otherwise have been in Blighty as I relaxed back sipping a glass of Côtes du Rhône and allowing the sun to warm my face.

Adieu!