8th January 2011. Good long outing in an VIII sculler this morning. We went out to the turnaround in one long piece and returned without stopping.. There were some muffled sounds of pain disguised as heavy breathing or coughing on the return leg.. and not just from me! Did 15km (Running total 358km). It was the annual general meeting at the club in the evening and I was pleased that I could follow most of the discourse. Afterwards, France being France, there was a magnificent buffet of charcuterie (jambon de Bayonne, salami, boudin noir), cheese and assorted nibbles - and a nice Bordeaux. I walked home!
10th January 2011. There's a bug doing the rounds around here and in the wee small hours of last night I became acquainted with a certain Mr Montezuma and, in particular, his revenge.. so talk among yourselves for a while!
11th January 2011. For some reason I woke up this morning with this piece playing in my head.. one of my favourite choral works - it's Handel's "Zadok the Priest" - a work written as a coronation anthem. There's something about the phrase at 1:18 and the few bars that follow that never fail to send a shiver through me. This is an excellent interpretation:
And as we're dealing with powerful music, what better than Widor's Toccata.. otherwise known in this household as "damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!" This is music to be felt reverberating through the chest - especially when the organist uses the foot pedals - and 99% of PC speakers or headphones simply aren't up to the task. (another great piece here)
And as we're dealing with powerful music, what better than Widor's Toccata.. otherwise known in this household as "damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!" This is music to be felt reverberating through the chest - especially when the organist uses the foot pedals - and 99% of PC speakers or headphones simply aren't up to the task. (another great piece here)
Looking at the above clip has just reminded me that I've neglected to mention in any detail the beautiful Gothic cathedral at Bayonne. Let me put that right without any further ado:
And here's a clip of Bayonne while we're here - the compiler has included a couple of bonus ones from Bayonne, New Jersey as well!
I spotted this clip while searching on YouTube.. it's a 1930s Bentley with a 27 litre Rolls-Royce Merlin engine shoehorned in.. (yes, the very same one that powered the Spitfire). I have to say that I'd jump at the chance to drive this behemoth. I think an apt name for it would be the Bentley Montezuma!
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